Tuesday, October 20, 2009

H1N1 Vaccine - Women with Unborn Children First

Pregnant women are among the most at risk group for being infected with the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. A bit of good news from Canada's Health Minister yesterday, that the vaccine is on route to the provinces and is expected to get formal approval for use later this week. Note: This is not mentioned on all sites or news reports about the H1N1 vaccine, but it can take two weeks for the vaccine to be fully protective, so while we are entering a second wave of H1N1, the sooner the better for vaccination.

"We know that it takes about 10 to 14 days from the time someone's immunized until they're actually protected against the virus," said Dr. Katz. "So, adding a week is certainly a helpful thing." (Dr. Kevin Katz, medical director of infection prevention and control at North York General Hospital in Toronto.)

Other higher risk groups according to Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), that "those that need it most get it first" , are:
  • People under 65 with chronic health conditions
  • Pregnant women
  • Children 6 months to less than 5 years of age
  • Aboriginal peoples and people living in remote and isolated settings or communities
  • Health care workers involved in pandemic response or the delivery of essential health care services
  • Household contacts and care providers of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines
  • Populations otherwise identified as high risk

    Others who would benefit from immunization include:

  • Children 5 to 18 years of age
  • First responders
  • Poultry and swine workers
  • Adults 19 to 64 years of age
  • Adults 65 and older
H1N1 is a pandemic, which means virtually no one has any immunity to it, and therefore, should be taken very seriously. There are people who still do not consider it anything more than a regular flu, judging by comments at news sites, or letters to paper editors. Here is a link from two weeks ago on how serious it is, and could become, and how we can reduce the risks of getting infected.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it's all a crock. Just a way for the unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies to make more money, while injecting people with God knows what! If I was a pregnant woman, I surely wouldn't let anybody stick me and my baby with that crap!

Charlie said...

Yep, anon, there's lots of unscrupulousness behaviour going on everywhere, I agree with that, and it makes people untrustworthy of especially big businesses. That being said, the real cases that have gotten sick, ended up in ICU and died, are unfortunately, not a crock. As we use oil and gas from other seemingly unscrupulous companies, that we use mainly, to drive around, this vaccine will be used, and needed to save lives. But, no one is forcing you to use either, in any case.

Anonymous said...

People get sick and wind up in the ICU (or die) all the time. You attribute the deaths to H1N1? Based on what source? The media? Who controls the media? Anyone you'd trust? I doubt it. It's a scam.

Charlie said...

Yeah it's all a big scam anon. Doctors, intensive care specialists, and infectious disease specialists from across the country all conspired, with the help of the good sports - the sick or dead. Yeah, and they held information sessions too, not put off by media. Scams don't get any better do they b'y!

anthroholmes said...

It's amazing to me, that in this day and age people are still scared of vaccines. I wonder if Mr. Anonymous denies the germ theory of disease as well?

Anyway, good post Charlie. I just found this little bloggity blog and I think I still continue to read more posts.

Charlie said...

Thanks for your comment Andrew. Please drop back anytime.