Wednesday, October 28, 2009

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate.....

That is the question I have been getting each and every day for many weeks now. Alas, I do not have the definitive answer. While I do firmly believe in the seasonal flu vaccine....get one every year as do my boys (since we all have some level of underlying asthma), I have been unsure about the H1N1. Some factors in the past week have helped me make up my mind.

1. The local health department is supplying vaccines for all the school health professionals in our town free of charge. If it is that easy for me to get, guess I should get it. Received it yesterday. Guess if I blog tomorrow you will know I survived.

2. JBM's doctor's office has a supply and gave an appointment for him. Since it affects younger children in a far bigger way than those at my youthful age, I am not giving him a choice. He will get his later this evening and hopefully will stay well enough to receive the next one in a month.

3. Flyboy is hopeful that his company will be giving the H1N1 at the same time as the seasonal vaccines. I do not think that is likely but I guess we shall see.......tomorrow.

My party line to parents who ask? Get the seasonal vaccine for all the kids in your family and for yourselves. If anyone in the family has an underlying condition, get the H1N1 for them. It is truly a personal decision whether to get one for yourself and also a matter of whether they are even available to get.

Most importantly, wash you hands and stay away from sick people and, if you are sick, from others who are not. So ends this public service announcement which has not been approved by the local health department or the CDC :)

By the way, for those of you who are interested, Army lost again to Rutgers on Friday night...but a good time was had by all. JBM spent the game sitting next to an injured player for Army who had just had knee surgery and did not have to suit up for the game. He now has a new insight on the game, the team and "high fiving" a cadet the correct way....although he will not tell me what that is.

4 comments:

  1. I never know what to do. I usually do end up doing it : ) My Dad works at Merck so he doesn't understand why anyone in the world wouldn't get vaccinated : ) He is pro medicine! : )

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  2. My verdict has been out on this one too, maybe because I remember the swine flu epidemic from a long time ago. Have you seen people get sick from the vaccine?

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  3. I think I'm going to get it, too. The college rugrats are definitely getting it.

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  4. There are some things mothers just aren't supposed to know! Like that high-5. Just sayin'.

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