Nation-wide Flu Vaccine Ban for Children Under 5

[Lulu]

"I've got the flu" is probably the most overused statement that is used. Influenza A is a hideous illness that goes on for weeks and weeks. In those with compromised immunity (pregnancy, young kids, elderly, terminally ill etc) this disease can in fact become life threatening.

I believe this too. I'm always hearing someone has the flu and I think they mix it up with a cold. Yep you feel yuk with a cold but it is VERY different from Influenza. If it's gone in a week its NOT the Flu!

[2CheekyMonkeys]

i personally dont want my babies sick with the flu for over a week! that sounds horrendeous.. so does a reaction to the vaccine though.

[Liz]

If it's gone in a week its NOT the Flu!

Then I've never known anyone to have the flu.. ever.. so much for epidemics haha. I've heard of a saying.. not sure if it's for colds or flu.. but it's "3 days coming, 3 days staying, and 3 days leaving" so a general idea that a cold will last about 9 days.

I considered myself and the family to have had the flu, probably for the first time!, last year cos we were laid up with a temperature for a few days and were sore and achy. Normally we just get bad colds & coughs.. not fevers. Altho my kids do tend to fight off everything with a fever for a couple of days first. But we were SICK last year, not just coldy. That was just one batch of sickness we had last season tho... seemed to have endless sniffles & coughs the rest of the time

[Mother Goose]

I had swine flu last year and even with tamiflu, it took me two weeks to fully recover. My fever and coughing had ceased by day 3 (due to the tamiflu) but the residual side effects of the flu took almost two weeks. A girl at work had the flu and it took her almost a month (but she is in her 60's)

[Inanna]

To clarify... If you are a well and healthy person you will recover much more quickly provided you rest, drink etc.

I had influenza A when I was pregnant with Imogen. I was on steroids which compromise immunity. I was sick about 8 weeks. I wasn't febrile with aches for that amount of time. I developed pneumonia - not uncommon with influenza as a nice little side affect. Again, I was on immuno suppressant drugs, I was pregnant, I was incredibly stressed...

Nobody wants their kids to be sick "over a week" with anything. It's about making a decision for yourself and your family based on factual information, intuition, life experience and your individual experience.

I wouldn't fly to India & drink the water without a cover for cholera. I wouldn't travel to PNG without anti malarials.

However, I also wouldn't give my kid the flu vax because it in my opinion is ineffective, can cause side affects that personally I wouldn't risk for my child & I care and feed my children well & do not rely on these things to prevent illness in my kids in my community.

We had a very well publicised measles outbreak here last year. I think that we had under 5 cases of measles at my kids school. This school has an almost non existent immunisation rate. (under 10% I "think")
The state school was almost forced to close with a 60% rate.

It's not just about vaccination. You have to factor in how you support your childs immunity, how you feed him/her, how you rest them, how you quarantine them, your lifestyle (if you hang out in big shopping centres frequently, travel on crammed PT, have an immune disorder etc etc) will affect your decision.

People who don't immunise don't think it's okay for their kids to be sick - they weigh up the risk with the benefit according to their information, gut feeling and experiences.

[Lulu]

Hollo - kids get sick hun, it's a fact of life. They also fall over break bones and eat boogers - and you can't vacc against those!

Preventing children from ever becoming sick would in effect make them super-human. That's never going to happen so we may as well embrace being human....nursing them through sickness, to me is better than chancing a vacc that may or may not even work xoxoxoxo

[2CheekyMonkeys]

good point lulu.. :-) thanks for bringing me back to earth LOL

[Mother Goose]

A vaccine doesn't prevent anyone from getting the disease/condition. The vaccine introduces the body to the virus so that it can "fight" it. Then, if they get the REAL virus, the body registers that it has already fought the virus once before and sends out the appropriate responses thereby making the impact of the virus less severe, shorter in duration, and less likely to cause any severe complications. It does not stop any individual from contracting it in the first place.

