H1N1 Vaccine Information Resources

We recently installed this cool feature on the blog that lets us see how many people are visiting and tracks how they arrived.  It looks like many people find us via Google searches for accurate information, which I now have uppermost in my mind as I’m writing this.  I keep thinking, “Stop stalling, get to the links!  If you go on and on and try to demonstrate your skill with prose, you’re gonna lose your reader!”  So if you are, like myself, a compulsive Googler looking for facts beyond the fear mongering surrounding the H1N1 vaccine, let’s get some accurate sources up front before I start ranting and raving about the power of the internet to spread dangerous lies.

To sum up the following pages, the vaccine is similar to the seasonal flu vaccine and yes, multi-dose vials do contain thimerosal.  There is a single dose vial available which does not contain thimerosal.  Thimerosal is a preservative that has been removed from most vaccines because of concerns about a link to autism, but no such link was ever proven.  Because the flu vaccine has to be manufactured quickly in large batches, it requires some kind of preservative in multi-dose vials so it doesn’t become contaminated with bacteria and fungi.  (Yech.)  Links:

General Questions and Answers on the H1N1 Vaccine from CDC

General Questions and Answers on Thimerosal from the CDC

And now let’s get to straightening out some of the lies.

Harriet Hall on Science Based Medicine does a great takedown of the fear mongering surrounding the H1N1 vaccine.

A favorite quote:

Claim: People should be allowed to “self-shield.” For self-shielding you go home lock the doors and stay there. Then you can try to further protect yourself with nano-silver, homeopathic remedies, cold packs, vitamins, flavonoids, zinc, astaxanthin, magnesium, and other stuff.

Fact: A self-imposed quarantine is better than nothing, but I question whether it would be effective in practice. The suggested (untested) remedies might conceivably keep people entertained so they are more willing to stay home.

Hee hee.

“More on flu woo” on Science Based Medicine explains some other misguided thinking about the flu.

And finally, an “Influenza Primer” on Science Based Medicine explains why this flu is different from normal seasonal flu.

If you just read or even skim these articles, you should be reassured that the benefits of the H1N1 vaccine outweigh the risks.  And you can make an educated decision about who in your household should get the vaccine.  We’re definitely getting our 15-month-old son vaccinated, and I will probably get vaccinated myself.  I am not among the groups listed as high priority, but I work in a public school, and I’d like to minimize the chance that I will get swine flu.

If I were pregnant or trying to get pregnant, I would not hesitate to vaccinate myself against H1N1. So far, the 2009 H1N1 virus has affected pregnant women more severely than the general population.

So that’s the real information.  Next post, I’ll muse about some of the misinformation I’m hearing in my neck of the woods.