Quick poll - Pg ladies, how pg are you and will you be having the swine flu jab?

[laurawantsababy]

I am 25 weeks pg with dc2 and very confused.

After another death but with conflicting advice about the jab chosen for the UK what are we to do??

I would love you here everyones choice and thoughts on it to help me out.

Thanks

What is the special Baxter clinic hannah?

The Baxter clinic is where they treat swine flu with chicken soup.

Sorry, that was very bad.

at midnightsun...

Poface - it's the cevlapan clinic (made by Baxters) rather than pandremix (GSK)

Thanks hannah - just wondering if that is one clinic for the nation or whether they have local clinics?

Very good midnightsun

Posted this as a separate thread but possibly should have put it here? I have been researching the whole swine flu vaccine subject and have decided that if I am to be vaccinated I would rather it be with Celvapan. I contacted my surgery this morning and asked if pregnant ladies would be given the option of choosing Celvapan and was told very curtly no. They said they will only get pandemrix and it's up to me whether I take it or not. I don't want to be forced into taking a mercury containing vaccine if I don't want to . Does anyone know if it is possible to get Celvapan privately. I live in London. I don't want to have to pay but if that's the only way then I will do. I am 21 weeks pregnant.

Westlondongirl - it's not the mercury you need to worry about - see esp midnightsun's links on how much mercury is in the vaccine and how it compares with one week's ration of fresh tuna, and the fact that it's the same as used in the 28wk anti-D injection and you should be very reassured.

The only reason I am opting for cevlapan is the adjuvant issue for which there is no answer (as far as I can tell from the official, reputable websites).

I am 9 weeks pg with twins and presume I won't even be offered the jab for another month or so. Will look carefully at what happens in this time - am v. concerned about adverse effects on my babies. Would have preferred more testing. Took me 7 years to get pg and have no desire to screw things up now!

westlondongirl I would have thought that once everyone has been vaccinated they will offer it out privately.

They may have to wait until other countries have had their supplies and there is no telling how long that could take.

I'm 34 weeks, very rundown and have asthma so will be having the jab as i don't feel my body could handle swineflu(and having to take antivirals) right now. I will ask if i can get cevlapan even if i have to pay but i won't hold my breath. I i was feeling well with no asthma as i was in my 1st pregnancy i definitely wouldn't be having it but i have to take my health seriously for the sake of both children

Legbarlass I dont think they will vaccinate in the fist trimester although I dont think that has yet been confirmed?

Understandable after 7 years of trying you are very unsure. Maybe by the time you are offered it they will have better knowledge of whats what.

For those wanting into on tha Australian vaccine, it's called PanVax produced by CSL. It is cultured in egg, but most importantly, it is a ONE SHOT NON-ADJUVANTED vaccine. SF (or the side-effects of the vaccine) isn't widely reported in the Australian media I've been reading, which makes me think it's a case of no news is good news.

Hope this helps

I am 19 weeks and after thinking about it for the last week or so I've decided that I am going to have it. As some people on here have already said the risk of not having it and catching swine flu is greater than having an adverse affect from the jab. I will be in my third trimester during the winter too and that has also contributed towards my decision plus I have got a 9 year DD who I have to think about if god forbid anything did happen to me if I got swine flu and ended up seriously ill.

Sorry I'm probably covering old ground and being thick but what is an Adjuvant and why is it bad? I was dead against having any vaccine but as i'm asthmatic and fall sick quickly when i'm not pregnant I feel that I should.

I think the issue is going to be supply, Baxter can only supply as fast as they can produce and they will have contracts with health authorities in many countries to deliver specified amounts.

Here in Norway they bought in enough Pandemrix for two doses per person in the entire population but now that it turns out most people will only need one they are going to donate the surplus to countries which did not have agreements in place with the manufacturers.

I recognise that the mercury and adjuvant are relevant worries, although I don't personally think they pose any significant risk. Separately there is something strange in the psychological aspect of being offered one thing and denied another that makes us suspicious and want the thing that is not available. I was trying to imagine if they were saying "We will vaccinate all healthy males but women can't have the vaccine until all the men are protected" whether more men AND women would actively want to seek out the vaccine. When something is exclusive, it becomes more desirable. Maybe not though.

westlondongirl an adjuvant is added to the vaccine in order to strengthen the body's immune response to the (dead/inactive) virus particles it contains. It means a vaccine can contain less of the virus but the body's antibodies-production response provides the same level of immunity protection as if the vaccine contains more of the virus.

Pandremix contains an adjuvant called squalene, which is a naturally occurring oil that is found in plants, animal and human bodies. It is extracted from shark liver for the purpose of vaccines. It has been linked (rather vaguely) by opponents to vaccine side effects related to the body's immune system but nothing has been proven. Squalene is not licensed by the FDA in the US. The most high profile fuss around it was when it was claimed that Gulf War veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome were given an anthrax vaccine containing squalene and squalene was blamed. According to the World Health Organisation, however, their vaccines did NOT contain squalene and the controversy around it was unfounded.

I believe that some dryg companies have produced non-squalene vaccines because they know there is nonetheless a market for them. There is no evidence to suggest that squalene is not safe. But vaccines with adjuvants are new in the history of vaccines (the last decade or two, I think - somebody correct me if I'm wrong) so there is logically much more data available about non-adjuvant vaccines than adjuvant vaccines. This means they are able to say with a lot more authority that a non-adjuvant vaccine is "definitely" safe. There's no reason to believe that the other one is unsafe, there's just a lower volume of clinical information about how effectively it worked.

Is squalene usually contained in the normal seasonal flu vaccine?

I heart Mumsnet. I mean, I still have no idea what to do, but I heart it anyway.

no it is not catski. But apparently squalene has been used in some seasonal flu vaccines at some point in some countries [not in USA]. It is all a bit vauge. It apparently was not used in the gulf war vaccines, even though there was a fear that is had and was part of gulf war syndrome, but that does not appear to be the case.

I dont think any other website will have as much info as we have on here about the vaccines!

open.salon.com/blog/amytuteurmd/2009/10/04/extraordinary_death_toll_of_h1n1_in_pregnant_women

Interesting link.

Don't know what to do!!!

I'm 32 weeks pg and not sure whether I will have the jab or not. I will have to see what stage I'm offered it, know whether it is Pandemrix or Celvapan etc.

Agree much hype about s.flu but high fever/death etc definately not good for the baby(!) and always chance I could be one of the unlucky healthy ones who gets it bad... or I could not get flu at all. A lot of the deaths/v serious cases have been fully healthy people, pregnant or otherwise. Not the usual victims of the flu.

The fact it is practically the same jab as the seasonal flu makes me feel that it is tested... but I wouldn't normally have the normal flu jab while pregnant. Oh the questions!?

Thanks pofaced.

So, what's the fear with squalene then? Are there specific effects from it that people are worrying about (have been reading about gulf war syndrome this morning)?

I think I've pretty much squared off with myself that thimerosal shouldn't be a probelm given that it is under the doseage recommended in a weekly tuna allowance for pregnant women and contained in the anti-D injection given to pregnant women who need it.