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[Jenjulia]

I have had the kids get the flu vaccine in the past and haven't had a problem with it. When my oldest was 3, one of his friend's little sister died from complications with rotovirus and it really made an impact on me. I tend to over-react every time my kids get sick because of that. At the same time, I want to know more about the "new" vaccine before I make a decision so I appreciate the links. Thank you!

I probably do the same as most people. If they are sick, they stay home. I remind them to wash their hands and use kleenex. When we've had the flu in the past I wash their bedding, towels, etc...in hot water with detergent and sometimes a non-chlorine bleach, depending. I use a disinfectant from Melaleuca when I'm cleaning up too.

We have our first Disney vacation planned in Dec. We aren't changing our plans but it does make me nervous. I don't want the kids to get sick!

 

[JillPTFLA]

My kids' camp had quite a few H1N1 confirmed cases this summer and we were all sick for a week so even though we were never confirmed, I am assuming that we all had it. So no, it is unlikely that we will get vaccinated because I am going to assume that we should have some immunity. Honestly, it was not any worse than regular flu for all of us (thank goodness, we are realtively healthy). We all had high fevers and headaches...I think the headache was the worst part...I've never had that with any other illness. The fever lasted about 3 days but the general nasty feeling lasted about a week (for dh it was longer since he likes to complain...hee hee!).

I would definitely recommend that people with health problems and kids who have troubles with high fevers should get vaccinated. The incubation period was very short and it spread REALLY fast!
Jill

 

[mom2aredhead]

We will not be getting an H1N1 vaccination. We do not get flu shots either. My friend's perfectly healthy, active father was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome days after receiving his flu shot. His entire neurological system shut down, he was in a coma for months, and he eventually passed away. It's one of those "unconfirmed" side effects. Although the risk is pretty rare, I'll still take my chances with the flu.

And no, if I had plans to visit WDW, I would not change them. I was in WDW in May during the height of the first wave of H1N1, and we had a great trip and no one got sick. We take the normal precautions like handwashing, purell, and just general common sense.

This year's health media headline is swine flu. Last year was bird flu. Not too long ago, it was West Nile. I think the media plays a large role in people's panic, and we should use common sense regarding their health and speak to our doctors and stop listening to the 5:00 pm anchor.

 

[Terry36]

My daughter and I get the flu shots every year however I am not inclined to get the
H1N1 vaccination due to its newness as others have said, I need to see the results of the studies first.

We use hand sanitizers and are frequent hand washers so we will continue to take these precautions.

 

[PaulaSue]

I plan on getting my whole family done.

My girls have never been so sick since we moved up here a year ago. We hasve maxed out sick days at school and Dh works with customers all day long.

I have a stockpile of food/supplies so usually I don't need anything but for milk/fresh foods for a weeks or so, just in case I can't get out. Tha is about all the planning I have done.

P.S. We use magic soap often while out.

 

[poegirl30]

Another middle school teacher here. I'm also asthmatic, so I get the flu shot every year anyway. My kids get the FluMist at school, and my three year old gets the flu shot at the ped.'s office, so we will probably get the vaccine if available. I had so many students out last year due to flu (A and B) that I hope that most of our kids will get the vaccine. It spread so quickly last year. I do hope that it turns out to be just another regular flu season, but better to be safe.

In addition to hand washing and talking to the kids about how important it is, I also wipe down the desks as much as possible during the day, and the door knobs, in addition to providing a bottle of sanitizer. Kids are little germ magnets!

 

[mom2aredhead]

Speaking of schools...

My sons Pre-K teacher spent almost a week in the fall teaching them about germs and how they can get inside your body, so they knew WHY it was so important to wash hands etc. They also taught the kids to sneeze or cough "inside their elbow" rather than covering their mouths with their hands in an attempt to try to slow germ spreading.

But I would say the SMARTEST thing that the school started... all children were required to wash their hands with soap and water before they entered the classroom in the morning. It became very routine to them - walk in, jacket on the hook, wash your hands, backpack in the cubby, folder in the bin, and take your seat. It was their way of trying to eliminate a little bit of the germs coming into the school. I really think it helped.

 

[eeyoremum]

No vacine here. I don't get a flu shot anyway so would not consider one for swine flu. Plus I don't like the hype...there is not enough, there is enough, only pregnant women, and so on.

