Poll: Third of parents oppose swine flu vaccine

[Jolie Rouge]

AP Poll: Third of parents oppose swine flu vaccine
Mike Stobbe, Ap Medical Writer
Wed Oct 7, 4:34 pm ET

ATLANTA – As the first wave of swine flu vaccine crosses the country, more than a third of parents don't want their kids vaccinated, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.

Some parents say they are concerned about side effects from the new vaccine — even though nothing serious has turned up in tests so far — while others say swine flu doesn't amount to any greater health threat than seasonal flu.

Jackie Shea of Newtown, Conn., the mother of a 5-year-old boy named Emmett, says the vaccine is too new and too untested. "I will not be first in line in October to get him vaccinated," she said in an interview last month. "We're talking about putting an unknown into him. I can't do that."

The AP poll found that 38 percent of parents said they were unlikely to give permission for their kids to be vaccinated at school.

The belief that the new vaccine could be risky is one federal health officials have been fighting from the start, and they plan an unprecedented system of monitoring for side effects.

They note that swine flu vaccine is made the same way as seasonal flu vaccines that have been used for years. And no scary side effects have turned up in tests on volunteers, including children.

On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appealed for widespread inoculation against swine flu, vouching unconditionally for the vaccine: "We know it's safe and secure."

The AP poll, conducted Oct. 1-5, found 72 percent of those surveyed are worried about side effects, although more than half say that wouldn't stop them from getting the vaccine to protect their kids from the new flu.

Giving flu shots to schoolchildren is also an idea many parents are still getting used to. It was only last year that the government recommendation kicked in for virtually all children to get it. Seasonal flu vaccination rates for children last year ranged from about 48 percent for toddlers to about 9 percent for teens.

It traditionally takes a while for parents to learn about and accept a new vaccine and years for immunization rates to grow, said Dr. Matthew Davis, a University of Michigan Medical School associate professor who has overseen polling on flu issues.

Special swine flu vaccination clinics at schools are being planned in many states. Children are the main spreaders of infectious disease, and if large numbers are coming down with swine flu, there are ripple effects for everyone else.

The AP poll found 59 percent are likely to let their kids be vaccinated at school. But the kind of concerns voiced by parents could put a dent in public health efforts.

A survey Davis directed for C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Michigan suggested one reason for rejecting the vaccine is that about half of parents said they did not consider swine flu any worse than the seasonal bug.

"Basically, the swine flu is the flu. I'm not overly excited about it," said Julie Uehlein, a Tullahoma, Tenn., mother who is against swine flu vaccinations for her 8-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter.

"My concerns about the vaccine are what are the long-term effects," she added.

Some, like Shea, recall the 1976 swine flu immunization campaign that vaccinated 40 million Americans against an epidemic that never materialized. Worse, many who got the shots back then filed injury claims blaming health problems on the vaccine, with some reporting a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Health officials did not find evidence the vaccine caused the condition, noting it occurs naturally anyway and would be bound to show up in such a large group. Many people were unjustifiably blaming all sorts of health problems on the vaccine, some health experts believe.

That's why the government is already trying to educate people about how common many health problems are, and why it's handing out cards telling people how to report any side effects.

For some parents, fears are compounded by worries about thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that will be in roughly 60 percent of the 225 million swine flu doses ordered for Americans.

The preservative is not in the FluMist nasal spray, which can be given to healthy kids age 2 and older. But it's in many injectable doses, which are packaged in multi-dose vials that require thimerosal to prevent bacterial contamination.

Fears that the preservative or something in vaccines themselves can lead to autism remain entrenched in some quarters — despite no evidence from the most rigorous scientific studies.

Some autism advocacy groups echo parents' concerns about swine flu vaccine, and also argue it's a bad idea to spend so much time and money on the new flu.

"We're flipping out over swine flu, but it's only affected a few thousand people. Why isn't somebody freaking out about the autism epidemic?" said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association.

