Safety Of The H1N1 Vaccine And Pregnancy
In recent years vaccines have taken a hit. It used to be that vaccines were trusted, no questions asked. It took vaccines to knock out Smallpox. Today, many people question the safety of vaccines, some attribute vaccines to the cause of Autism. The H1N1 vaccine has been met with skepticism, and it’s no wonder when you turn on the TV and see study after study with different conclusions. Most vaccines are safe and effective against the targeted disease, and stay the same, year after year. Not so with flu vaccines.
With flu vaccines, scientists have to guess what strains will be the dominant strain that season, then create a cocktail of dead viruses for that years vaccine. Sometimes they miss the strongest strain and that seasons vaccine is not as effective. Add to this, the flu viruses are always changing and mutating. The virus can change the shape of it’s receptors that allow it to link to the human cells and begin infection.
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With H1N1, this is a new flu virus, or one that has been dormant for a long time, hence the higher immunity for people born before 1950. They must have had contact with this virus, or a similar one, at some time, and developed antibodies against it. The perception with the H1N1 vaccine is that it is a completely new vaccine, and that is true. It is also true that if the virus had been noticed earlier, it would have been included in the normal seasonal flu vaccine, and most people would have never known the difference. So, is this vaccine safe? That’s for you to decide, but consider the following. The vaccine is made in the exact same way the seasonal flu vaccine is made. As I stated earlier, it would have been included in the seasonal vaccine, if discovered in time for production. Since the vaccine is produced the same way as the seasonal vaccine, there are still people who should avoid it, especially people allergic to eggs.
One of the major worries about the H1N1 vaccine concerns pregnant women. A lot of pregnant women, and future fathers, are worried about the vaccines link to autism. While the jury is still out on the vaccine-autism link, there are things to consider. The H1N1 virus is deadly to pregnant women and their unborn child. You have to ask yourself, which would be worse, taking the vaccine and having a healthy pregnancy and child, with an extremely low chance of autism (if any), or the death of both the mother and child from H1N1 flu? Even if a pregnant woman catches the virus and lives through it, there are cases where the illness leads to severe mental birth defects in the child. These birth defects are much more severe than autism, and much more likely than vaccine related autism, to occur.
The decision is completely up to the mother, and should be. When making that decision, please weigh the facts above and consider which course of action has the best outcome.
