Swine flu vaccine fears persist; workplaces defend against virus
Two recent stories about the swine flu pandemic reflect persistent fears about the vaccine and reveal how work places are gearing up to protect their employees from the virus.
First off: the worries. For weeks, it's become a mantra of public health officials and infectious disease experts: the swine flu vaccine is safe. Make sure you get one.
Nevertheless, parents are still very uneasy about the vaccine. A recent article by our colleague Meredith Cohn found parents who fear the inoculation hasn't been thoroughly tested and others who worry about giving their small children too many vaccines. Others are bewildered by the onslaught of information about the virus and the development of the vaccine. An Associated Press poll last week found that a third of parents oppose giving their children the vaccine. At a dinner party I attended Saturday night, I heard the same fears repeated by moms.
And yet, public health officials are quick to note that children are more vulnerable to this new flu. In fact, a 14-yearold Baltimore girl with no underlying health problems died of the virus two weeks ago. I expect officials' get-the-shot urgings will not end any time soon.
Meanwhile, workplaces are making sick leave policies more lenient, developing contingency plans in the event of mass absenteeism and even offering cool incentives to their workers who get a swine flu shot. We told you about the former on the blog a few weeks ago -- Pinnacle Communications employees who get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus, get an hour of personal training and a free day off. Cool.
Hoping to keep businesses productive this winter, workplaces everywhere are driving home one message: get vaccinated and you fall ill, stay home.
Comments
I'm not surprised at parent's resistance to the new vaccine. People are still suspicious of the connection between autism and vaccines. Anything done so quickly makes you wonder if there was enough testing. On the other hand, it's a difficult decision for a parent to make. You always think, "my child won't get sick". But then there's the chance...
Schools are looking at their policies for doctor's notes when children are out after a certain number of days. Encouraging parents to keep children home when sick and realizing that they may not get to the doctor's office.
Everyone's bracing for the worst and hoping for the best. Everyone is looking at disaster and emergency planning. I'm off to Costco's.
Posted by: Carolyn | October 12, 2009 10:05 PM
For any parents still on the fence about getting their children (or themselves) vaccinated for H1N1, consider what Kelly reported yesterday in her story on the 10th death in Maryland:
"In an analysis of the H1N1 hospitalizations in 10 states from April through August, the agency found that even healthy people are becoming seriously ill from the virus. Of the 1,400 adult hospitalizations and 500 child hospitalizations, 45 percent did not have an underlying health problem."
I understand some people are concerned about the safety of this vaccine. The fact of the matter, according to CDC's Thomas Frieden, is this vaccine "is made as flu vaccine is made each year. By the same companies. In the same production facilities. With the same procedures. With the same safety, safeguards. Literally hundreds of millions of people vaccinated against flu with flu vaccine made in this way. That enables us to have a high degree of confidence in the safety of the vaccine. It has an excellent safety record."
Study after study bears this out.
So given that 45% of kids who end up in the hospital with H1N1 were perfectly healthy before they got sick, why take that chance? I know I won't be with my 2-year-old daughter.
Posted by: Brian | October 14, 2009 9:50 AM