Vaccine makers are sensitive to demand for preservative-free shots. Parents can ask their doctors to order preservative-free, single-dose vaccine for their kids, said Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

As for his own two school-age children, Frieden said in a recent interview: "I would have no hesitation about getting my kids vaccinated by thimerosal-containing vaccines."

Health officials and many parents are strong believers in the vaccine, and warn about the potential dangers of a virus that has caused at least 9,000 U.S. hospitalizations and at least 600 deaths, including 60 children.

Jennifer Barnes enrolled herself and her two children in one of the government studies of the new vaccine, seizing an opportunity to get them all immunized before the illness became widespread.

"I thought, 'This is an opportunity to get the kids vaccinated, and I better jump on it,'" said Barnes, 32, a speech language pathologist who lives in Decatur, Ga.

Barnes said she gets her kids vaccinated against flu each year not only for their own health but to protect others. "My kids hang around kids who might have lowered immune systems. I would hate for them to get something and pass it on," she said.

Shea said she appreciates those arguments, but she's hesitated to talk about swine flu vaccine with other parents, who seem polarized on the topic. "There's the crunchy granola group" against flu vaccinations, she said, "and the very staunch, follow everything group" who extol them.

She also worries that swine flu could become more widespread and dangerous than it is now. If that happens, she said, she would probably try to get her son vaccinated, though she's aware there are risks in waiting, too.

"It's one of those things where you're almost damned if you do, damned if you don't," she said.

The AP-GfK poll was based on a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults age 18 or older, contacted by telephone on land lines and cell phones. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for all adults, 5.2 percentage points for parents.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/...BvbGx0aGlyZG8-

On the Net: U.S. government swine flu Web site: http://www.flu.gov

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[gmyers]

I don't know if they should be allowed to go to school till they get it. They could get sick and spread it to other kids.

[lisarae]

Well, I am in the "wait and see category". My kids pediatrician, says to absolutely get it. She said that every year the flu vaccine is a new vaccine, just as swine flue vaccine is new. All thats different is the type of flu, or strain.. Im Still not 100% sure about it. Even though a good friend of mine who is a nurse, says that Australia has been issuing this swine flu vaccine for a year. Right now, we are having shortages in the flu and swine flu vaccines here at my kids office.

[Jolie Rouge]

The way I understand it : the "flu" has something like 160+ strains. Every year the CDC studies the trends and "forecasts" the three or four strains most likely to be prevelant in the following year and manufacture the vaccine based on this information. This is why you can get the "flu shot" and still get the flu, it is a different strain then those the vaccine covered. The swine flu was such a problem becasue it came out of left field and wasn't one they forecast ( ie: guessed ) would be an issue, added to that the H1N1 is a rapid cycling virus that can mutate making a manufacture vaccine if not useless, certainly less effective.


No matter how you look at it, it is a gamble and you are just playing the odds. Peopel who are "high risk" with immune systems that are weakened are suscepitble to getting the H1N1 virus and then secondary infections, which are usually the COD.

[jeanea33]

I am really undecided by this shot. It is true we get new shots every year. But they have 4 or 5 different strains of flu shots. They just have to decided which one to make for that year. This one hasn't been tested. If it has why is the CDC following the ones receiving it. I think everyone has to make the discision for their family. I personally am going to pass on this one. I guess time will tell if I regret my decision.

[okie]

My kids aren't getting it.

[Jolie Rouge]

Do you plan to allow your children to receive the new swine flu vaccine ?
Yes, first in line ! 1 - 6.25%
I plan to wait and see.... 3 - 18.75%
Absolutley not. 10 - 62.50%
Who cares ... I don't know why I even answered this poll ... 2 - 12.50%

Voters: 16.

[gmyers]

They said on the news tonight that 76 kids have died from the swine flu so far. And they said the flu season is just starting.

[YankeeMary]

I don't know if they should be allowed to go to school till they get it. They could get sick and spread it to other kids.

