Why so much confusion about whether to vaccinate if you've had H1N1?

[Tiger926]

I know some of you don't want to read another flu thread, and I am sorry, but something has been bothering me. As a teacher and a mom, I'm right in the thick of the flu issue, so here goes:

There seems to be so much confusion amongst everyone, medical professionals included, about whether to vaccinate if you've already had a lab confirmed case of H1N1. Note, I am only talking about lab confirmed cases here as with unconfirmed cases, docs don't know if the patient actually had H1N1 or not, so a vaccine would be applicable here. Here in Canada they are saying you have H1N1 only with a lab confirmation - many of our hospitals are still testing, especially kids. My son had a very extensive culture test done. I know in the U.S. you guys aren't testing, so maybe this is the issue? You really don't know if you have had it or not, so I guess better to be safe than sorry with the vaccine?

The way a vaccine works is to have the body make antibodies, and once it's given, you are supposedly protected, unless that strain of flu changes. Got it...So, why then are medical professionals divided about whether people should get the vaccine after they've had a confirmed case of H1N1? It's the same premise as the vaccine. If not, then vaccines are not necessary, KWIM? If we use this same premise, then a few months from now, or in the spring, we all would need new H1N1 vaccines again? Now, I know that no one knows what might happen with this new type of flu, and we've all seen this before with seasonal flu where the flu shots that year were useless as the flu strain changed - I know all of that is possible, so is this where medical professionals are coming from with the whole confusion about whether to vaccinate after confirmed H1N1 cases?

What's the deal here? I know there are many scientists or medical professionals on here, so just wanting to hear your opinion about this?

Thanks, Tiger

 

[mickeyboat]

Well, the only reason I can think of is that there is a certain rate of false positives on the H1N1 test. If the vaccine was readily available to everyone, including me, I would probably get it even if I had already had H1N1. It won't hurt.

 

[Tiger926]

Well, the only reason I can think of is that there is a certain rate of false positives on the H1N1 test. If the vaccine was readily available to everyone, including me, I would probably get it even if I had already had H1N1. It won't hurt.

That makes sense, but I was speaking about lab confirmed - I should go and change that in my post. Here in Canada, we are only accepting lab confirmed as having H1N1, as the swabs are very problematic.

Thanks, Tiger

 

[Christine]

My doctor was very clear. Even with a suspected H1N1 case, you should get the vaccine. If it was lab confirmed then no, don't get it. Since they aren't sending swabs of to labs here anymore then, really, you just need to get the vaccine.

 

[Tiger926]

My doctor was very clear. Even with a suspected H1N1 case, you should get the vaccine. If it was lab confirmed then no, don't get it. Since they aren't sending swabs of to labs here anymore then, really, you just need to get the vaccine.

Thanks - I guess most cities aren't doing lab confirmations, so that makes sense. I still lots of confusion about it all over the news, Internet, etc., so I wanted to try and wrap my head around it.

Thanks, Tiger