28th October 2009

Take 2: H1N1 Vaccine Clinic

Today is all about trying to get my 11-month old vaccinated.  I’ve had three hours of sleep.  I’m without a nanny/sitter for a week now due to her cough.  I’ve got a ton of work to get done, but Melina comes first today.  I tried to get Melina vaccinated the other day, and within the first 2 hours, they ran out of shots (not vaccines, but needles to what I’ve heard).  We had quite the experience as noted in my blog below.

I’ll be updating how the day goes from my cell phone, which is slightly damaged due to moisture, posting to Twitter on www.twitter.com/bizresearchlmt as my cell phone only posts to that account (as opposed to @laurathieme).

My past few days have been based around coordinating business calls and work without a sitter.  But, considering many of the sitters are not getting vaccinated, and are exposed to Ohio State University environments where many students are sick, it’s not worth the risk to Melina.

I could do everything right with Melina, and there could still be problems or complications.  A client mom & friend of mine had her son vaccinated, and four days later he came down with the swine flu.  Guess there are about 12 days before it’s active or effective.  So, I think I’m in for about three more weeks before things get better, or likely in my opinion get worse.

The really cold season brings about worse flu symptoms based on my non-medical experience.  Hearing more information, doing more research on the vaccine itself, as well as those who are getting sick, and some who are dying, I’m all for the vaccine, despite reading Novartis’ disclaimer about testing on pregnant, nursing and children under the age of 4.  It seems that not enough testing has been done on this age group, which Melina falls into.  I’m still nursing, so I’m concerned.  But based on what I’ve read, from credible sources such as CDC’s website, and Novartis, and then less credible sources such as Facebook friends and Twitter feeds on H1N1 - I’m moving forward with this today, if I can get her the vaccine.

I feel the vaccine risks are outweighed by the risks of serious illness, or even death.

On The Early Show this morning, an informal survey indicated that 91% of 100 pediatricians who were polled say that they would recommend H1N1 vaccine.  Only nine doctors saying they were not ordering the vaccine.  While I don’t know if she was polled in this study, I can attest to that.  My pediatrician is one of those pediatricians not ordering the vaccine, but paperwork was a major reason and the need for a dedicated computer and likely other financial resources.

H1N1 clinics are the only option if your doctor is not participating.  One concern I have: the crowds at these clinics.  If you go to protect your child, and eventually you, from H1N1, the chances increase of being exposed to someone who is possibly already sick.

So, we will leave in an hour, or less than that, for the clinic.  I will make one stop to handle some business matters, and then we’ll camp out.  Tune in to my @bizresearchlmt (Twitter account) if you want to see how things are going.  I’ll also post to my personal Facebook account.

Leave a Reply

To reply to this article, please enter your name and write your comment in the textbox below. Some HTML tags are allowed, but others will be stripped if you enter them in your comments.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

More from Laura Thieme: