Are You Planning to Have Your Children Get the Swine Flu Vaccine?

yes, same as the regular flu shot (meaning, that's the plan but I won't panic if they run out of vaccine or something like that.)

I definitely won't be vaccinating my son. I'd honestly rather him contract the illness and get immunity, than assume the risks of vaccinating him.

Watch this interesting interview with a doctor on Fox News (a friend just sent this to me):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1z7KSEnyxw&feature=pl....

T.
Barefoot Books
www.ReadandGrow.com

My kids and I have never been vaccinated for the flu. My concerns relate to an egg allergy for one child (flu vaccine is cultivated in egg) and thimerisol for all of us- prefer not to add mercury to my body, or theirs.

They have received all other vaccines, but I see this as optional and they have never gotten the flu, nor have I.

Just to stack the deck in our favor, we take a homeopathic influenzum remedy that our doc orders for us every year. It changes every year, so we have to order a new batch, but the cost is only $15, so that is not too bad.

Good luck and stay healthy. By the way, I LOVE Usborne Books!! I can't afford to buy any right now, but I will keep you in mind. Good luck with your business.

We are not. We never get the regular flu vaccine and so far, we don't get sick any more than other friends and co-workers who do get vaccinated for it. There are so many different strains of flu out there- even with the vaccine, you can easily just get sick from another type of flu.

My neighbor who is a medical professional is not getting his child the swine flu vaccine either. He says that really, it has not been largely tested in a complete way on kids and that this round of kids will be the guinea pigs for it in the US, whatever the promotions for it are saying.

My son is 10 and healthy younger people are not the highest risk group for dying from swine flu- people who are in their 30s and older are.

I would rather just be extra careful about handwashing, etc. and not load him up with more chemicals, including mercury and ethanol before we really know how effective it even is. He has had all of his childhood shots, but even if he gets this, it is just another flu.

A friend of mine who works in a hospital has already had it. She was sick for about 5 days and said it was pretty miserable- but just like regular flu, only with a sore throat. But now she is immune and won't get it again! They don't even KNOW for sure if the H1N1 vaccine will give immunity.

Of course I don't want him to get sick, but until I really know how well this drug works and what the side effects are on children, I am not giving it to my son.

I will follow the recommendation of my pediatrician, likely leaning towards getting the flu and H1N1 mostly due to the fact that he is in a daycare center and I am also pregnant.

I just had a long conversation with my child's doctor about this yesterday about pros and cons of seasonal and swine flu vaccines.

His take, which I think is totally reasonable is:
if your kid's in daycare, you might as well vaccinate for seasonal flu. It's a known thing, and given the hysteria about flu this year at least as a parent you can say "my kid was vaccinated". Plus, it could save you a case of the flu.

Swine flu was a different story. His take was that given there are some unknowns about the swine flu vaccine (higher amounts of thermisol and how well tolerated it will be w/ young kids) and given that we don't know how prevalent the swine flu will actually end up being this winter, we might as well let a different million kids try it out first. Then in a couple months if it seems like there is a need to vaccinate, we will have a better sense of whether there are likely to be any problems.

So after this conversation we did the seasonal flu, but are not planning to do swine unless there seems to be a good reason to do so.

Yes, my kids have already had their seasonal flu shot and all of their vaccinations. I felt less wary of the "new H1N1 shot" after hearing a pediatrician say that EVERY YEAR the flu shot is different. Each flu shot is like a bottle of wine, there are many types, but they are all made the same way. This is not a "new" shot, just a different mix, same as every other year's flu shots. I felt better after that, though, i believe there are still concerns if your child has egg allergies, etc.

I also heard another pediatrician mention that a dad asked him if it was a good idea to have a "swine flu party" so that his kids and others could infect each other and, therefore, get the immunity. (I think people used to do this for chicken pox or something). Well the pediatrician said that was a HORRIBLE IDEA. NOT ENCOURAGED AT ALL.

Let's hope the flu season is less potent that we fear. Keep washing those hands and coughing and sneezing into your forearm, not hands! There's nothing more effective than that.

I was debating this all the time,never have gotten the flu shot,but this year is different.My son 5 just received the regular flu shot,he was in the ER 2 weeks ago for breathing problems and I don't want to experience that again,I cried my eyes out.Just heard a 14 year old girl died in Texas of the swine flu,I have a 14 year old girl and a 16 year old son as well.They will get all the flu shots this year,too.
I don't know, I think I will feel better this year.

Another absolutely not here. Take a look at the Mercola website and you will get some candid information about it. Be very leary of vaccines as a whole. Make sure to educate yourself before you make your decision. That is the single best thing that you can do for your family. As consumers we don't get the whole story. THe government needs to look out for the whole population but we have to protect our families. As one Mom said and this saddened me a bit, "let the other kids test it out first". Wow! Have we really turned ourselves into guinea pigs?

Seriously, educate yourself so you know the information and I mean go to several websites that provided candid information and not just stuff from the government or panicked parents (although that is important). Just because the majority of the population reacts fine to something doesn't mean that your child/ children will and you will be the one left to pick up the pieces if something happens (god forbid).

After educating myself thorougly, there is no way in he** that I would give my family the swine flu vaccine and the flu shot has enough scary stuff in it to make me run away too. The chances of contracting one of these illnesses is very small. Good hand washing, healthy diet and vitamins is the route we will be taking. Also, I carry sanitizer with me everywhere.

Good luck with your decision. Hope this helps.
N.