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Last week, I wrote about a mother losing her unborn child to swine flu. This week, I'm going to write about the death of a thirteen year old boy. Am I trying to scare you? Hell, yeah.
I wrote yesterday at Their Bad Mother about Evan Frustaglio, the thirteen year old Toronto boy who died suddenly from H1N1 this week:
"Yesterday, a healthy young boy in our city died of swine flu. He was diagnosed with regular flu last week after falling ill, felt improved enough to play hockey on Saturday, and then fell ill again that evening. His parents took him to a clinic on Sunday, where they were told it would pass. Evan Frustaglio went bed on Sunday evening, and stopped breathing, and when his parents went to wake him, he was gone.
Just like that. GONE."
Evan Frustaglio had no pre-existing medical conditions. Evan Frustaglio was a healthy, active young boy. Evan Frustaglio caught swine flu from someone and died. Evan Frustaglio's story - like the story of Aubrey Updyke - demonstrates exactly why we all should be doing everything we can to prevent the spread of this flu.
So, does that mean you should be making sure that your kids get vaccinated? That you get vaccinated?
For my money, yes. There are plenty of people out there who are nervous about the vaccine, who worry about side effects, who point to the presence of thimerosal (the preservative that Jenny McCarthy blames for her son's autism) in the vaccine, who simply regard the vaccine as involving more risk than does the illness that it aims to prevent. But there are far, far more people - people with the relevant degrees and scientific accreditations - who argue strenuously that the vaccine is as safe as a vaccine can be (which means, of course, that people who are simply opposed to vaccines in general will not be comforted by this) and that it is being closely monitored and tested and retested and examined for any possible unanticipated side effect. Science - as embodied by our national medical associations and pediatric associations and centers for disease control - advocates getting the vaccine. For me, that's pretty compelling.
Shelley Abreu at Babble makes a similar argument:
Fear of vaccines cannot be completely eliminated, but the majority of research and evidence points to their safety. What’s more, the CDC has devised a careful monitoring system to track and respond to any kind of adverse reactions that might develop. And aside from a vocal minority, the majority of the medical profession seems to wholeheartedly support swine flu vaccination. When all is said and done, it’s hard to find any real evidence that suggests that the risk of side effects from the vaccine outweigh the tremendous benefit to children, pregnant women and adults alike.
Madeline Ellis at HealthNews cites experts at the Center For Disease Control on the vaccine's safety:
Federal officials say the H1N1 vaccine is made the same way as seasonal flu vaccines that have been used for years. “This isn’t a new vaccine,” Anne Schuchat said. “The vaccine is being manufactured exactly the same way as the seasonal flu vaccine. It is basically a vaccine made against the H1N1 instead of the seasonal viruses (expected to circulate in the upcoming season). Based on everything we know now, we are expecting a good safety record for H1N1.”
I respect any parent who worries about vaccines, and who frets over the research and who struggles to find a good, clear path to doing what's medically best by their children. I've hemmed and hawed over these issues myself. But for me it comes down to this: vaccinations are about much more than just preserving the health of your own children. They're about preserving the health of the community. They only work if the majority of the community participates. So, if you wager that your children might not get swine flu, or might not get it bad, or that if they did get it, it's less of a danger than other risks that might be associated with vaccines... well, you might be right. Maybe. But even if swine flu doesn't bring its worst to bear upon your child, it might do so upon the child of another. And your child might be the one to pass it along.
My youngest has a respiratory condition that has weakened his lungs: swine flu could be very, very dangerous for him. So I worry. Evan Frustaglio didn't have