I don't think there is enough testing to let us know this vacine is safe and frankly if I was a pregnant woman I would not want to risk my unborn child to any side effects because of lack of testing. Think thalidomide back in the late 50 and early 60.

I don't tend to use hand sanitizers or antibacterial anything because they also kill that good bacteria that help our immune systems. Plain soap and water is all we use and we are pretty health people.

 

[C.Ann]

But I would say the SMARTEST thing that the school started... all children were required to wash their hands with soap and water before they entered the classroom in the morning. It became very routine to them - walk in, jacket on the hook, wash your hands, backpack in the cubby, folder in the bin, and take your seat. It was their way of trying to eliminate a little bit of the germs coming into the school. I really think it helped.

Now there's a "smart" school! Great idea!!

 

[sskem96]

I'm an OB nurse, so I'm sure the hospital will be pushing for us to get vaccinated as soon as they receive their supply. If you had a 26 week premature baby in the NICU, wouldn't it make you feel better to know the nurse had been vaccinated?

We all get the regular flu shot every year. Between DD 12 being asthmatic, me working with high risk infants, and DH working in a grocery store where customers expose him to everything under the sun, we consider vaccination a must. We also use paper towels in the bathroom so we aren't passing things to each other on a contaminated towel. Ever since we started doing that, when 1 person in the house gets sick, no one else gets it.

I know there are still risks associated with vaccines, but they have come along way since the 70's. My little brother went blind from the DPT shot in 1979, but it was a multi-dose vial and none of the other kids that got shots from the same lot of vaccine had any problems. It wasn't the vaccine's fault that he went blind, his system just had a very unusual reaction to the vaccine. There's always a small chance of something like that happening, but there are far fewer instances of those kinds of things happening than there were severe illness and deaths from the diseases before vaccinations.

 

[dismom2]

We will not be getting it, especially after reading about what happened in the 70's after mass inoculations were given to prevent swine fllu. Many people got Gillian-Barre syndrome, and others died, amongst other side effects directly related to the vaccine (which was halted). We are going to take our chances with the flu and try to take preventative measures as best we can. We're not even getting the regular flu shot anymore. A couple of us have had terrible reactions after getting it, as bad or worse than getting the flu itself.
Our schools are pretty good about notifying parents when something is going around the school. We will wait and see, and cross that bridge when we get there.

 

[wdwfan16]

DH and I will be getting the shot. I suspect we will vaccinate the kids too, but will talk with the Dr. first.

 

[disneyandme]

As for precautions, I am in MA and our schools locally have a 7 day rule in effect. basically if you spike a fever over 100 and it is accompanied by a cough, runny nose, aches, or stomach issues you are out for 7 days - period. Even if your fever is resolved the next day and symptoms are gone, you are still out.

How can the school possibly enforce this. Unless the student spikes a fever at school, the school has no control over when the parents send the students back. There are rules now about when a child shows symptoms of illness and how long they have to remian out and yet we see kids going to school every day with fevers and other illness symptom (and also coming back too early from an illness).

 

[dizneechic]

How can the school possibly enforce this. Unless the student spikes a fever at school, the school has no control over when the parents send the students back. There are rules now about when a child shows symptoms of illness and how long they have to remian out and yet we see kids going to school every day with fevers and other illness symptom (and also coming back too early from an illness).

Here all children must be called out from school or the school calls you to notify you / question you about the absence. Sure I guess a parent could lie about why they kept their kids home for a day, but I would suspect the truth would come out upon the childs return to school (if they came back after a day or 2), after 3 days of unplanned absence you need a medical note to return regardless. Having helped out in my dd's preschool office I would hear the health asst call each parent whose kids were absent (and called in) to check up on them, so I know they not only were concerned about the kids but were also keeping tabs on their status health wise.