Do you have children? If so would you like it if you were forced to have your child vaccinated against your wishes? I don't think it is up to the government or anyone else to tell me what to put in my childs body. If your child doesn't get the shot, they can't go to school, if they don't go to school then you as a parent go to jail. Thats real fair.
Since you feel this way are you willing to be responsible for the children that are forced to be vaccinated and something bad happens to them? Someone has to take responsiblity for it.

[gmyers]

Do you have children? If so would you like it if you were forced to have your child vaccinated against your wishes? I don't think it is up to the government or anyone else to tell me what to put in my childs body. If your child doesn't get the shot, they can't go to school, if they don't go to school then you as a parent go to jail. Thats real fair.
Since you feel this way are you willing to be responsible for the children that are forced to be vaccinated and something bad happens to them? Someone has to take responsiblity for it.

I'm not saying anyone should be forced to take it but they said 76 kids have died from swine flu this year and the swine flu season is just starting they said., Thats what I heard on the news. I'd hate to see anyone lose their child because they didn't get the flu shot. And they say people are already getting it at schools and the school year just started. Its a hard decisision for parents to make. Something could happen if you take it or if you don't. I don't envy anyone having to make that decision.

[Jolie Rouge]

Had flu? You may have H1N1 protection
By Maggie Fox, Health And Science Editor
2 hrs 8 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – People who have had repeated flu infections -- or repeated flu vaccines -- may have some protection against the new pandemic swine influenza, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

They found evidence that the human immune system can recognize bits of the new H1N1 virus that are similar to older, distantly related H1N1 strains. "What we have found is that the swine flu has similarities to the seasonal flu, which appear to provide some level of pre-existing immunity. This suggests that it could make the disease less severe in the general population than originally feared," said Alessandro Sette, director of the Center for Infectious Disease at California's La Jolla Institute.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may also help explain why many older people are less likely to have severe disease, said Allison Deckhut-Augustine of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "Adults may have some pre-existing immunity for H1N1," Deckhut-Augustine said in a telephone interview.

That does not mean older people are protected from infection, and Deckhut-Augustine stressed that people should still be vaccinated against H1N1.

Swine flu has infected millions of people globally and killed an estimated 3,900 in the United States alone, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug makers are struggling to make vaccines and governments are working to vaccinate their populations.

Bjoern Peters and colleagues at the La Jolla Institute looked at flu epitopes -- molecular markers or structures that the immune system recognizes -- dating back 20 years. "We found that the immune system's T-cells can recognize a significant percent of the markers in swine flu," Peters said in a statement.

DUAL PROTECTION

The human immune system has two kinds of protection. Antibody response can prevent infection, while T-cells fight infection once it has occurred.

Peters and colleagues found T-cell protection but not antibody response. "This T-cell response decreases severity of disease but doesn't prevent infection," said Deckhut-Augustine, whose agency helped pay for the study and maintains the public database that Peters used.

The effect could be cumulative, Peters said, which could explain why people over 50 seem to be less likely to get noticeable H1N1 infections. "This may also suggest why children are more susceptible to severe infection and why they might need two boosts," Deckhut-Augustine said. "They haven't been around as long and they haven't been exposed to different strains of H1N1 as long as adults."

Influenza is a very mutation-prone virus and from year to year the circulating strains drift, or change slightly. This is why new vaccines must be formulated each year and why people can catch flu again and again.

The new H1N1 was a never-before-seen combination of swine flu viruses, with a sprinkling of human and avian flu virus genetic sequences. But its long-ago ancestor was an H1N1 virus first seen in the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed upwards of 50 million people.

The researchers found that the new H1N1 swine flu shared 49 percent of its epitopes with older, seasonal H1N1 strains.

Using blood from healthy donors, they found that T-cells could recognize about 17 percent of these markers.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091117/...JlYWR5aGFkdGg-