About 3,600 vaccinated on first day of Dallas County swine flu clinic BUT ONLY FOR UNINSURED!

Dallas County's first mass distribution of the swine flu vaccine Wednesday tested the patience of thousands of adults and children, who stood outdoors for hours to snag a scarce shot.

SONYA N. HEBERT/DMN Rony Velazquez, 4, waited while his mother, Blanca Medrano (left), and his sister Diana Velazquez were screened before getting their H1N1 shots at the Dallas County Health and Human Services building on Wednesday.But in the end, there was a lot of praise for how well the county dispensed the vaccine.

Despite chilly weather before dawn and intense sun by late morning, almost no one in the line complained about the long but orderly wait.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN Hundreds lined up early Wednesday to try to get the swine flu vaccine, which Dallas County is reserving for uninsured, high-risk groups."This is pretty efficient," said Michael Buxton, a 53-year-old South Dallas resident whose breathing problems sent him in pursuit of the vaccine.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN Sixteen-year-old Glenda Castro took care of paperwork while waiting in line on Wednesday.In all, the county inoculated about 3,600 adults and children, using up about a third of its supply of H1N1 vaccine reserved for uninsured, high-risk groups. They include pregnant women, people 6 months to 24 years old and those 25 to 64 years old with chronic illnesses

okay, can someone help me with my decision?? I have four children raging in ages 2-13. Their school is giving the h1n1 vaccination next week for free. I am so confused on what I should do. They are all healthy, but hear stories about healthy children dieing from the swine flu. I don't really trust the vaccination but worry they will get the swine flu and "die" as my mother in law put it. What to do, what to do?????

This is why booster shots are required. It seems that the body does actually know the difference between a vaccine and an infection.

I thought the reason for booster shots was not to remind the body what the antibody looked like (in the case it forgot); but to make the body 'more aware' of this disease. For example, if a disease is a particularily vile and fast incubating bug; having a 1x immune response may not be adequate to prevent an outbreak. Simply stated, the body will fight off the infection, but not as quickly as would be required to prevent irrepairable hard from occuring (such as Polio).

Thus, the booster shot was to create a synthetic response for the body to have a 2x immunity reaction to this particular bug, instead of only having a minor one. If we use Polio as a potential case; the intent may have been to make the origional vaccine so weak (as to prevent the vaccine actually creating the disease) that the immune response, while present, is relatively minor.

If the body 'forgot' antibodies; then it stands to reason that there would be common reinfections of 'Chicken-pox' where most of us will only experience the joy just once in our lives.

What to do, what to do?????

It's always an odds game. Crossing the road is an odds game. If you compare the odds of misery created by the vaccine, we are talking about only a few cases out of millions. If we are talking about childhood deaths; or if not death, complications such as pnemonia - those odds are much higher.

Will your child experience a toxic reaction to the shot? I don't know, but the odds do not support that. However, we can state with 100% certainty that your children have NO immunity to H1N1 - as it is new to humanity.

As I have stated previously, I do not fear the Swine Flu that is going around today. I am going out of my way to get in contact with people who have it. Why? Am I a masochist? No. I fear what the Swine Flue will mutate into next year, or the years after that.

Unless you catch the H1N1 flu, or get the vaccine; you will have 0% immunity to the Swine Flu, and the Bird Flu. Take a look at what happened in 1918 with regard to the millions of deaths related to the Bird Flu. Those who got sick with the benign version in 1917 were around to bury those who got sick in 1918. Given the choice, I'd rather be the one digging the graves - but that's just me.

First of all, I am a virologist (who studies viruses in a lab) with a PhD and NOT an MD that works with patients. I also have a BS in Biochemical Pharmacology. Therefore I am not qualified to make medical decisions for you and your family. I am still more than happy to share my experiences and opinions with you.
I know exactly what you are going through. I also have 4 kids (ages 2-12) and have argued with my husband on this issue. I did not end up having to make the decision for my kids because H1N1 is widespread in my kids’ schools and they ended up catching it. Everyone recovered and the vaccine is still not available in our area anyway.
I do not get my children vaccinated against the “seasonal” flu and I did not plan on doing it for H1N1 either. All of my kids are healthy and have strong immune systems. I think pharmaceuticals are so overused in our society and every drug has side effects. Of course there are many examples of drugs that truly save and improve the quality of lives. I just have not seen any solid scientific evidence that flu vaccines deliver the protection that they are hyped to give.
However, if my child had a medical condition that put them at risk, then I probably would get them vaccinated. If I did, then I would make sure that it was the inactivated shot in the single dose form, which does not contain thimerosal. There are conflicting reports on its safety, so better to be safe than sorry. Also, none of the H1N1 vaccines approved for use in the US (at this time) contain adjuvants, so you don’t have to worry about those.
I would not give them the live nasal mist, no matter what. It has only been out for a few years and the safety has not been tested enough. I have personally reviewed the clinical data and have identified many potential problems that have not been tested for yet.
Hope that helps!

It gets very complicated because our immune system is very complex. It is not as simple as forgetting antibodies. The strength and duration of the immune response varies depending on which pathway is used. The are multiple types of cells and antibodies in our immune system. I will forward you a few good links later, if you would like some more background.
Also, there are common reinfections of chickenpox. It is called shingles, which is caused by the same virus. The disease presents itself differently once a person gets chickenpox. A person can also get shingles without having chickenpox if they have had the chickenpox vaccine!

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