Superlative Media Spasmodics: H1N1 and Public Fear

As one of the relatively few Americans who received the H1N1 vaccine, I feel a little odd about the current media spasm contracting around its “questionable safety”. I received the vaccine because I work in admissions for a medical facility. I see dozens of sick people every day, and being vaccinated makes me feel a little bit better protected. While we don’t get a lot of H1N1 patients in my department, it’s still a medical facility, and it’s still early in the season…so there’s plenty of bad bugs floating around, and more still to come. When I got the vaccine—by a nasal application, as the shot was available in even more limited quantities and for an even more limited population—I was hyper-aware of my physical well-being for about a week to follow. I have full confidence in my immune system, but all of the hype around H1N1 and its “untested” vaccines had me a little worried. The virus in my vaccine was live—the nasal application is a “live attenuated” so it’s a live, but greatly weakened, strain of H1N1—so would I be more susceptible to illness? Could I get H1N1? The questions swirled in my mind for about a week until I forgot I ever got it and went on with my life. I suffered no side effects, at least none that I noticed, and if anything, my activity level increased—I began taking aerial classes at the local circus center again—so my body, somehow, under the combined duress of the H1N1 vaccine and unusual muscle strains, has managed to handle itself pretty well. In about an hour, when I leave work, I’ll be heading to the gym for a trot on the treadmill and a few laps on the weight machines.

I know, I know. What could have happened to me, though? The possibilities, given the time constraints under which the vaccine had to be developed, are endless, really, but only if you really go looking for them. And you’re paranoid. The amount of testing that anything must undergo before it’s deemed safe by the FDA is massive and, some argue, red-taped to the point of being superlative. Why deny the public viable drugs because someone forgot to cross a “t” or dot an “i”? Bureaucracy and pandemics clearly don’t mix well. Go get vaccinated, as soon as you can, especially if you’re pregnant or caring for an infant under six months of age.