Public Service: Yes, get the vaccine
Oct. 22nd, 2009 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootOkay, this has come up one my reading lists, so I figured I should give the short version, here.
Very short low-down on swine flu, aka h1n1 novel virus: It's not horribly deadly it just spreads really fast and no one has immunity to speak of, so yes, you should get the vaccine.
Less short but still short low-down: The swine flu is, by and large, no more dangerous than any seasonal flu. It hits with about the same intensity, so we're talking three days to two weeks of general urgh to acute misery. As always, there can be complications that lead to death; that's influenza for you.
The reason it is rated a pandemic is because of how fast and widely it spreads, due to the unfortunate fact that it is a new virus and no one has more than partial immunity. Older people have gotten more flus and have more chance of that partial immunity, young people have less.
The fear, therefore, is mostly that it will hit everyone in an entire area/campus/town all at once and cause severe problems in basic functioning because everyone will be sick at the same time. No groceries, because there's maybe one person well enough to work at the store, no bus routes, no mail, that kind of thing. This is, of course, of especial concern when it comes to health care workers being hit right when they're needed most. If the ambulance drivers and nurses all have 104 fevers for five days, this is a huge problem.
The particular danger signs are intense nausea and the inability to keep food or liquids down, sudden dizziness, shortness of breath, or showing signs of a secondary infection like pneumonia; ignoring those signs and not getting to a hospital if they appear is a stupid thing to do, but that won't stop some people, especially young people who are used to throwing off even bad illnesses. Hence, deaths.
In summary, you should get the vaccine because, even though you may not ever get enough seasonal symptoms to notice, you are probably still a transmitter and the critical point is to stop the spread of this one.
Very short low-down on swine flu, aka h1n1 novel virus: It's not horribly deadly it just spreads really fast and no one has immunity to speak of, so yes, you should get the vaccine.
Less short but still short low-down: The swine flu is, by and large, no more dangerous than any seasonal flu. It hits with about the same intensity, so we're talking three days to two weeks of general urgh to acute misery. As always, there can be complications that lead to death; that's influenza for you.
The reason it is rated a pandemic is because of how fast and widely it spreads, due to the unfortunate fact that it is a new virus and no one has more than partial immunity. Older people have gotten more flus and have more chance of that partial immunity, young people have less.
The fear, therefore, is mostly that it will hit everyone in an entire area/campus/town all at once and cause severe problems in basic functioning because everyone will be sick at the same time. No groceries, because there's maybe one person well enough to work at the store, no bus routes, no mail, that kind of thing. This is, of course, of especial concern when it comes to health care workers being hit right when they're needed most. If the ambulance drivers and nurses all have 104 fevers for five days, this is a huge problem.
The particular danger signs are intense nausea and the inability to keep food or liquids down, sudden dizziness, shortness of breath, or showing signs of a secondary infection like pneumonia; ignoring those signs and not getting to a hospital if they appear is a stupid thing to do, but that won't stop some people, especially young people who are used to throwing off even bad illnesses. Hence, deaths.
In summary, you should get the vaccine because, even though you may not ever get enough seasonal symptoms to notice, you are probably still a transmitter and the critical point is to stop the spread of this one.
Re: Hi thar, wall o'text o'mine!
Date: 2009-10-22 04:52 pm (UTC)I do understand the concern about testing and side effects, but I also feel that a vaccine being released quickly suggests that the researchers themselves feel there is a greater risk involved in not releasing it.
I work on a residential campus, and if I could trust, for one tiny second, that the people putting off getting the h1n1 vaccine /would/ practice better hygiene, I'd be a whole lot happier. Since they don't, and I suspect they're representative of their age bracket, I will continue to recommend that they get it.
Re: Hi thar, wall o'text o'mine!
Date: 2009-10-22 08:30 pm (UTC)Also, although I would be entirely willing to give the researchers the benefit of the doubt about their reasons for releasing early, they aren't gods. I'm not saying they're evil people raking in their dough laughing manically under a volcano somewhere, only that if you're rushing something and not taking the time to test it fully, you may miss something. I am not personally likely to be in contact with a lot of sick people/possibly sick people this season, and so have personally considered the risk benefits FOR ME and come to a different conclusion.
(Also, like to point out that "people putting off getting the h1n1 vaccine" despite believing it in there best interests are probably not the same people who have done their research and deliberately made a different choice. Which, in the end, is my whole point.)
Re: Hi thar, wall o'text o'mine!
Date: 2009-10-22 09:05 pm (UTC)*nods* I have no issues with making an informed cost-benefit choice.