Ok so I will be the first person to say I was totally against getting the H1N1 vaccine for Addison. I think the media has done a great job making parents scared of vaccines and really question how much good they do verse the bad they "could" do. Charles and I have not bought into the whole autism arguement because we have not been able to find any medical data supporting those claims...we have found most of thos eclaims come from Hollywood but that is just our opinion. I do however agree with spacing out vaccines because I do not like how a 10 pound baby receives the same dose as my 6 pound baby.
Recently many people I know have become ill with the swine flu, two are pregnant women who both were hospitalized. After one of my close friends got sick over the weekend I decided I needed to do some research to see why I had this bad impression about the vaccine. The last thing in the world I wanted is for our 7 month old to end up in the hospital because she has the swine flu. After researching on the web for a bit I found what the negative stigma is about the vaccine. (please forgive my incorrect medical terminology) There are two different types of injectable vaccines. One is drawn out of a multi dose vile and the other is a signle dose pre-packaged syringe. The multi-dose vial contains a preservative that does have minimal amounts of mercury BUT the single dose does not have any mercury/preservative!!! Both contain a NON-active strand of the influenza virus so it will not make your baby sick (the nasal mist does have an active strand). Addison and I went to the doctor this morning because Addy needed her booster shot for the seasonal flu and Charles and I decided to get her vaccinated for H1N1 if AND ONLY if our doctor had the single dose syringe available. The nurses looked at me funny when I asked if the H1N1 was a drawn out of a vile or if it was the single dose. It was in fact drawn from a vile and I told them I didn't want it. They asked me why and told me it did not contain any preservatives. I questioned them so they went back to check and of course it did. We were lucky because they only had two single doses left and Addison was able to get one of those.
So basically if you are thinking about getting the H1N1 vaccine for your child you can request the single dose shot if the mercury makes you feel a litle uncomfortable. Make sure you question the nurses because in our case they did not know for sure. Addison will have to get her booster shot 28 days later so she will not actually be immune to the virus until two weeks AFTER the booster shot. Sorry this is so long but I wish someone would have told me my options upfront!