In my boys school last spring there were several parents who tried sending kids back early to only have their kids removed from the lines while getting off the bus and sent to the nurse and parents / emergency contact called to come and get the kids. They weren't cutting any slack, regardless of the situations, which in some cases was unfortunate because the kids really were just fine. Students were also allowed back with medical confirmation of a different illness, but since a lot of peds stopped testing for H1N1 (not to mention the results would come back around the 7 day mark anyhow) and could only confirm type A/B most of the time it was pointless to try to get a medical confirmation to return early.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/h...ce-parents-but-schools-say-they-are-necessary

I guess we're fortunate enough to have a full time nurse on staff in each building who does keep tabs and monitor everything very closely. I certainly don't envy them having to try to manage this, especially when parents aren't conforming to the guidelines set forth by the state of MA's dept of health (which are what the schools are based off of).
http://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/health/documents/swine_parent_letter.pdf

 

[Colleen27]

One thing I'm hoping we'll see come of this is a change in some school attendance policies. Our district is quite reasonable and common sense, but the district where I grew up requires a doctor's note for an absence to be excused (and if an absence isn't excused no make up work will be accepted, plus 5 unexcused absences in any semester means automatic failure). As you can imagine, that leads to a lot of kids being send to school "just a little sick" because their parents can't afford or don't want to pay for an office visit for every cold and stomach bug. If they hope to have enough cooperation from families to contain the spread of flu, I think they'll have to revisit that policy.

 

[TheDizMom]

I am not making any unusual preparations for this because really there isn't anything I can do until I have it in my house. I am lucky in that I only work part time so if one of my kids comes down with it then I will not have too much trouble with work and being able to stay home. What would suck is if my DH were to get it because he is the major bread winner and car dealerships don't do sick pay. I figure that I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

When it comes to the vaccine I will definitely get it for my kids. I have already lost one child so I will do what ever I can to give them extra protection. I figure if it they have it at the very least they'll get a milder case. It will not be fun for them at all because this will mean 3 shots. On the news tonight they said that you will have to have 2 H1N1 shots in a 3 week period for it to be effective and the regular seasonal flu shot will be separate. I figure we will be able to get it though because my DS has asthma which puts him at higher risk if he gets it.

I look at it this way, I won't go into panic mode and over protect and prepare, but I also will do what is reasonable to try to make sure we don't get it.

 

[C.Ann]

I know there are still risks associated with vaccines, but they have come along way since the 70's. My little brother went blind from the DPT shot in 1979, but it was a multi-dose vial and none of the other kids that got shots from the same lot of vaccine had any problems. It wasn't the vaccine's fault that he went blind, his system just had a very unusual reaction to the vaccine. There's always a small chance of something like that happening, but there are far fewer instances of those kinds of things happening than there were severe illness and deaths from the diseases before vaccinations.

How sad for your poor little brother.. I'm sorry to hear that..

We will not be getting it, especially after reading about what happened in the 70's after mass inoculations were given to prevent swine fllu. Many people got Gillian-Barre syndrome, and others died, amongst other side effects directly related to the vaccine (which was halted)..

Just as an FYI, there were not "many" who got GBS after that vaccine - nor were there a significant number of deaths from the vaccine.. If you wander over to the Swine Flu thread on the Community Board, someone was kind enough to research the data and provide the accurate numbers.. Thought you might be interested because the numbers were minimal - at best..

When it comes to the vaccine I will definitely get it for my kids. I have already lost one child so I will do what ever I can to give them extra protection.

I look at it this way, I won't go into panic mode and over protect and prepare, but I also will do what is reasonable to try to make sure we don't get it.

I'm so very, very sorry for your loss.. I can't even begin to imagine..

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

My mother is 14-months-post-ovarian cancer diagnosis. She isn't allowed to get the flu vaccines (regular or H1N1) anymore. The rest of the family, from Dad 67 to dnephew 4, most likely WILL get the vaccines to protect her. It's the least we can do. Many in the family already get the seasonal flu shot every year because of asthma, so those would just be adding another injection.

 

[RMulieri]

I will be one of the first to get the vaccine as well as DH ..We are both heathcare providers and I am also a first responder.My 5 yr old will also be getting the vaccine as well as the annual flu vaccine.She is at too much risk thanks to all the crap DH and I bring home from work.

 

[jennifer293]

school started here last week and already sent home a letter stating that if our child comes down with the flu during the school year we are to keep them out for 7 consecutive days to keep it from spreading further. They have also said that if a high number of children become ill that they will shut down the school for a period of time.

So it sounds like they have already been thinking long and hard about it and ready for whatever comes at them. I myself have not given it much thought and I will deal with it as it comes. Only DH gets a flu shot as required by his job, but myself and DD's never get it and rarely ever get sick (knock on wood)..