Only 1/3 in U.S. Plan to Get Swine Flu Vaccine

[Why Syzygy]

Most People at Risk of Severe Flu Don't Know It, Consumer Reports Poll Shows
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Sept. 30, 2009 -- Only a third of Americans plan to get the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, a Consumer Reports poll shows.

One reason might be that 57% of adults with conditions that put them at risk of severe flu complications aren't aware of their risk of severe swine flu. Nearly a third of those polled said they had at least one of the health conditions that increase swine flu risk.
(...)

Among the poll findings:
Only 35% of parents plan to have their child vaccinated against swine flu.

Nearly two-thirds of parents who don't plan to have their child vaccinated say they worry the swine flu vaccine is too new to be safe.

Overall, 28% of respondents are "not very" or "not at all" confident the swine flu vaccine is safe. An additional 10% say they don't know whether the vaccine is safe.

Although the CDC says vaccination is the most important weapon in the fight against flu, only 41% of parents think flu vaccination is "very important" in keeping kids healthy during flu season.

Most parents are at least "somewhat worried" that their kids will get swine flu. But 43% of parents are "not at all worried or "not too worried."

39% of those who don't get flu shots worry about the vaccine's side effects -- or think the vaccine will give them the flu, even though this is a medical impossibility.

More than half of people who don't get flu shots think they'll never get the flu.
(...)

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20090930/only-one-third-in-us-plan-to-get-swine-flu-vaccine

[JonQ]

1. I don't plan on getting one

[stray cat]

2. The other 2/3rds will infect each other - going for the get sick natural immunization route

after all there are absolutely no side effects to the flu.......

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

15. No side effects except death, 2 weeks off work sick, infecting others. None whatsoever.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My husband and I are both getting them...

We're of the age that it's recommended for.

We've already had the recommended flu shots...

[endless october]

4. i'm getting it.

a couple facts :

it's made like the seasonal, and would have been included in the seasonal if it showed up earlier.

you can get Guillain-Barré Syndrome after catching the flu, not just from the flu shot. flu shot risk is one case per million vaccinations.

there is major hysteria on both sides of this : the media has rode the swine flu story with everything it has. and the anti-vaccine bloggers have painted flu shots as poison. neither are correct.

do your research, and make an informed decision. weigh the risks.

for me, that means i'm getting both shots.

[bbinacan]

11. I asked my pharmacist

about it and she seems reluctant (so far) to recommend it for those in the low risk category. She said she wanted to read more about it.

[iris27]

5. Say wha?

39% of those who don't get flu shots worry about the vaccine's side effects -- or think the vaccine will give them the flu, even though this is a medical impossibility.

I call bullshit. Standard flu vaccines around here use live, weakened virus, which means you can indeed get the flu from the vaccine if your immune system is already compromised.

("Around here" meaning, last year's seasonal vaccine at the campus health center of the college I work for. No idea if this year's vaccine or the swine vaccine plan to used killed virus, live virus, or analogs.)

[endless october]

7. incorrect. only the nasal version uses attenuated.

the shot is dead virus.

[iris27]

9. Yes, and the nasal is all that was available last year at

the campus where I work.

[Robb]

8. Uh, no. nt

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

13. Flumist is only approved for healthy people. People with compromised immune systems aren't eligible.

[Why Syzygy]

16. I'm aware of many

people who get the flu after a shot. Calling it "medically impossible" seems irresponsible at best.

[HuckleB]

17. How do you know they had the flu?

Were they tested?

[orpupilofnature57]

6. We're medical shut-ins with insurance so we wouldn't no matter what,but

who could blame anyone for zilch confidence ,in any govt.mandate at this point.Our Health and Wealth have been so abused were a combination of Sheeple & Criminals ,we need Courage and Cracked Actors out of work.

[jwirr]

10. I'm getting it as I baby sit for all of my 7 great grandchildren and the

last thing I want to do is bring a flu home to them.

[elocs]

12. With me there will be no "planning". I just won't get one.

I'm 57 and never had a flu shot. I may have had the flu, but it must have been many years ago. The last time I missed work because I was sick was 17 years ago last August when I had eaten something bad and was doing the technicolor yawn while kneeling in front of the porcelain god.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

14. You aren't eligible and may have immunity anyway.