[Peg]

Looks like a researcher found the reason for the bad reactions to the vaccine...heres the full article from the age today

Residue in flu jab causing kids' reactions: scientist
GRAEME O'NEILL
May 2, 2010

A LEADING researcher claims to have identified why the seasonal flu vaccine is causing an outbreak of adverse reactions in children, including high temperatures, fits and convulsions.

Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, a Flinders University immunologist, says an experiment he carried out indicates that large amounts of viral genetic residue created by the vaccine's manufacture were overloading infants' immune systems.

The experiment left him in "absolutely no doubt" that high levels of the residue in the form of RNA (the viruses' genetic blueprint) were the cause.

Professor Petrovsky's claims were supported by Melbourne immunologist Professor Bryan Williams, whose team at the Monash Institute of Medical Research is at the forefront of research into how the immune system detects infection.

"I was planning to design my own experiment to test this, before I heard about Professor Petrovsky's result," he said.

This year's vaccine contains more RNA than previous years, because it consists of several inactivated seasonal strains of influenza virus combined with the pandemic H1N1 swine flu strain. Professor Petrovsky says RNA extracted from the flu vaccine triggered an "enormous reaction" in human immune-system cells in vitro.

Professor Petrovsky is founder and chief executive of Vaccine Limited, which has developed a system for producing vaccines in genetically modified insect cells without using viruses themselves.

The method does not produce genetic residue.

Professor Petrovsky said it was ''amazing that the regulatory system still doesn't require manufacturers like CSL to measure the amount of contaminating RNA, despite 50 years of data showing that RNA levels can vary greatly from vaccine to vaccine''.

''It's a nonsensical way to make a reliable product for human medical use,'' he said.

A CSL spokesman declined to respond.

Five years ago Carol Sledz, a graduate researcher in Professor Williams' research group, published a paper in Nature Cell Biology reporting that short RNA molecules could trigger the innate immune response in mammals.

When the RNA molecules activate the receptors, the cells produce interferons, which cause a protective fever and an elevated temperature that helps to destroy viruses and TNF-alpha, which drives a cascade of inflammatory reactions.

These are the symptoms seen in the children who have suffered adverse reactions to the seasonal flu vaccine. In the early years, fever and high temperatures can cause mental confusion and convulsions.

Professor Petrovsky says RNA-digesting enzymes degrade RNA residues in some flu vaccines, but CSL's vaccines consistently rank near the highest for RNA.

"Trust me, i'm a doctor" comes to my mind.

[Raupe]

A vaccine doesn't prevent anyone from getting the disease/condition. The vaccine introduces the body to the virus so that it can "fight" it. Then, if they get the REAL virus, the body registers that it has already fought the virus once before and sends out the appropriate responses thereby making the impact of the virus less severe, shorter in duration, and less likely to cause any severe complications. It does not stop any individual from contracting it in the first place.

:yeahthat:

Two cents alert!
The point is that the seasonal flu vaccines and the swine flu vaccine are ACTIVE vaccines, which means that you get a small (very small) dose of the virus injected so your body can create antibodies. That means that your body has to be strong and healthy enough to fight the virus. That's why doctors recommend you only get a shot when you are feeling well, 'cause if you are sick already, your body isn't strong enough to build those needed antibodies. That's exactly why I don't understand why they want young children and pregnant women vaccinated... Doesn't that just put them more at risk? Especially when they give little kids multiple strands of different viruses. So they don't just fight ONE virus, but a couple! That is a huge task for their little bodies... It would be alot better if they would give out PASSIVE vaccines, which means that the antibodies are being injected rather than the virus. Unfortunately it takes a lot longer to make a passive vaccine, and as the flu changes seasonally, they just wouldn't be able to keep up 'production'. As far as I know from the time I studied at Uni, to get a passive vaccine, the virus is injected in an animal that is genetically close to humans, i.e. pigs and horses, so they create antibodies that are then being 'harvested'. It's sounds terrible, too, doesn't it? There we go. I just created an ethnical dilemma, too.

I'll just shut up know. I think I'm not helping much...

I just want to say that I feel really sorry for all parents out there having to make all those difficult decision. Especially when what has been said to be right today is supposedly wrong tomorrow. How very confusing. Even professionals don't agree, so who should you trust? I feel for you.