Fear that the swine-flu vaccine is unsafe because it was rushed to production ahead of the winter sick season has left many parents willing to skip the immunization and risk the virus.
Tales of vaccine complications, many of them urban myths, are circulating through blog sites and fueling alarm. Added to that is a sense the H1N1 flu isn’t much worse than typical seasonal flu, leading some to choose a week’s worth of aches, chills and cough rather than a jab in the arm with what some believe is uncertain effect.
The first batch of swine-flu vaccine — 53,800 doses — will arrive in Colorado next week and go primarily to Denver-area health care workers, the state health department said. Additional doses will arrive weekly.
More than 80 people were hospitalized last week with the flu and six people in Colorado have died, including three age 18 or younger.
Health officials recommend children older than 6 months get the vaccine. Reports that parents are exposing their kids to the flu at “swine-flu parties” to develop natural immunity have outraged some physicians.
“The bottom line is this is very dangerous to children,” said Dr. Margaret Lewin, chief medical director of Cinergy Health. “Are you really going to risk your child’s well-being? This flu vaccine is being tested widely. Why wouldn’t you want your child to have as much immunity as possible?”
Just 35 percent of parents say they definitely will have their children vaccinated against H1N1, according to a Consumer Reports poll released this week.
Almost 70 percent of those parents who said they were undecided or would not have their children vaccinated said they wanted them to build natural immunities. About 65 percent of those parents said they were worried about whether the vaccine had been tested enough.
“It’s worrisome,” said Dr. Orly Avitzur, medical adviser for Consumer Reports and a practicing neurologist. “It surprised us, particularly with children.”
The poll found that 43 percent of parents were not worried one of their children might get swine flu, which helps explain why the number of parents intending to get their kids vaccinated was lower than expected, Avitzur said.
She called it “unfortunate” that the Internet is full of misinformation about the vaccine, including false reports about deaths linked to the immunization and the government forcing people to take it with the help of the military. Many of the fears emanate from the 1976 swine-flu vaccine, which was associated with a higher rate of the debilitating Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Dr. Meryl Nass, who works at Mount Desert Island Hospital in Maine and runs a vaccine-safety blog, said parents who are worried about the vaccine have good reason. She says immunization technology “actually hasn’t come that far” since the 1976 mass inoculation. “I don’t think this (H1N1 vaccine) will cause Guillain-Barre, but nobody thought that vaccine would cause Guillain-Barre,” she said.
Nass said the federal government should have invested more money in figuring out how to save people with severe cases of flu. Also, she said it’s unclear whether the vaccine will protect 50 percent to 70 percent of people, similar to seasonal-flu vaccines, or more like 10 percent or 20 percent. “That’s a good thing to know before you embark on a mass vaccination program,” she said.
Gigi Christensen of Louisville is among the parents who will not get the H1N1 or seasonal-flu vaccines for her children, who are 8 and 13.
“I just am really cautious,” said Christensen, who is studying to become a nutritionist and feeds her family foods with natural immunity boosts, including elderberry lozenges. “The flu has been around for years, and usually you survive it. If we are going to vaccinate for everything, our immune systems are never going to be challenged, and what does that mean for our immune systems down the road?”
Christensen also said fear about the flu pandemic was “a little bit blown out of proportion.”
Certainly, advertisers have used the swine-flu scare to sell everything from anti-bacterial soaps (even though the flu is caused by a virus, not bacteria) to wet wipes.
Federal officials approved the H1N1 vaccine after a series of trials across the country this summer. The same drug companies that make the seasonal-flu immunization are producing the swine-flu vaccine with similar technology.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s safe to get the seasonal and H1N1 flu shots on the same day. High-priority candidates for the vaccine include pregnant woman, people with infants younger than 6 months, health care workers, people 24 years old and younger, and people older than 24 who have other health conditions.
State health officials said seasonal- flu vaccines “have a very good safety track record” and they expect the same of the H1N1 vaccine.
“Life-threatening allergic reactions to vaccines are very rare,” said Mark Salley, spokesman for the state health department. “If they do occur, it is usually within a few minutes to a few hours after the shot is given.”
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
What’s an emergency and what’s not
The state health department is concerned people with flu symptoms are crowding emergency rooms unnecessarily.
“For most people, the H1N1 flu is an unpleasant illness, similar to seasonal flu, but an illness they can weather at home with rest, fluids and over-the- counter fever medications,” said Ned Calonge, the state’s chief medical officer.
People who may need to see a doctor:
• Infants and young children
• Pregnant women
• People 65 years of age and older (for seasonal flu only)
• People with lung disease, heart disease, cancer, HIV, kidney disease, diabetes, neurological and neuromuscular diseases
Warning signs in children that would require a doctor or emergency-room visit:
• Difficulty breathing or fast breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Fever lasting more than three days
• dehydration
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Irritable and not wanting to be held
• Flulike symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
