Swine flu vaccine for a healthy teenager

[Winetimeisfinetime]

My gp surgery has offered the awine flu vaccine to my ds who is nearly 17 and I'm not sure what to do. I know we are in a fortunate position as they obviously must have spare supplies.

He doesn't have any underlying health problems and isn't keen on the idea of the vaccine as he thinks vaccines enable the virus to mutate into something worse. But I am seeing so much about people being really poorly with flu this year that I wonder if it would be worth doing.

I am concerned about the swine flu elememnt of the vaccine being new and reports of Giullane Barre syndrome ( I know you are more likely to get it from the flu itself ) and really just trying to think through the pros and cons.

I have the flu jab every year as I have underlying health conditions and never have any problems with it but it seems more worrying trying to advise my ds what to do and would like some advice.

I think that last year quite a few people had adverse reactions because the adjuvant used in the swine flu vaccine. I have been trying to find out whether the current trivalent flu vaccine contains adjuvant, but so far, GP has been unable to tell me as he administers it but does not seem to know what he is actually administering. I only know that under fives should get Immuvac made by Abbots and not Enzira made by CSL (and marketed by Glaxo Smithkline in the UK) as the latter has caused fits and high fever in Australia (who were luckily enough properly monitoring at the start of this year and issued a world wide alert and stopped their vaccination of under fives until they had established that it was the CSL vaccine (in UK marketed by GSK) which was the problem and then they restarted using the remaining two types of vaccines for under fives. So hats of to the Australians.
Ultimately, I suppose it is for your son to weigh up the pros and cons. I don't understand his concern about mutating in something worse ... If you get flu your body produces anti-bodies, if you get the vaccine your body produces anti-bodies ...

Thanks for the reply. I have actually dug out the leaflet I was given with my flu jab this year, which lists the ingredients, in case it is any use to you.

It was manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur msd and is called 'Inacctivated Influenza Vaccine 9Split Virion ) BP.It is known as Vaxigrip or Gripavac in other parts of Europe.

Apart from the actual 3 strains of 'flu' bits, it also contains :a buffer solutioncontaining sodium chloride,disodium phosphate dihydrate,potassium dihydrogen phosphate, potassium chloride and water. Not sure if any of that represents an adjuvant.

There is no adjuvant in the trivalent seasonal flu vaccine, there never has been. It was only in some of the pandemic vaccines last year to make them go further. There were no more adverse effects with that vaccine than any other pandemic vaccine.
Seasonal flu vaccines do not have mercury or thiomersal in them either.
This is an ordinary seasonal flu vaccine that has been given to millions of people worldwide every year for donkeys.
Vaccines cannot make viruses mutate either.

I would absolutely give it to your 17 year old in a heartbeat. MedicalEd gives very sound advice.

read the recent web chat with Professor Salisbury, it was very informative

here