Are You Going to Get the H1N1 Flu Shot?

My wife is pregnant with our fourth child.  That puts us close to first in line for the H1N1 flu vaccine—only with the conflicting stories that we hear, we’re currently favoring taking a pass.

Vaccines Have Done A Lot Of Good

Don’t get me wrong.  I think that there has been a lot of good that’s been done with vaccines.  I believe that we can credit them with helping to eliminate a lot of diseases (like polio, small pox, etc.) from the society as a whole.  These diseases killed many people, and I rest better knowing that I carry antibodies against these threats.

Now We Vaccine For Everything

However, I feel that today we go a little overboard with vaccines.  We now vaccine for the chicken pox.  I’m not sure how many lives have been claimed by the chicken pox¹ but it seems a little premature to give the vaccine to every school aged child.

The Ingredients

It also concerns me that some of the ingredients in these shots are—although in extremely low doses—poison.  This video is supposed to be funny, but it’s accurate about what is in the flu shot:

I don’t know about you, but I’m not all keen on putting mercury and some of the other ingredients into my body to avoid something I have a low chance of getting, and would probably not die from.

What’s worse is that we’re trying these vaccines on the youngest among us.  Now, it’s one thing to try something on someone older, but young bodies are still developing at a fast rate.  To put something into a young person’s body—something that’s a poison—unnerves me—especially a body that’s forming in the womb.

Be Convinced in Your Own Mind

Some people wonder if this is a conspiracy by the government towards population control.  Others wonder if it’s the government’s way of creating a health crisis during the middle of a heath care debate.  To me, regardless of why the virus has come I think that each person needs to be convinced one way or another, and that everyone takes precautions.

• If you’re sick—stay home and get better.
• Make sure to keep your hands clean, and don’t touch your face if you touch something public (a telephone, a door knob, etc.)
• Take basic precautions to keep clean and germ free, and avoid those that are sick.

It’s not time to tough out a disease.  It’s time to get better and keep those around you better.

1. Though I am aware that if adults get it, or it goes into shingles that it can be deadly. [↩]