From Flu Shots To Famous Kids

I know every family has to make its own decisions about whether or not to vaccinate their children, but as a doctor who has seen some terrible cases of some of these diseases (measles, chicken pox, etc.) and knows about the devastating effects of others, I have long been a proponent of the usual childhood vaccinations. Like most parents, though, when a new vaccine comes out, I too hesitate, and do my research before we give it to our children.

Which brings me to the H1N1 vaccine. Look on the internet and you can find websites shouting that all vaccines are poisons, and you can find others that proclaim that it should be mandatory that all health care workers get the H1N1 vaccine. I have been in a quandary with this one, especially since I am pregnant, and it has been reported that pregnant women make up 6% of H1N1 deaths, even though they only make up 1% of the population.

So, I did a lot of research, throwing out the wacky websites on both sides of the vaccine argument. On the one hand it was new, meaning that side effects might not truly be known for a while. On the other hand, it was supposedly being made in the same manner as the seasonal flu vaccine. Then I read that potentially the government could, in time of emergency, allow the drug manufacturers to bypass the FDA and add adjuvants to the vaccine, even though some were not yet approved in the USA. Adjuvants are substances that stimulate your immune system and the reason they would add them is so that they could use less vaccine in each dose and thus be able to make more vaccines. One mentioned was potentially linked to the Gulf War Syndrome and another one possibly to infertility in rats. We decided that if any of those were in the vaccine, we would not get it.

Just last week, they opened up an H1N1 vaccine clinic to the public and pregnant women and health care workers were the only ones allowed to get it. So I contacted the health department and demanded to know what was in the vaccine. I talked with a very helpful person who looked it up for me, even though he had never heard of "adjuvants" before. He was able to find out that the vaccine in Kansas did not contain any of those substances and that it in fact did not contain anything different than the seasonal flu vaccine other than the inactivated H1N1 virus itself. I was reassured by that and decided to get it, but before I could get there, they ran out of the injection form of the vaccine.

It seems to be a day-to-day thing at this clinic as to when they'll be open, what form of the vaccine they'll have, and who can get it. Wednesday evening I found out that they would have both forms of the vaccine available the next day and that children up to age 4 would be included. So yesterday afternoon we arrived at 1:45 pm and it took us 5 minutes just to walk to the end of the line, which was way outside the building. Another 35 minutes and we made it to the door. Looking inside at the line snaking its way back and forth across a warehouse size room was enough to make me lose heart, but we stuck with it and kept waiting. The kids (I had Dominic, Anne, and Joseph with me) were exceptionally good somehow. I think they were entertained seeing all the people, especially all the other little kids and babies. Finally we made it to a doorway where a woman stood and quizzed everyone, checking to make sure we all fit the criteria to receive the vaccine. We were directed to a table where a woman gave me a clipboard with 4 long forms to fill out, one for each of us. I groaned inwardly, but we sat in some nearby chairs and I filled them out as fast as I could. That being done, we went to another line where a worker checked to make sure I filled them out correctly (I didn't, so I had to fix them, oops!), then to another table where a woman looked over the form and highlighted the important parts that would tell the vaccine givers at a glance what form to give. Then we got in another line and finally it was our turn!

Now, after our experience with the seasonal flu mist and the kids having meltdowns, I didn't even mention what we were waiting in line for. First, I got a shot and Dominic was fascinated by the fact that he saw some blood. Next, Joseph sat on my lap and the PA giving the shot said oh, the kids usually don't like this, even though it doesn't hurt. He gave it to Joseph and Joseph just laughed. The man was impressed, and I thought, yeah, that was probably the easy one. Anne, who screamed bloody murder last time, then hopped up on my lap and smiled the whole time while she got it. Well, well got off easy there. But, I knew that Dominic would have to have a shot, since he has asthma, so I was prepared for some crying. Well, what do you know? He didn't make a peep! Wow, getting the vaccine was the easiest part of the whole thing. By the time we made our way out of the building, it had been 1.5 hours.

Okay, if you've read this far, you might be wondering what this has to do with famous kids. Well, I will tell you. As we escaped into the fresh air and bright sunshine, there was a cameraman waiting for us. I had just seen him inside, so he must have targeted us there. He asked if he could ask a few questions and I consented. Then by the time we got home and collapsed and recovered (well, me, anyway, the kids didn't slow down a bit!), I had forgotten about it. Just as we were finishing a Halloween candy fest after dinner, the phone rang and it was one of Dan's sisters: "I just saw your kids on the news!" We stayed up for the 10:00 news and sure enough, there were the kids and little Anne calmly answering questions like she does it all the time. So cute!

The vaccine did not seem to affect the kids whatsoever. I got a bit of fever, body aches and a headache, but that is gone now. Just tired today, so we are taking it easy and enjoying the beautiful weather!