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The notice was from the Board of Health:
As I said, it is recommended for anyone with a pre-existing condition such as asthma, other respiratory diseases, or any other condition or status that makes you more susceptible to the flu (old, kids, immunocompromised):
Board of Health writes:
Pregnant women
that make them more likely to get very sick with the flu or health conditions that make influenza more dangerous. These include asthma, diabetes, chronic heart and lung conditions, kidney failure, or a weakened immune system.
Health care workers who have direct contact with patients and cannot receive vaccine through their employers
The Board writes: “Most people with flu-like symptoms get better on their own,without
medical treatment. Like regular, seasonal flu, H1N1 influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory (lung)infection. It causes fever and a cough or sore throat that can last a week or more. Some people also get diarrhea and vomiting. H1N1 caused some severe illness last spring. But the great majority of infections did not cause complications or require any medical treatment.
I just got the H1N1 vaccine today. I am considered high risk because I am over 50 and have asthma. I would have gotten it sooner except that it wasn’t available.
We don’t take influenza seriously. Tens of thousands of Americans die from seasonal flu every year. Millions died in 1918-1919. Vaccines offer quite a bit of protection and the risk of serious adverse events in people in whom the vaccine isn’t contraindicated (such as people with allergies to eggs) is miniscule. I will accept the protection, as should anyone without contraindications.
I was just listening to a shiur by Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz in his series on Medical Halacha. (You can Google it.) The title was “Dangerous Therapy – Risks in Medicine & Surgery.” Among other subject, he discusses vaccinations. Although this shiur is not recent enough to discuss H1N1, he does discuss other vaccines which are thought by many to be dangerous. And he quotes Rabbi Elyashiv as paskening that one has to vaccinate.
Which vaccines? I would love to know what he has to say about H1N1.
To tzippy,
Sorry to disappoint you, but the gedolim don’t differentiate between vaccines. Most medical professionals hold you should get vaccinated against H1N1.
my doctor recommended the flu shot for me (pregnant), as being high-risk for flu. the pediatrician that i spoke to told me the health ministry recommends (though not strongly recommends, as they do for pregnant ladies) giving the shot to babies. however his personal opinion was not to give it, as it was not tested enough on small children. he said to only give the regular flue shot to the baby.
There is absolutely no difference between the regular flu shot and H1N1 except that the H1N1 contains some extra strains to protect against the new strain. The only reason it is given separately is that it takes a long time to produce flu vaccine and they didn’t want to delay the production of the seasonal flu vaccine. I had three physicians at my Shabat table yesterday, one of whom is an infectious disease researcher, and they all agreed that unless you have a specific contraindication such as allergy to eggs you should get the H1N1 vaccination. If anything, it is MORE important to vaccinate young people against H1N1 than the seasonal flu because the seasonal flu is more dangerous to older people and H1N1 is relatively more dangerous to young people.
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