Thanks steph. It fills me with rage too. The ignorance is maddening. My 8 year old niece has been participating in an H1N1 vaccine study which I think is very freaking cool.

Also, whether you are high risk or not, the regular seasonal flu vaccine is available. I got my regular flu shot a month ago.

I just found out that one of my coworkers won't be getting a flu shot because she "doesn't believe in them." We work for a public health-related organization! Only my desire for my next paycheck kept me from whacking her on the back of the head.

Also, whether you are high risk or not, the regular seasonal flu vaccine is available.

Supplies of this one are reduced because manufacturers have been concentrating resources on producing the H1N1 vaccine. Sadly, cultures for that one have not been growing as fast as they had hoped. So basically it may be hit or miss as far as who will get the seasonal flu vaccine this year. I made a point of getting mine at the beginning of this month, and sure enough, in this area, supplies are now extremely limited.

And my fever has come back. I suspect bronchitis more than the flu. I'll be going in for a couple hours of work, but will have most of the day off.

Gorgeous hair, Fay!

Um, I'm not sure either? If you didn't have plans, why shouldn't she make other plans? Or is it that you were planning on an relaxing evening with no plans (so to speak)?

It's that it's her last night in town, and I was not well-pleased by having plans to bring a total stranger into the mix more or less dropped in my lap. Saying--without having much time to react and think about why she was asking--that I have no plans in mind is not the same as saying that I'm gleeful about other plans being made without my input.

refusing vaccination adds to the very real public health risk. There are a lot of people who, if exposed to H1N1, will probably get only mild disease (a few days off work, feel like shit, get better). But if they get infected, they can pass it on. To other people who might not be as healthy as them.

Amen. I have a coworker with a pregnant wife and one with compromised lung function. If they get the flu, it could be bad news indeed.

Supplies of this one are reduced because manufacturers have been concentrating resources on producing the H1N1 vaccine.

That sucks. I'm glad I got mine last month then!

ION, I am totally discombobulated today. We're on an assembly schedule (don't do drugs, kids, 'kay??) and my day has been thrown out of whack.

I'm under the impression I shouldn't get vaccinated because I'm not in a high-risk group and there might not be enough vaccine for everyone. Is that not true?

Okay, it's my fault for not making my rant more detailed.

Because supplies of the H1N1 vaccine *right now* are less than anticipated, high-risk people are the ones who have priority right now. Our health department is actually turning non-high-risk people away.

When your area has enough vaccine to have enough for non-high-risk people -- and they *will,* eventually (and no, I don't know when; I don't work for the CDC, FDA, or a vaccine manufacturer) -- THEN would be a good time to get vaccinated.

All I can say -- to everyone -- is check your city or county's health department Web site, or call, and find out what their H1N1 vaccination status is.

But even the non-high-risk people *should* get vaccinated -- when there is enough vaccine -- to avoid passing on the virus to high-risk people who, for whatever reason, might have chosen to not get vaccinated.

It's that it's her last night in town, and I was not well-pleased by having plans to bring a total stranger into the mix more or less dropped in my lap. Saying--without having much time to react and think about why she was asking--that I have no plans in mind is not the same as saying that I'm gleeful about other plans being made without my input.

oh, I see now. A similar sort of thing happened when I visited a friend. I didn't want her to feel like she had to spend every second with me. I made various plans, including specific plans with just her, but also made sure to invite her to the other stuff. But, it turns out that I hurt her feelings because I was trying not to be a burden. Maybe it's a similar thing?

When your area has enough vaccine to have enough for non-high-risk people -- and they *will,* eventually (and no, I don't know when; I don't work for the CDC, FDA, or a vaccine manufacturer) -- THEN would be a good time to get vaccinated.

according to CNN yesterday, the virus is taking longer than anticpated to grow, but the manufacturers think that they will have enough for everyone by mid to late November.

The swine flu vaccine in '76 killed more people than the flu did.

To be fair, it is a general rule that the more successful a public health prevention program is, the more likely it is that people will die or be injured by the prevention than by the disease. That's becuase as the effectiveness of the prevention goes up, the number of people harmed by the disease goes down, so that eventually even very small risks from the prevention will outweigh morbidity from the disease.

I expect that more people died in the US last year while building and maintaining sewers and fresh water supply systems than those who died of cholera.

I expect that more American children in the last 40 years injured themsleves walking up the steps to their grade school auditorium to get a smallpox vaccination than the number actually injured by smallpox.

But the reason is that fresh water systems and vaccinations are so effective for preventing some infectious diseases that those diseases rarely harm anyone anymore. It's not a sign that you should avoid vaccinations or choose the option of an open sewer for your community.