“the link between autism and MMR vaccine, in particular, is so strongly acknowledged…”

There is NO credible scientific evidence that there is any link between MMR and autism. There is GOOD scientific evidence that there is no link between MMR and autism–one study at least from the Kaiser Permanente databases in California, demonstrating that despite exclusion of thimerosal from all childhood vaccines since 2002 the incidence of autism has continued to rise unabated. Autism can be a devastating neurodevelopmental disease and no one really understands what leads to it, nor is the rise in incidence understood (much may be due to increased awareness and diagnosis), but it is time to move on from blaming vaccines.

The whole swine flu vaccine thing is a tough one. I don’t understand the deal with the vaccine–the distribution has been through the cdc and health departments, and not regular providers (at least in the state I live in), and so the “roll-out” has been different than seasonal flu. Tennessee apparantly delivered all their vaccines much more smoothly; DC has been a nightmare from all reports. Think a lot of it has depended upon the state systems and how each locality chose to handle distribution. Also it might have been better from a PR perspective to not announce that swine flu shots would be available until, you know, they actually were.

As to why it’s harder to get vaccines made more quickly, I would bet there a lot more regulations to be complied with than there were in the 1970s! Also vaccines don’t reimburse as well as they used to, so a lot of the manufacturers have coalesced/scaled back (I think there are only a few manufacturers now of most major vaccines, as opposed to having a lot of competitors).

I’ve seen the science and those that claim that current vaccines are harmful don’t have a lot of support on their side. They may have people who claim things, but as far as actual studies go, I’m not convinced in any way that there are excellent reasons to not protect your children against diseases that in years past, maimed and killed.

What people who avoid vaccines do is count on everyone else to vaccinate, and thus depend on “herd immunity” which I feel is irresponsible. In fact, a newspaper article I just read highlighted specific schools in my area where there are extremely high populations of children who are unvaccinated, thus putting themselves and all other children at the school at risk of contracting one or more of the diseases that is entirely preventable.

Oddly enough, they are in areas that are wealthy and supposedly educated. I say supposdely educated because I can’t believe that so many people are willing to blatantly ignore dozens of scientific studies that say the vaccines are safe, just to feed a paranoia.

In fact, they almost remind me of creationists in their zeal to ignore facts.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience/all/1

The thing is, one must be educated about the choices and consequences of vaccinations before choosing whether or not to become vaccinated, or choosing to expose children to vaccines. There are valid arguments either way, and valid science either way; but what I’m seeing right now with the H1N1 and flu vaccine “demand” this year is a full rotation, full bore hysteria media campaign telling people they MUST get the shot and then telling them the shot is NOT available, generating panic (in Canada you get an H1N1 flu vaccine hysteria update every 15 minutes on every single news channel, TV or radio, round the clock). It’s creating a crazed demand for the vaccine as well as for Tamiflu (Rumseld and Cheney and the Bush family all profit handsomely from that drug’s sales, how timely). There is no discussion in the media about whether the shot is at all necessary, there is only half news or no news about parents who have legitimate concerns about the shot’s high thimerosol content and its effect on themselves and or their children; and just to scare us all a little further against our reason, a great deal of hoo hah about the miniscule (especially when compared to the ordinary annual flu’s) death rate. There’s a lot of manipulation going on in public health right now, and my instincts tell me that so much effort to coerce people into buying something they don’t need can only mean one thing: big profits to be made at the expense of our health.

You could always fly up to Canuckistan; they’re giving it out at malls here.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say the CDC has dropped the ball. These vaccines can only be made so quickly, and from what I’ve heard, they are taking longer to process (in the eggs) than was expected. There’s not much they can do about that.

I hope you are able to get the vaccine. And for seasonal flu as well, since that’s hard on pregnant women, too.