To Oink or Not to Oink...

Word at the playground is that swine flu is sweeping Lovetown. No one’s had the H1N1 shot here at the funny farm…yet. Haven’t quite decided whether we’re going to go there. We’re vaccinators around here. It’s always made me slightly uneasy--it’s naturally a little nervewracking to voluntarily subject your little kid to something that could hurt him, even if the chances are incredibly slim. Plus they always give you those really scary handouts at the doctors office (talk about bad PR…). But I remain convinced that the risks of preventable childhood illnesses far outweigh any risks related to vaccination, and that the public health aspect can’t be overlooked. On a certain level I support people’s right not to vaccinate, but I must say it seems like a pretty selfish thing to do. I mean really, non-vaccinators are essentially relying on the fact that the rest of us do it to keep their kids from getting some potentially fatal illness. (You’re welcome guys). It seems like a pretty right wing-y kind of thing to do but it’s unfortunately become a part of the crunchy orthodoxy. This article in Wired laid it all out pretty well.

Anyway, we will continue to get the prescribed childhood vaccines because I think it’s the best thing for my kids and for society. And yet, there’s something about the H1N1 thing that makes me not want to rush out and get it. It seems like it was thrown together in a hurry, and I keep hearing about docs who say they won’t vaccinate their own kids. I’m skeptical of the effectiveness of the whole flu shot thing to begin with, and my anti-vaccine connections on facebook add to my unease.

However, my little sis, a pediatrician and mother whom I trust more than anyone else on this issue, says get it if you can. And so, in the end, we probably will. But my whole internal debate may be immaterial. My doctor’s office doesn’t have it yet and our local health department is already out, at least temporarily. I read somewhere that the Obama girls haven’t gotten theirs yet, so my kids can wait too. Meanwhile, we’ll be rocking the vitamin C--and vitamin D-rich cod liver oil. Should note that the fish oil thing is not popular with some of my vegetarian friends on FB (“Think about how many little livers go into one ounce of that stuff,” my old friend Betty recently implored). Sometimes you just can’t win.