Get the H1N1 Vaccine When It is Available For You


With normal flu 90% of the 30,000 people who die in a year in the USA are 65 years or older, but with H1N1 90% of those who are dieing are YOUNGER than 65 years of age

New Scientist covers the relative risks of the H1N1 Vaccine and the H1N1 Flu

* The risk of getting Guillain-Barré from a flu vaccine is almost certainly less than 1 in a million
* the risk of getting Guillain-Barré from the flu itself is more than 40 in a million.
* Swine flu is estimated to have killed 800 people in the US already, or more than 2 in every million so far. These numbers could go up by 50 to 1000 times as the flu season progresses as we are not into the typical peak of the flu season which is January and February.
* And during the first wave of swine flu this summer, 1 out of every 20,000 children aged 4 or under in the US ended up in hospital.

The odds of dying from H1N1 after you get it could be as high as 1 in 200. So if 100 million people got the H1N1 flu in the USA then 500,000 people could die of it. Having more at risk people get vaccinated could reduce the spread of the H1N1 Flu.

UPDATE: Canada will start vaccinating this week The US has been vaccinating and about 6 million people (most health care workers and most at risk people) have been vaccinated.
END UPDATE

H1N1 Vaccine supply is a behind production schedule

The CDC had hoped and their last estimate about expected vaccine that they made several weeks ago was that by the end of October there would be around 40 million doses. The CDC now thinks at most it might be about a 10–about a 10 to 12 million doses less than that by the end of the month. So 30 million doses of vaccine available and distributed by the end of October.

Mid-November should see good availability.

People at greatest risk for 2009 H1N1 infection include children, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart and lung disease.

Ask your doctor if you should get a 2009 H1N1 vaccine.

Three steps to take

Get vaccinated, take disease prevention steps (wash hands, avoid contact with sick people) and take anti-viral drugs if your doctor tells you to.