Ow.
So, I'm now all seasonal flu-shotted. And, aside from a tiny bruise at the injection site, no fever, no general feelings of being ill, and no impending autism.
Screw you, Andrew Wakefield.
The H1N1 vaccine wasn't available yet at the location where I went, and even if it were, I'm not amongst the most-vulnerable group eligible to recieve it yet. But I do fully intend to get it when it becomes available because the last thing I need is to be laid up with swine flu.
Personally, I'm disturbed by the large numbers of parents who have said that they have no intention of vaccinating thier children. I suppose that's a side effect of being raised by a doctor and a nurse and, thus, growing up to regard vaccines as a Very Good Thing That Absolutely Saves Lives, but I also know some of the side effects of various strains of influenza and the complications caused thereby and I find myself somewhat horrified at the thought of leaving children to risk such a thing.
Admittedly, I don't have a kid, and I have no right to tell people how to raise thier own children, but I do firmly believe that vaccines work and have an enormous and demonstrated potential to save lives and improve the quality of lives that would otherwise be maimed by complications of what were once considered just inevitable childhood diseases.
Hey, it's a whole hell of a lot easier to prevent a disease than it is to cure it, right?
And, yeah, I'm increasingly thinking that nursing is exactly the right place for me to be.
Screw you, Andrew Wakefield.
The H1N1 vaccine wasn't available yet at the location where I went, and even if it were, I'm not amongst the most-vulnerable group eligible to recieve it yet. But I do fully intend to get it when it becomes available because the last thing I need is to be laid up with swine flu.
Personally, I'm disturbed by the large numbers of parents who have said that they have no intention of vaccinating thier children. I suppose that's a side effect of being raised by a doctor and a nurse and, thus, growing up to regard vaccines as a Very Good Thing That Absolutely Saves Lives, but I also know some of the side effects of various strains of influenza and the complications caused thereby and I find myself somewhat horrified at the thought of leaving children to risk such a thing.
Admittedly, I don't have a kid, and I have no right to tell people how to raise thier own children, but I do firmly believe that vaccines work and have an enormous and demonstrated potential to save lives and improve the quality of lives that would otherwise be maimed by complications of what were once considered just inevitable childhood diseases.
Hey, it's a whole hell of a lot easier to prevent a disease than it is to cure it, right?
And, yeah, I'm increasingly thinking that nursing is exactly the right place for me to be.