It seems everyone has an opinion on the H1N1 vaccination and whether or not to take it.
I’ve become so weary of others’ “certain” opinions on what it is and is not that I’ve started shutting people down when they broach the topic. People who claim to “know” about such things often don’t, I find. I’ve heard everything from the vaccine containing dangerous poisons to, it hasn’t undergone enough testing to be truly declared safe to various conspiracy theories about it. I don’t trust a thing I’m told by a fellow layman when it comes to this issue. I just don’t! I want to be shown studies and the opinions of experts, not an assertation based on an isolated sentence from a Maclean’s article…you know what I’m saying?
So, while the medical officer of health takes to the airwaves to advise us all to get the shot and colleagues and friends claim it’s all a sinister plan to fill us with unknown toxins I’ve been somewhere in the mushy middle. I simply do not know. I’ve done some research on it and given it a lot of thought. In years past I have taken the seasonal flu shot, mostly to protect more vulnerable people in my life from getting sick if I get sick. But in the case of H1N1, I have truly been on the fence.
Finally I decided against getting the shot. I believe I may have already had H1N1. After I became very ill back in the fall, I looked up the symptoms and I had them all. So I had some sort of flu, whether or not it was actually of the swine variety is up for debate. But I’m going to pass. It’s my arm, it’s my body and it’s my decision just like it’s also yours. But one thing I will not do is tell anyone else what they should do because I’m tired of being on the receiving end of that. And conspiracy theorists, please don’t think I’m propping up your point of view either. I just don’t think it’s right for me, this year, this time and only time will tell if I made the right decision.
As someone who has never received the seasonal flu shot, I’ve been sitting on the fence trying to decide whether to get the H1N1 shot. Like you I’ve heard numerous claims primarily in the media about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine and the subsequent confusion it has caused within the general public. All this misinformation has made my decision difficult, for I’m not considering getting the shot for myself, but my 75 year old mother who lives with me and has numerous health issues and simply can’t get the seasonal flu shot without being hospitalized and the H1N1 is out of the question. so here I sit wondering.
Good for you Lisa! Even my paediatrician says she’s unsure. You make a decision that’s best for YOU and shut out all the NOISE about it! We didn’t get the shot and have no plans to but I made that decision based on my own gut, not on any info out there. Nobody knows for sure – it’s all too new – and even those who SHOULD know, really don’t.