Mr. Mom I am not

H1N1 and Kids

 
What the bug looks like

Any one with kids is probably worried about the swine flu right now.  With all the media hype and attention and the lack of vaccine it feels to some like Russian roulette to take the kids out in public.  I know some people didn't take their kids trick or treating for fear of the flu.  Churches have taken precautions such as omitting hand shakes during the peace offering and wine during communion.  Everyday we are blasted with reports of children dying and long lines for flu shots.  How can this happen here in the United States?  Who is to blame? After all it must be somebody's fault.

At first I wasn't concerned with flu shots for the kids including the swine flu shot. After all 30,000 to 40,000 people die in the US each year from seasonal flu and its complications.  And of course the news media didn't help.  Once they start telling us about a huge crisis I usually tune out.  After all, to paraphrase a famous newspaper man from New York, when the news is slow just go out and create a crime spree, in other words report the normal crimes and make it seem like the end of the world.  Plus of course we are told that people my age don't need a swine flu shot because we have built up an immunity from ... getting flu as kids and young adults. Huh?  So wouldn't I want my kids to get flu then?  Yes flu is horrible but if you build up immunities isn't that good?  Also, unlike other childhood vaccines such as polio, measles, etc. the flu vaccines are not nearly as effective and last only one season or are for one type of flu. I wanted to know if the vaccine was worth getting or if it was okay to risk not having it.

So I decided to cut through the 60 second news briefs and research it myself.  Although the swine flu does not statistically kill healthy children it is still can be a horrible flu with much worse effects than normal seasonal flu. The vaccine for swine flu is effective because it is targeted at one type of flu unlike the seasonal shots. And of course the government promised us plenty of vaccine.

Now I am definitely a pro=vaccine guy. I really believe in most of the childhood vaccines including chicken pox vaccine which has started its own controversy.

So I decided to get the swine flu shots for the kids and skip the seasonal flu vaccine. Well of course it doesn't matter what I decided because we can't get them anyway.  And when it comes down to it there are lots of reasons why.  Here are some of the reasons why that I have read. Normal vaccine production time is seven months and it is just seven months now since identifying the virus, three vaccine producers shut down this year because they could not make a profit.  Vaccine had to be produced with out the falsely blamed for autism thermasil and that delayed production, and we use 50 year old vaccine production technology.

In reality maybe things could have been done better but if we think about it since when should we expect a disease to be identified and eradicated within seven months?  Sure I do place blame on the government for hyping up the importance of shots without being able to deliver any and the news media for jumping all over it like it's the next plague.  After all how many times have you seen the word pandemic thrown around?  It isn't a pandemic; I really hope it doesn't get to be one either but if you want to know what one is like watch the PBS special on the 1918 flu.

So now I guess we are stuck comforting ourselves with the "it's not as bad as it sounds" vaccine.  After all it is not a pandemic on the scale of real pandemics. Fewer children have died from it than drown in the toilet each year, and I am not throwing out my toilets.  Even if my kids do get it they are healthy and should be okay.  So we do what we always do. Wash our hands, and try to limit how much strange stuff from out and about they put in their mouths.  When the shots are available we will get them, but of course by then it will probably be like tying to befriend Noah after it starts raining.