Have you taken the h1n1 shot?

**Ashley39** · 12-29-2009, 04:22 PM

Uhmm how about... wash ur hands and ull be fine... *rolls eyes*

**Rodri** · 12-29-2009, 04:55 PM

But Ashley, I thought you enjoyed giving needles?

**Brooke ♥♥** · 12-29-2009, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by Heraclius

Well I suppose we have some ideas in common. I suppose it really wouldn't serve much of a purpose to carry this debate out any longer. It was fun, and I guess we both won some points, so it isn't a total loss for anyone. Its too bad all debates can't turn out that way!

I know...Wish there was more threads at all that can hold conversations like this.............

**~~FoxyBunny~~** · 12-29-2009, 05:23 PM

I really want to say something about the whole vaccine issue. I saw where Heraclius compared vaccines to the overuse of antibiotics. This is absolutely apples and oranges.

When you have an existing bacteria and you kill it off with antibiotics, you never quite kill it all. You kill 99% or less of it. What you've done is get rid of the overwhelming numbers of bacteria that were making you ill, and got them down to the point where you are no longer symptomatic and it no longer can overtake your body's immune system. This allows the surviving cells to reproduce with something stronger and more resistant.

A vaccine works a bit differently. You see, when you get exposed to a virus, your body studies the invader and creates a special response to it, and it remembers that response. If the invader should come by again, it can tackle it before any illness takes hold. Brilliant! However, this initial time period of study and creation of a response takes time. During that time, the virus is often taking hold of your body and doing damage. By the time a response is formulated, you may be too ill and the virus too prevalent in your body for you to do much except wait it out. Viruses will always mutate on their own, regardless of what we do. They do it in a statistically predictable pattern. For every case of the virus that you prevent, you reduce the ability of the virus to mutate. Vaccinations don't make superbugs. They eradicate disease.

What a vaccine does is show your body detailed information about the invaders, without the invasion. Call it a simulator. Your body studies the vaccine, formulates a response, and is ready if and when the real thing ever hits. The shots given contain only one of two things: dead virus or inactive bits of virus. Neither one can possibly ever make you ill with the disease, because there is no live virus. Nothing. Nada. Doesn't happen.

The nasal spray has live virus in small amounts that has been genetically altered to not be able to reproduce. It can possibly make you mildly ill, but you cannot get the full-blown illness from it.

If you have ever gotten a vaccine and gotten ill from it, there are a few possibilities as to what happened.
1) You coincidentally got ill with something else around the same time.
2) You got a mild fever, some soreness/achiness, etc. which may just be your own normal reaction to your immune system activating. This doesn't mean you are ill, and it passes in a day or two.
3) You got a very mild case of the illness if you had a live vaccine.

Every single time you catch a real virus, you have a risk of lasting damage and in some cases, death. Flu doesn't kill you. Flu often leads to pneumonia, though, and that can kill you. Chicken pox is usually rather harmless in children. If you don't get the shot though, and you don't get chicken pox until you are an adult, you could become deathly ill from the disease. Also, the shot for chicken pox (or the oral vaccine as younger ones get) won't give you the lovely chance for painful shingles later in life, while the disease will. Mumps can cause sterility. Measles can cause terrible scarring, blindness and deafness. Does it happen every time to every person? Nope. But your odds of complications are far higher with the disease than with the vaccine.

Getting vaccinated is smart. And you do NOT weaken your immune system. You strengthen it with vaccines. You also reduce your risk of serious complications. If you choose not to get it, I respect that. I said before that I've chosen to not get the H1N1 vaccine this year due to limited stock. But let's not defend it with false information.

**Heraclius** · 12-29-2009, 05:28 PM

I wasn't exactly comparing antibiotics to vaccinations, more of other drugs that are overused, though I will admit I did make the comparison once.

My main point was that it is irresponsable to take a vaccine that would save you some minor irritation, when that same vaccine could save someone's life.

Also, I disagree on your vaccines are always safe. Remember the vaccine that caused paralysis? I sort of have a thing of wanting to wait at least 6 months after the vaccine is released to use it, things slip by the FDA and not everything is 100% safe.

Though it is true that viruses and bacteria can mutate to get around the vaccine.

**~~FoxyBunny~~** · 12-29-2009, 05:34 PM

Well, I don't think I ever said every vaccine is always safe. Dead-virus vaccines though do NOT cause the disease you are being vaccinated for. The medium they are in could cause problems, and some people are allergic. And yes, it is usually smart to let any new vaccine be tested thoroughly before mass immunizations.

As for your point about it being irresponsible to take it when others need it more, I couldn't agree more. That would be why I've declined to take it this year, although my work offered it.

I'm sorry if by singling you out I gave the impression that this was all directed at you. It definitely wasn't. I just read about four pages of sketchy information though, and I wanted to correct a few misunderstandings people hold. Knowledge is power, right? I'd love to see everyone here at least know the truth and facts about vaccines before they choose whether to get one. If they choose not to get it while knowing all the facts, that's cool.