I am so incredibly torn right now, my head is spinning and I am on information overload! It is this whole H1N1 'pandemic' that has me all up in arms. I don't know if I should vaccinate my kids or not vaccinate my kids!
I seriously need the universe to send me a giant sign, as I am making myself crazy over the whole thing.
I know this flu is different, and it isn't the same as the seasonal flu. But, at the same time it isn't nearly as lethal as they assumed it was going to be. I know so many people close to me who have already had it too; including my sister-in-law and her kids and husband, my brother (who I was the most worried about getting it, as he is one of the 'healthy, but with serious underlying lung complications' types), friends of Lilly, friends of or friends. The list just seems to keep growing faster than I can keep track of it! Everyone has been really sick for about a week, but then they are just fine.
Normally we are 100% pro-vaccines, with the exception of the seasonal flu shot. In this case I would love my kids to have some immunity against it, without having to suffer. But my gut reaction is to be scared of this vaccine! How horrible is that? It isn't so much H1N1 antigen, or even the thermasil I am concerned about, but rather the Adjuvant, the Squalene, I am slightly freaking about. Possible long term, talking years done the road, side effects from it, is all I can really think about. Of course there is little research done on the side effects of the squalene that I can find, and as I stated it is long term effects that I am most bothered by.
Of course the squalene is only in the Canadian vaccine, not the ones in the US as it isn't approved there by the FDA yet. Should that be another warning bell? I don't konw.
The decision to vaccinate the kids was out of my hands the last few days, as the clinics here were closed due to a vaccine shortage. They reopen today, not to the masses, but to the high risk. To children 6 months to under 5 years. My kids fall in that group. This morning I made the decision to go and stand in line and get the vaccine, then I read some more and I don't know again.
Real risk we are currently faced with versus the unknown, long-term effects.
What do I do? What are you doing?