H1N1 shot fears curious

Add comment October 26th, 2009

“Man, you’ve got to write something about this H1N1 flu panic. It’s crazy,” a doctor I know at the YMCA said from the treadmill he was on.

I encouraged him to tell me what was on his mind, and he cut loose.

“People are coming into our offices and saying they’re afraid of the H1N1 vaccine — and these are otherwise intelligent people. The H1N1 vaccine has been made the same way that all of our flu vaccines have been made for years and years and they are safe.

“But these people are scared and say they’re not going to get their kids vaccinated. And, what, because some TV commentator says it’s dangerous? They’re endangering their kids’ lives.”

His comments fit right in with the message that Winnebago County Health Department Administrator Mike Bacon, Dr. Robert Bales, the Health Department’s medical director, and Dr. Gary Rifkin, an infectious disease clinician and professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, delivered in an H1N1 update for medical professionals earlier this month.

 I have to admit that, as someone still fairly new to paying a lot of attention to health issues, I’ve been surprised by the number of people with no evident medical credentials who have no qualms about second-guessing the people who do have that training and experience, or for that matter, calling them outright liars.

It’s their right to do so, sure, but that doesn’t make it any less curious.

I’m in an age group that puts me at a low priority to receive an H1N1 vaccination but, when my turn comes around, I’m getting one. I hope you will, too.