This is going to be a busy flu season, especially considering that there will be two different flu vaccines available – one for the seasonal flu and the other for H1N1 (swine) flu. There are different recommendations for both vaccines, but only the seasonal flu vaccine is currently available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends any adult who wants to reduce their risk of becoming ill with influenza to get the vaccine. However, if you are on the fence about the decision here is an up-to-date list from the CDC of high risk groups that should not think twice about getting the vaccine:
- persons aged 50 years and older;
- women who will be pregnant during the influenza season;
- persons who have chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except hypertension), renal, hepatic, cognitive, neurologic/neuromuscular, hematological or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus);
- persons who have immunosuppression (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by human immunodeficiency virus;
- residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities;
- health-care personnel;
- household contacts and caregivers of children aged <5 years and adults aged 50 years and older, with particular emphasis on vaccinating contacts of children aged <6 months; and
- household contacts and caregivers of persons with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for severe complications from influenza.
*If you have concerns about thimerosal or other vaccine preservatives, this year’s flu vaccine only comes in two flavors – latex-containing and latex-free. Neither contains thimerosal.
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Tags: CDC, flu, H1N1, influenza, latex, swine, thimerosal, vaccination, vaccine
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
September 25th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Thanks! This is super helpful! Do these guidelines apply to the H1N1 vaccine as well?
September 25th, 2009 at 7:33 am
The last four FLU shot has made me very ill . I would get them from my doctor around Oct. or Nov. and woud get ill thur Jan. or Feb . The last one affected my pulse and blood pressure to the extreme . Pulse would drop to as low as 40 and irregular and blood pressure to as low as 80 over 45 and very ill and tired .
September 25th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I am 80 and very healthy, except for high blood pressure. I am very allergic to the flu shot. My reactions include vomiting and diarrhea for several days. Consequently, I am not sure what to do this year. I haven’t had a flu shot for about 12 years. Thank you for your attention.
September 26th, 2009 at 6:26 am
In October of last year my husband had a flu shot at his work place and began feeling sick a day or two later… , achy, clammy, extremely weak. He felt bad for about a about 8 days, then on Oct. 10th died in his sleep at the age of 49. He was a healthy active man, with no prior heart or BP problems, the autopsy showed that the heart muscle was extremely weak and failed during his sleep ( he had borderline sleep apnea). His last words were “Im going to bed, I hurt all over”. After many doctors reviewed his extensive autopsy they indicated that there was probably a rare viral infection in his heart that caused the heart the fail. I’m sure his case is one in a zillion, but people should know that there are risks, and that lab created vaccinations are subject to human error.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:20 am
This is good considering that I’m severally allergic to thimerosal and Latex, Formaldehyde and mildly allergic to Nickel sulfate. and if you go to the eye docter, when you’re allergic to these chemicals. Be careful and make sure you tell them what you allergies are because I had an allergic reation to the drops they used to dialate my eyes…Two days later I had hives on the insides of my thighs and had to go back on oral steroids in order to get rid of it…just a friendly reminder if you have excema be careful of the vaccines and drops they give you because a lot of these are in eye drops including contact lense solutions, makeup (ie. mascera and eyeliner and eye shadow), cleaning products, shampoos and conditioners, hair dyes, baby products ( I recommend Aveeno because it is free of all these chemicals).
All FREE and Clear and Bounce FRee are excellent products and don’t cause a reaction.
September 26th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Avoid the flu shot at all costs. Use Vitamin D3 at 2000 to 4000 iu’s per day. Its more effective and 1000 times safer than the flu shot
I do not trust the huge pharmacy companies. What they tell you they put in their vaccines is one thing and what they really put into vaccines is top secret. WHY? Is there not honesty in labelling laws.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
You might want to see this before you get ANY vaccines!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/26/Flu-Vaccine-Exposed.aspx
September 30th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Carla what you describe is not as rare as you may think. Most cases go unreported and back in 1978, were the norm as opposed to rarity. The CDC pulled the vaccine only after thousands of folks show up with Lou Gehrig disease and several hundreds had died. Most reactions were not immediate rather delayed. Exact counts of the harm done we’ll never know.
The vitamin D recommendation is well founded and I might add one should consider other supplementation which increases the body’s immune system to ward off both viruses and bacteria.
.
October 31st, 2009 at 6:49 am
The statement that the flu vaccines this year do not contain Thimerosal is not true. The only vaccine (H1N1 & Seasonal) that does not contain Thimerosal is the single-dose vial and the preloaded single dose syringe. All other multi-dose vials contain Thimerosal. If you go to the manufacturer’s websites you can read the package inserts and see this fact. They will also tell you the latex content of the vaccine, which is latex free. The packaging latex content may differ per manufacturer.