H1N1 and Me

As a mother of three daughters, all of whom are in school and daycare, the HINI pandemic is all around me. The vaccine was just released last week in my area, and I am now faced with the big decision on whether or not to get myself and my children immunized.

The reports I am hearing about H1N1 are controversial to say the least. Health professionals advocate the vaccine whereas many of the population are strongly against it. I was surprised to hear about the huge numbers of people lined up for the vaccine in the first week of its release. That in itself is contributing to the pandemic - as we are all being directed to stay away from crowded environments whenever possible. It would make much more sense to me to be offering the vaccine in a more controlled and organized environment - such as the specific locations of those at highest risk (schools, daycare, retirement homes and hospitals) before distribution in a public environment. I would want to think that Health Canada would have been better prepared for such and outbreak after a virus like SARS has already presented itself.

My overall opinion on the situation is that it is too little too late, and too disorganized. As a matter of fact I am quite sure that my daughters and I have already had the H1N1 flu and recovered from it. I recently found out that there have been confirmed cases through my youngest daughters daycare - and that information came to me later than two weeks after the infected children had been tested for the virus.

I have also heard that 99% of people who have admitted themselves to emergency rooms and clinics, and been tested for H1N1, have showed positive results. Apparently now, health professionals are no longer testing. This tells me that the population infected with H1N1 is too high to accommodate testing. Therefore, the pandemic has not just begun but rather is drawing to end. I don't feel that more are being infected but rather more are becoming aware of their infection - past, present and future.

The statistics I have read on the death rate of H1N1 infected are still extremely low in comparison to death toll of the regular seasonal flu. The media coverage I have seen and heard, relating to deaths from H1N1, are focused on people who had pre-existing health problems and likely would have fallen victim to the "regular" flu as well.

Perhaps Health Canada and the Media have created this pandemic all on their own. We are the only country in such panic over it, with a frenzy of media focusing on the disease day in and day out for weeks now. There is too much negative hype and at the end of the day we are putting ourselves in a risky situation. Panic and fear never lead to good health.
I will likely not take the immunizations because I do feel that my family, and many of those around me, were exposed to the virus some time ago. We have developed our own antibodies now - as nature intended. I will however pay attention to the developing information related to the pandemic, rather than the hype. You can never be too sure.