H1N1 Vaccine - How to get?

Hey all,


Anyone know how to get the H1N1 vaccine? I've decided it's probably a good idea to get it. I get flu shots pretty much every year anyway.


Go to your doctor? Go to the hospital? Is it expensive?


Cheers thanks!

Typhoon

http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/healthandcommunity/081030/html/081030en05010.htm

Gosh, you guys are so great. Thanks! I just called that hotline and adults need to go to a private doctor.

My wife and I had ours yesterday, we live in Australia now, a lot of people are having it.


There is an expectation that it will mutate during the northern winter, could become more serious. It can already be serious for children and young people, especially if they have underlying conditions like asthma.

This little documentary on the 1918 pandemic convinced me to get the shot. Wouldn't take much for another global pandemic to kill millions, even with medical advancements.


http://video.pbs.org/video/1240086878

i just realized that my link was for the SEASONAL flu shot, NOT H1N1...I hope the hotline was still useful!


this site might be more useful...

http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/healthandcommunity/091022/html/091022en05004.htm

Is it really safe to vaccinate children? I'm getting mixed responses, even from medical professionals. Any advice?

before anyone dismisses the h1n1 (swine) flu as nothing more than hype, here are some interesting facts


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090713212231.htm


In contrast with run-of-the-mill seasonal flu viruses, the H1N1 virus exhibits an ability to infect cells deep in the lungs, where it can cause pneumonia and, in severe cases, death. Seasonal viruses typically infect only cells in the upper

respiratory system.


The ability to infect the lungs, notes Kawaoka, is a quality frighteningly similar to those of other pandemic viruses, notably the 1918 virus, which killed tens of millions of people at the tail end of World War I.


They found that the H1N1 virus replicates much more efficiently in the respiratory system than seasonal flu and causes severe lesions in the lungs similar to those caused by other more virulent types of pandemic flu.



http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/13/h1n1.flu.young.adults/index.html


"These studies are telling us that young people are at risk for bad complications of H1N1 and under usual circumstances, [seasonal] flu does not cause acute respiratory failure in younger people," says Dr. Neil Schachter, the medical director of the respiratory care department at Mount Sinai Medical Center, in New York City, and the author of The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds and Flu.


Those people who died from H1N1 got sicker earlier in the course of their illness, had extremely low levels of oxygen in their blood, and had multiple organ failure


"The mortality rate can be high for a small subset of people, but the overall death rate is closer to seasonal flu than the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003," he says. "This is a serious flu and there is mortality, but it is about the same as with the seasonal flu -- maybe a little worse."


As to why younger people seem to be hit hardest, the current school of thought is that perhaps a similar virus circulated 50 or 60 years ago, so older people could have immunity to H1N1.

"Is it really safe to vaccinate children? I'm getting mixed responses, even from medical professionals. Any advice?"


Short answer: Yes.


Long answer:

- While it would seem that H1N1 vaccine has been approved rather quickly, it is not exactly "all new". It is derivative of other flu vaccines. Thus, less research was needed.

- Clinical trials were performed on a larger number of test subjects. In any case you can't skimp on clinical trials. There are no shortcuts to approval. Thus it is as "safe" as any other vaccine.

- There is always a risk with vaccinations. However, the risk of anything serious is far less than the same risk without vaccination. That is, you are far more likely to die/get a crippling disease if you don't get the vaccine. The vaccine is not a 100% guarantee that you will be fine, but it is far better than the alternative.

- All in all, flu vaccines are exceedingly safe. Have you heard of even one death from H1N1 vaccine despite the hundreds of thousands of vaccinations so far? We would have heard given the banner headlines it would generate.



My family members (including kids and helper) get "normal" flu vaccines every year. We will also get H1N1 vaccine.

Ok, is there a place where we can get the H1N1 vaccine in HK? I can't get a straight answer from any of these web sites.

if you read the newspaper or watch the news, it won't be available until mid-December...but you can also call the phone numbers in the links I posted for more details


here is an update:

http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/healthandcommunity/091109/html/091109en05003.htm

Two die in China after H1N1 flu vaccine

Posted: 14 November 2009 1128 hrs




BEIJING: Two people died after they were inoculated with the H1N1 flu vaccine in China, health authorities reported, amid wariness among the Chinese about the quality of the shot.


Deng Haihua, spokesman for the health ministry, said in a statement posted on the website late Friday that authorities had been notified of the deaths in the past two days, but he gave no personal details of the victims.


Preliminary results of an autopsy on one of the victims revealed the patient suffered a sudden death due to heart issues and experts had ruled out a link to an allergic reaction to the vaccine, according to the statement.


"Specialists say that it is unavoidable that several serious adverse reactions will happen amid the more than 10 million people who have received the vaccine, and the 20, 30, 150 million who will in the future," Deng said.