Pam, I don't mean to single you out at all but I want to bring up a point here. You were considering getting it then changed your mind because others you work with were not getting it. I don't think using the behavior of others is the best factor to consider in making medical decisions and unfortunately so many do this. It doesn't meet the criteria of "Informed Consent".
I take the issue of vaccines very seriously. I think everyone should. There is far more in a vaccine than just the biological disease and those ingredients need to be considered. I am not an advocate of bovine serum, squalene, thimerosal (and, no, this has not been removed from all vaccines), aluminum (a known neurotoxin), etc etc etc.
I think a person needs to accurately weigh their risk of disease and their knowledge of maintaining their health verses the risk of an adverse reaction. It's not possible to get fully informed consent from a doctor because the doctors don't see the safety and efficacy test results done by the pharmaceutical company manufacturer. It's proprietary info and no one is able to get it outside of the pharma company and the FDA. The best we have is the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). It is estimated that only about 10% of vaccine reactions get reported. http://www.medalerts.org/
The next bit of helpful info is to know the actual number of cases of vaccine preventable diseases in the nation and in your area. This data can be found on the CDC website. Dig around here to find actual disease cases. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
I am looking at 2007 data. I would think that they would have more current data but I'll use what I was able to find as an example:
Measles - 43
Mumps - 800
Rubella - 12
The link for this data - http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5653a1.htm
NOw, the VAERS data on the MMR vaccine:....seems I can't find that readily. It's been a few years since I've looked for it and if I recall correctly, they used to have a chart that had totals for each year for each vaccine. I am not seeing that configuration in my search right now.
I'll come back and post after I find it.
The point I am making is that one has to consider the risk of disease against the risk of vaccine reaction and also consider how they will handle their health should they contract a dissease - with or without having had a vaccine (because no vaccine gives 100% coverage.) It's all about informed consent and getting the info takes some work. I've always said that those who blindly rely on the advice of anyone deserve what they get...but sadly if you don't know that you need to ask questions...you don't.
Some Doctors do prescribe antibiotics with H1N1, as some people develop bacterial infections along with the flu, such as bacterial pneumonia. It is often the bacterial infection that kills a person, not just the swine flu itself. Another reason she gave me the antibiotics is because she wasn't 100% certain I don't have a bacterial infection instead of a flu. Since it would be several days before my flu test results came back, she went ahead and prescribed the antibiotics for either scenario. Since I decided to skip the Tamiflu, I went ahead and started the antibiotics. I did have fluid in my ears with painful earaches, and at least that has eased since starting them. I have gone years without using antibiotics until this year, I do agree that they can be overused.
