Live virus in the H1N1 vaccine?
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A number of hysterical blogs out there are either misinformed, hunting up a conspiracy, or simply looking for attention.
Will there be live H1N1 in this fall’s swine flu vaccine? A simple yes or no won’t cut it.
If we’re talking about the injected vaccine, no.
If we’re talking the nasal spray vaccine, yes.
The injectable version will be just like the regular seasonal vaccine available every year, made by the same companies using the same techniques they always use. It’s an inactivated vaccine containing fragments of killed virus. No matter what you hear, you CANNOT catch flu from the injectable vaccine.
The nasal spray, Flumist, made by MedImmune, is another story. Known as a “LAIV” in the trade, it contains the live, attenuated virus and is approved for “healthy” people 2-49 years of age who are not pregnant. By “healthy” they mean no debilitating illness and no immune problems.
A LAIV may confer better immunity, but how much better is unclear. Personally, I see no reason to use Flumist unless you’ve got a pathological aversion to needles or a severe allergy to something in the injection.
Whichever you choose, remember that no vaccine will prevent infection. What it does is prime your immune system to recognize the pathogen once you become infected and allow it to mount a swift and appropriately vicious response.
So don’t let them scare you away from getting that swine flu vaccine. What I tell you three times is true:
THERE WILL BE NO LIVE H1N1 IN THE INJECTION.
THERE WILL BE NO LIVE H1N1 IN THE INJECTION.
THERE WILL BE NO LIVE H1N1 IN THE INJECTION.
Spread that around, okay? And get that vaccination. Not just for yourself, but for all those around you as well. This has the potential of being a wild, wild flu season. Don’t be part of the problem.
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OK, I’m getting the shot as soon as Kaiser has it ready. I wanted to add, re several of your earlier posts I was late getting around to, that perhaps the family doc (whom I grew up with, also before the Permian Extinction) will reappear in a new and less sleep-deprived form. T.R. Reid’s recent talk in San Francisco cited the very high ratio of family practitioners to specialists in countries (Britain the highest I think) where universal care is provided. If we ever get to focus on caring for all, we will need family docs to insure that preventive care & wellness are foremost rather than the current system of treating the uninsured in ERs for everything from colds to calamities.
I wouldn’t let the fact that there is not a live virus in the injectable vaccine scare me away from getting it!
There are other more important reasons! Like for starters the carcinogenic and mutagenic effects have not been evaluated. Nor has the potential to impair fertility.
Ever wonder how our human DNA mutates with chicken embryo cells? Hmmm. No one knows because it hasn’t been studied. I’d rather get the flu.
Read the vaccine labels and then tell me how “safe” they are:
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm093830.htm