Thread: Swine Flu Jab - HELP!!

Ladies,

first of all sorry not been around much, get married 2 weeks today and trying to sort my house in London so u can imagine...


Havce been keeping up to date with you all though...

I have had an appointment for my Swine Fu jab - it is on Tuesday.

Saw that Shell has decided against it adn am completely in 2 minds my self...

Im peftrified of taking it incase it affects the baby in anyway, but also petrified i will get it and could loose the baby etc...

What are you all doing?? what is the general concensus??


I need help making the decision!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Lauren,

I'm still making my mind up but after a LOT of research etc and speaking to some midwife/health professional friends I am pretty much decided against it. My concern is that it is too much of an unknown risk.

Heres some of the links to bits and peices of info.

Second swine flu child dies in North | IOL
The Associated Press: WHO: nearly 5,000 swine flu deaths worldwide
Should pregnant women have the swine flu jab? | Life and style | The Guardian

I second Shell. I'm a nurse and a fair few of my (none pregnant) colleagues have turned it down because of unknown risks. Of course there are risks with all medical interventions but TBH even if I wasn't expecting I wouldn't be having it. At the end of the day though it's a very personal choice and only you can decide what's right for you and your baba. Good luck whatever you decide to do

I think you would be better taking it. They do put these drugs through rigorous testing.

H1N1 is a real danger to pregnant women.

The only reason I wouldn't be taking the vaccine is because I don't think I need it and i wouldn't want someone wasting a shot on me.

You're probably better asking your doctors advice about it.

Although if I understand correctly all vaccines do is introduce a very weak strain of an infection to your blood stream. Which means that your white cells can form a defence so if you are exposed to the full strength version they have no problems in fighting it off. So I can't see how there would be any unknown risks anyway

The unknown risks are there because the vaccine hasn't been tested on pregnant women, and hasn't been used long enough to know any long term effects. Also, they contain mercury which is toxic and an adjuvant which hasn't been thoroughly researched.

The testing done to license this vaccine was only done on a small number of people, less than 500, and was very recent so only looks at short term side effects. Hardly rigorous testing.

Thanks guys,

Shell im going to spend a good while reading through that info, and really weigh up the pro's and cons, wish i was still little enough for my mum to decide, not nice having to decide for your own little one...

Interested to know if any of our pregnant ladies have had it, or turned it down though..

thanks again xx

Originally Posted by shelbell

The unknown risks are there because the vaccine hasn't been tested on pregnant women, and hasn't been used long enough to know any long term effects. Also, they contain mercury which is toxic and an adjuvant which hasn't been thoroughly researched.

The testing done to license this vaccine was only done on a small number of people, less than 500, and was very recent so only looks at short term side effects. Hardly rigorous testing.

Swine flu - Vaccine

Safety issues

The government takes decisions about introducing a new vaccine very seriously. Vaccines would not be licensed if they were considered unsafe.
Similar flu vaccines containing a different flu virus strain (H5N1) have been clinically tested and the trials showed that these vaccines are safe and produce enough antibodies to provide protection.
Experience with seasonal flu vaccines has shown that changing the strain of virus in a vaccine does not substantially affect the safety profile of the vaccines.
But, as with any new vaccine, some very rare side effects cannot be identified or excluded until the swine flu vaccines are used in much larger numbers of people in the general population.
Outcomes of trials to date suggest that pandemic vaccines are as safe as seasonal flu vaccines.

If nothing else the law suits the government and the paramacuetical companies would face would be just ridiculous.

Well I have to say that I don't think I'll be getting the Swine Flu jab. If I wasn't pregnant, then maybe I would, but I'm not wanting to get the jab and then get sick from it. I'm too scared of it affecting the baby.

To be fair it's unlikely that I'll even be offered the jab at all. I'm not pregnant, I don't have any underlying health conditions and although my dad has been offered it his isn't serious enough to warrant other family members getting it.

I'm just not in the anti-vaccine brigade because I don't personally think that the government or the health service would offer something if they knew there was a likelihood it could cause permanent damage and not inform people of it.

It is entirely up to you what you want to do. I just have a bad habit of playing devils advocate

Purple - the who originally advised pg women NOT to have the main vaccine being given out and to have the non-adjuvent version. This, however has since been retracted - coinciding with the decision that the non-adjuvent version will only be available to true egg allergy patients and, therefore, a limited number will be made of the non-adjuvent vaccine will only be made proportional to the amount of people who willneed it. I will therefore be staying away from the vaccine. I had flu when pg with jocelyn (genuine, a temp of 39.5+ for 4 days despite paracetamol etc) and no one gave a monkeys - just said keep taking paracetamol and fluids.

Originally Posted by Sunflowers

Purple - the who originally advised pg women NOT to have the main vaccine being given out and to have the non-adjuvent version. This, however has since been retracted - coinciding with the decision that the non-adjuvent version will only be available to true egg allergy patients and, therefore, a limited number will be made of the non-adjuvent vaccine will only be made proportional to the amount of people who willneed it. I will therefore be staying away from the vaccine. I had flu when pg with jocelyn (genuine, a temp of 39.5+ for 4 days despite paracetamol etc) and no one gave a monkeys - just said keep taking paracetamol and fluids.

As I said it's entirely up to you whether you take it or not but I was under the impression that H1N1 was more serious for pregnant women than normal flu?

I have made the decision not to have - I too am worried about the long term risks and if anything happened to my baby due to the jab it would be devastating. My midwife is not having it done either and neither is my pregnant friend. xx

Ive also decided not to have it.

I had swine flu at 16-18 weeks pg and still worry now that the meds they gave me could have affected by baby

I agree not enough research and wouldnt like to wander into the unknown so to speak

x

Well after long deliberation I decided against it, i then got sent home from work with a temperature and feeling like iv been hit by a bus, been on the couch all afternoon alseep, talk about bloody karma haha

hoping i will feel better tomorrow, informed my midwife who wants me to ring her in the morning,

absolutely not thinkin its the swine flu, but just my luck to get sick haha

xx

**HUGS** Hope u feel better!

x