PineFarmMom Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I went for a pregnancy visit today and asked what my OB what he thought about the vaccine and the flu itself. He's never said anything to me about it before so I wanted to get his opinion. He said that the recommendations to the OB/GYNs is that they encourage pregnant women to get the vax so he is recommending it because of that, BUT he said that the mercury content is a concern. He also told me that any of his pregnant patients that choose not to get it, he fully understands why because of the newness of the vax and the unknowns involved. He's not going to push it if women don't want it. He also said it will likely be a moot point because he doesn't even know when docs are going to be getting this vaccine in the first place. He said he feels it will run its course before it is widely available. I felt like, on his end, he was obeying the "rules" by recommending it, but I didn't sense a true passion or urgency about that recommendation coming from him. He did say that it could be bad for a pregnant woman getting the virus. Even being pregnant, I'm still not sold. I guess I can't do anything about that right now, so if the vaccine becomes available I will cross that bridge when I come to it and seek more info in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 :001_huh: The single dose H1N1 vaccine has no thimerosal/mercury so you have a choice to get a shot which doesn't have it. The H1N1 vaccine is made the same way, in the same facilities as the seasonal flu vaccine which has been administered to pregnant women for years. NIAID is running a trial of the H1N1 vax in pregnant women. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/QA/H1N1pregnanttrials.htm Prelim results will be avail late Oct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineFarmMom Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the info!! :) I wonder why he didn't make mention of the non-mercury choice. He even said that, I'm guessing in our area, there is a shortage on the normal flu vax and that he's had issues getting Tamiflu. He mentioned those because he was explaining the reasons behind the deaths and how the teens that died were the ones that didn't received the Tamiflu. Edited October 20, 2009 by Texas T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 My dad's a pulmonologist in California. He's getting pretty alarmed by H1N1. It's not that they've had a huge number of cases, but that they shouldn't have had ANY in summer (he was sharing this with me several weeks ago, so he was telling me about summer activity). He had to put 3 people in the ICU on ventilators with H1N1 this summer, all young. 2 of the 3 were pregnant. He's really worried about what he is going to see this winter. I'm sure if I were pregnant he would be strongly encouraging me to vaccinate. He's strongly encouraging us anyway. So I would be questioning your OB's advice and looking for some other opinions. All assuming there is any vaccine available! None here yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneC Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 We're at the end of flu season here and there was a high incidence of pregnant women who ended up in ICU on ventilators with H1N1. If the vaccine had been available while I was still pregnant I would have had it, and we don't usually vaccinate against flu. Instead I hibernated for the last 3 months of my pregnancy so I could try to avoid the flu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarleneW Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Everything I have read, and what our ped says says that the H1Ni shot has a high amount of mercury in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 The single dose vials of H1N1 vax do not have any mercury. The multi-dose vials do. The nasal spray does not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Everything I have read, and what our ped says says that the H1Ni shot has a high amount of mercury in it. Our ped said the H1N1 shots they're getting in have no mercury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I thought that it had mercury too. If not, why did Washington state have to lift the limits on mercury in vaccines for pregnant women and infant children? Here's a link to an article about it: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/09/25/Washington-St-lifts-H1N1-mercury-limit/UPI-90021253900843/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I thought that it had mercury too. If not, why did Washington state have to lift the limits on mercury in vaccines for pregnant women and infant children? Here's a link to an article about it: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/09/25/Washington-St-lifts-H1N1-mercury-limit/UPI-90021253900843/ As Julie of KY says, the single dose vials don't have thimerosal, but the multidose vials do. If the single dose vials aren't available, lifting the limit allows people to choose to be vaccinated with the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyrooch Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 My dad's a pulmonologist in California. He's getting pretty alarmed by H1N1. It's not that they've had a huge number of cases, but that they shouldn't have had ANY in summer (he was sharing this with me several weeks ago, so he was telling me about summer activity). He had to put 3 people in the ICU on ventilators with H1N1 this summer, all young. 2 of the 3 were pregnant. He's really worried about what he is going to see this winter. I'm sure if I were pregnant he would be strongly encouraging me to vaccinate. He's strongly encouraging us anyway. So I would be questioning your OB's advice and looking for some other opinions. All assuming there is any vaccine available! None here yet. Yep, I would be questioning my OB too if he had told me this. Here in Oklahoma it is being stongly recommended that pregnant woman receive the vaccine. We do already have shipments of the vaccine and our local health departments have already started vaccinating. They are only vaccinating the high risk groups at this point however and that includes children with underlying medical conditions and pregnant woman. Pregnant woman are in the highest risk group here and I don't think that just pertains to us. I think that nationwide it is very strongly recommended that pregnant woman receive this vaccine. H1N1 is not affecting the same groups as the normal seasonal flu. Normally the elderly are on the top of that list. They are on the bottom of the H1N1 risk groups. H1N1 is more adversely affecting children and pregnant woman. It is also affecting the healthy 24-49 years olds (the group most of us here fit in) worse than the elderly. H1N1 just isn't playing by the same rules and the normal flu. I personally would highly recommend that anyone who is pregnant be vaccinated. The risk to this group from the H1N1 just seems too great to not get yourself protected. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineFarmMom Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 So assuming we even get it here anytime soon, how would I go about getting the single-dose ones without thimerosal? I need to call the kids pediatrician and see what they have to say also. I just want to decide what to do so I can take action when it comes out. I don't feel comfortable at all with this vaccine, but I also don't feel comfortable NOT getting it. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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