Ok, I've been telling myself I won't blog about this, because everyone else is sick to death of hearing about it, but I just needed to vent it out.
I really don't know what to do about the H1N1 shot. Right now, I have some time to think, because my Dr.'s office hasn't started offering it yet, and the clinics are only focusing on the high risk groups, which we do not (thankfully) fall into. Well, L could technically go, as they are doing children 5 and under, but then he is very close to 6 now and I am not doing it all separately. If we're going, we're all going together.
I have to say, I'm scared. Scared of the needle, scared of the pain (this coming from a woman who gave birth twice without the aid of drugs) and scared of the repercussions. "They" say it is safe. "They" say it is necessary. But that's what "they" said about thalidomide (the anti-nausea drug they gave women in the 60's? 70's? and caused MAJOR birth defects) and countless other drugs. Who knows what will happen 6 months down the road, or a year or five?
I wasn't too pro-vaccinations to begin with. I put off getting my own boys vaccinated until I felt their little bodies were strong enough to handle all that nasty foreign matter being injected into them. And the whole Autism link freaked me out too. I know, I know, there isn't any kind of conclusive evidence, but that doesn't wash with me. The scariest part was the stories of SIDS after babies had their shots. No one can conclusively link the two, but....
So I don't like the idea of injecting all that stuff into our bodies. How do we know that all these shots won't cause cancer down the road? It's too far away to link it, but how come almost every single person I know is touched by cancer in some way?
We are living in a chemical world. Everything we touch is man-made practically. It's all plastic, or some form of polypropylene or the like. We eat off it, drink from it, bathe in it, sit on it, wear it, ride it, and unless you are lucky enough to afford all organic food, we eat it.
So if I can prevent at least a small amount of extra chemicals from leeching into my kids' bodies, I want to. I just can't decide which risk is greater.
Oh I totally agree! That's my fear with the vaccine.....what are they going to find out 5 years from now that was caused from this vaccine?? But for me, it's that possibility, or the possibility of severe complications (or worse) from this flu. I can't can't take that risk.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a huge dilemma. I would hate for any of my kids to get sick from H1N1 and for something bad to happen. They get regular vaccinations, yet ... none of us have had any flu shot over the years. I've never had one, my DH never has, and none of our three kids have.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to tell if all they hype about H1N1 is scare tactics, or if it's really that big a deal. At the moment, kids 5 and under get half the shot on the first visit and the second half 21 days later. Apparently, the vaccine isn't effective until 10 days after you've had a full dose.
We're lucky that only one child is in school, and her SK class is fairly segregated (own classrooms, own bathrooms in the classrooms, a "pen" outside that they play in) and that we don't do daycare. Our exposure is fairly limited.
So ... we're likely not getting the H1N1 vaccination for any of us. But back in my mind, I'm still thinking the "what if" scenarios ...