Pregnant in the Time of Swine Flu
By Glinda
Yes, I know it’s supposed to be called H1N1, but that just does not have the same ring to it, does it?
I’ve tried to stay relatively calm, though it’s a little hard when there are headlines screaming at you that “PREGNANT WOMEN AMONG HIGHEST MORTALITY RATES DUE TO SWINE FLU” and the like.
At first, I didn’t know exactly why we were at so much more risk than everyone else, and then I finally read that it was because the baby decreases your lung capacity, which makes a secondary infection of pneumonia more likely.
Great.
And then there is just the seeming randomness of whom the flu strikes. Some people have to stay in bed for a few days, yet others, similarly healthy, find themselves in the hospital. I think that’s what bothers me the most.
Even though they told me that I would be getting the vaccine in mid-September, I’ve yet to receive it. And as a person in one of the highest-risk groups, you would have thought I would have gotten it by now. Which really sort of annoys me, because it’s going to be too late by the time it does arrive, and I would have liked for my baby to develop the antibodies from it as well. The antibodies for her would be limited, but at least it would be something. I’m not a vaccine-avoider, which I think too many people are.
So far, only the Munchkin has gotten vaccinated, and that is only of a certain value because he has to be vaccinated twice, and won’t be able to get the second one until late November.
All I’m reading in the newspapers is how widespread the flu is in pretty much every state, and it’s only a matter of time. Makes me sort of want to not go anywhere in public, you know? There’s got to be some sort of bubble I can rent and travel around in.
In the meantime, my husband and I are still waiting, as it is still important that we get vaccinated even after our daughter arrives, since as an infant, her immune system will be underdeveloped.
Way to go CDC! Way to completely drop the ball!
October 29th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I don’t envy you Glinda. I was pregnant during the last swine flu outbreak in the 70s and agonized over the advisability of getting the vaccine. My doctor (not my OBGYN) finally said go for it and I did. Vaccine was also in much more plentiful supply then than it is now, which begs the question, what has changed?
Unfortunately I don’t know the answer. In addition to all that, no one in my area seems to be able to get a regular old flu shot. The clinics and drug stores keep telling me that all of the drug companies have switched over to making the H1N1 vaccine so the other is in shorter supply. OK, so then where is all this H1N1 vaccine?
I got a call from my Dr. this morning saying they had gotten some regular flu vaccine in and come in right away. Before I could even brush my teeth I got another call saying they had used all 70 doses in less than a half hour. It’s a losing game. I figure one way or another I’m gettin’ the flu this year.
I wish you the best of luck. It ain’t easy living in the modern age.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I didn’t get the H1N1 vac, only the regular flu vac, in September. I didn’t know that ANYONE was able to get the H1N1 vaccine yet… is this certain areas of the country, or healthcare providers? My SIL works in a labor and delivery ward in a military hospital and I’m pretty sure she only got the regular flu vaccine.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
It’s real patchy. Perhaps your son’s pediatrician might give you the vaccine? My daughter’s doc just got some this week, and I had her vaccinated. But my doc doesn’t know WHEN they’ll get any.
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.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:02 am
You know, I’m one of the people who don’t get flu vaccines every year, though I think it’s important infants and children get vaccinated for polio, smallpox, etc. My reasoning is that the scientists and researchers who make the flu vaccine are just guessing as to what the dominant flu strain is going to be in the upcoming flu season. What’s the point of getting vaccinated if another strain is going around and I get sick anyway?
October 30th, 2009 at 12:48 am
As someone with a badly compromised immune system, I’m supposed to get the flu shot every year, which I normally forget, and which I forgot this year as well, despite the Hamthrax being in every headline. And guess what? I’m the second blogger in the Manolosphere to be felled by the narsty virus. And it’s really, really narsty, take it from me.
You could always fly up to Canuckistan; they’re giving it out at malls here.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I actually got the swine flu vaccine yesterday at my OB appointment! I was really surprised that they had it.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
You’re lucky Glinda. My friend is in the DC area and can’t find a single place that has it. Where I live they are out of both regular and H1N1 vaccines. I managed to get both, but only because the hospital I work at was giving them out to employees who are in direct patient care.
October 31st, 2009 at 5:03 pm
You’re luckier than we are, raincoaster. There’s a shortage of it out our way. Originally, they were limiting it to high-risk groups, one category being caretakers of children under 6 months old. Now, because supply is so limited, we’ve been bumped, and it’s only pregnant women, little kids, and healthcare workers getting it. So I’m nervous as hell, and more than a little annoyed.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:42 am
Many people are not vaccine avoiders so much as they are actively choosing not to vaccinate. I don’t believe this is wrong, there are excellent reasons to avoid many vaccines, and the case can be made for avoiding all of them. The science and research to support this idea is all there, including relevant lawsuit results awarding significant damages to those affected by the vaccines–many are linked to all kinds of neurological diseases. The swine flu vaccine of the 70’s, in particular, has been linked to Guillain Barre disease; the link between autism and MMR vaccine, in particular, is so strongly acknowledged that some countries like Sweden no longer allow its use on their populations. There are excellent reasons for people to choose against vaccines, just as there are reasons for people to choose to be vaccinated.
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.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I’m not sure there are excellent reasons to not vaccinate, although I don’t have as big of a problem with people who choose not to vaccinate against something like the flu versus more serious diseases.
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
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
this is a lie:
“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).