Should your kids get H1N1 vaccine?

Vaccine for the H1N1 virus is being distributed and will become available soon to the general public. Mary Rose Corrigan, health specialist for the city of Dubuque, answered a few questions regarding what parents should know about the vaccine.

Question: What are the advantages of having your children vaccinated?

Answer: Illness with the 2009 H1N1 virus has ranged from mild to severe. Although most people who have been sick have recovered without needing medical treatment, hospitalizations and deaths from infection with this virus have occurred. Young children also are at high risk of serious complications from the 2009 H1N1 strain, just as they are from seasonal flu.

Question: What are the disadvantages?

Answer: Very few. With any vaccine or medication, there are potential side effects. A vaccine could cause a serious problem, such as a severe allergic reaction. However, the risk of any vaccine causing serious harm or death is extremely small.

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H1N1 vaccine has been killed, so you cannot get influenza from the vaccine. The risks from inactivated 2009 H1N1 vaccine are similar to those from seasonal inactivated flu vaccine. Mild problems include soreness, redness, tenderness or swelling where the shot was given, fainting (mainly adolescents), headache, muscle aches, fever and nausea. If these problems occur, they usually begin soon after the shot and last one to two days.

In the live nasal vaccine, some children and adolescents 2 to 17 years of age have reported mild reactions, including runny nose, nasal congestion or cough, fever, headache and muscle aches, wheezing, abdominal pain or occasional vomiting or diarrhea.

Some adults 18 to 49 years of age have reported runny nose or nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, chills, tiredness/weakness and headache.

Life-threatening allergic reactions to vaccines are very rare. If they do occur, it is usually within a few minutes to a few hours after the shot. There is a reporting system for severe vaccine reactions (http://vaers.hhs.gov).

Question: When will the vaccine become more widely available?

Answer: Dubuque County will be receiving vaccine allocations approximately every week as it is distributed from the manufacturers. Primary health care providers in the community who have signed on to give vaccines, including Crescent Community Health Center, will provide it to their patients.

Question: What should parents do to get their children vaccinated?

Answer: Call their pediatrician, family practice doctor or other medical home. If a child does not have a regular doctor or medical home, the child can receive the vaccine through Crescent Community Health Center.

source: theonline