December 3, 2009

H1N1 Vaccination?

The H1N1 vaccination is finally (kind of) available in our area! I am planning on taking it... but what is making me uncomfortable is that the Thimerosal (mercury preservative) free ones are either unavailable or are available in limited quantity and there is no guarantee that it will be available when I go in to take the shot!

The Thimerosal free ones are supposed to be "safer"... but there is no (super) concrete study as to whether the ones with the preservative truly cause any issues or make you (your offspring) 100% more susceptible to autism etc! Though it is something I definitely would like to avoid... the less crap in my body the better... (honestly, thinking of how many shots I have taken with IUI/IVF... I wonder how many preservatives I have put in to my system already and does 1 extra shot matter!?)

I am not sure what I want to do (as in take the regular shot)! If you have already been vaccinated, which shot did you get?

7 comments:

  1. I got it (with thimerosal) about 6 weeks ago and have been healthy and had fewer side effects with it than with the standard flu shot this year.

    I talked with my doc about the thimerosal and she didn't seem terribly concerned...and she is my maven of all things baby and children, I am feeling fine about it. In her words, any possible risk that there might be for the future of the baby is by far outweighed by the actual risks to the baby and mother now in getting the flu during pregnancy. I had another girlfriend who just got her vaccine a few weeks ago and she got the same talk from her doc.

    Good luck with it!!!

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  2. First... lemme just say that was some REALLY LUCKY GonalF!!! I am forever indepted to you!

    My H1N1 was done by the health department, so it's probably the one with the perservative. I just felt lucky to actually GET the shot, since they seem to be so scarce.

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  3. I got the one with preservatives, it was the only one available. It has less mercury than a can of tuna. My dr explained to me how it was cultured (a protein grown on yeast, then harvested) and it is really no different than the regular flu vaccine that pregnant women have been taking since the 60's. The only difference is the strain. Plus you can pass the immunity to your baby through breast milk. Since infants can't get the shot I decided it was reason enough :) My dr said that he gave it to his pg wife too... Hope that helps!

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  4. I got the regular H1N1 shot. The chance of side effects, if there are any at all, is miniscule. The chance of endangering the fetus if you get H1N1 is substantially higher, and the chance of the pregnant woman DYING is higher than for the rest of the population.

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  5. My OB's office had put in a request back in September for the preservative-free vaccine just for their pregnant patients, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago. They didn't announce that they had it, or even that they were planning to get any, and just offered it to patients as we came in for our regular check-ups. Maybe you should innocently ask your OB if their office requested any? I think mine was reluctant to get anyone's hopes up since they weren't sure they'd get as many doses as they'd asked for, or even that they'd receive any at all. They just encouraged us to try to obtain the vaccine through our PCPs. And then everyone got the shot at the same time... I'm sure if I hadn't had a visit scheduled with my MW at the right time, I'd have ended up with the standard-issue H1N1 shot.

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  6. I got the H1N1 vaccine at my OB's- and I didn't ask if it was perservative free or not. I was more concerned with getting it asap as a teacher with so many cases in my school and a few in my room.

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