Who's getting the H1N1 shot?

[Dion]

Calgary's H1N1 clinics may reopen on Tuesday - on limited basis

Proof may be required for high-risk subjects

Dr. Andre Corriveau said details are expected to be released today on when and how the revised program will work and what requirements there will be for those seeking the shots. But if there are more clinics, they will not be opened to those outside the high-risk group-- pregnant women, kids aged six months to five years and those under 65 with chronic health conditions.

Corriveau said a clinic may be held for pregnant women only, then another for the kids in the target group--although their parents will not be eligible unless they, too, fit into the high-risk category. And those with chronic conditions, may have to show some kind of proof.

"There are a lot of logistical issues," said Corriveau.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/...474/story.html

[The Ditch]

I hate how they said they were relying on the good faith of Albertans to only have the high risk people go in for the shots. Never heard anything along those lines, my wife got her shot last week and I was planning to get mine right away here but guess I can't now, hopefully I don't die in the meantime.

[FlamesAddiction]

The area around where I live is just starting immunizations today and they are only taking high risk people for the 1st couple of weeks.

I guess one of the things that bugs me is that even though most people are not even elligible right now, you still have the media and some doctors saying that everyone should get it as soon as possible. Since it's not possible for a while, what purpose does it serve to have this campaign of fear? For people who do want it, they get to crap their pants for the next couple of weeks waiting.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

The area around where I live is just starting immunizations today and they are only taking high risk people for the 1st couple of weeks.

I guess one of the things that bugs me is that even though most people are not even elligible right now, you still have the media and some doctors saying that everyone should get it as soon as possible. Since it's not possible for a while, what purpose does it serve to have this campaign of fear? For people who do want it, they get to crap their pants for the next couple of weeks waiting.

Yup, lots of blame to go around, from the various levels of government and health-care bureaucracy to the media, to the people who aren't high risk who overwhelmed the system, to the people who have been spreading misinformation as part of an anti-vaccination program.

The article in the Herald has one massive red flag in it: if one third of Albertans are high risk, and they've got only about 80,000 vaccinations per week, that means it'll take about thirteen weeks (end of January) just to vaccinate all 1 million high-risk Albertans.

[Rhettzky]

Corriveau said health officials didn't anticipate the overwhelming numbers of people who turned up at the clinics.

Weren't polls done that said 50% of the province was planning to get the shot? How could they not have anticipated this turn-out? What a complete gong show. Take some blame, these idiots are just worried that if they admit they don't know what they are doing then they'll be liable when/if the crap hits the fan.

[Mike Oxlong]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

She is a friend of mine. I will talk to her tomorrow and if she wishes, give an update here. Please continue to keep her daughter in your thoughts and prayers.

Please send along our best wishes.

That must be terrible for them right now. My kid is only 2.5 months and I would freak out if I were in that situation. I really hope everything is ok for them.

Having a baby too young to be immunized is exactly why I will be getting the shot and encouraging everyone who will be in contact with the kid to get the shot as well.

Good luck Peanut and family!!

[Devils'Advocate]

I decided to go into work today... good thing too. Two of my 3 staff members are out with the flu today. One said her fever broke yesterday, so she should be good for tomorrow which will be a good thing. The only saving grace is that half our clients are out sick as well... I haven't been as inundated as I feared.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by octothorp

The article in the Herald has one massive red flag in it: if one third of Albertans are high risk, and they've got only about 80,000 vaccinations per week, that means it'll take about thirteen weeks (end of January) just to vaccinate all 1 million high-risk Albertans.

There are bound to be people who are left out whether they want to be or not. The best thing to do right now is promote helpful behaviours that can limit exposure. What people seem intent on doing instead, is spreading fear that they are going to get sick and maybe die. It's just not that helpful.

[MelBridgeman]

wash you hands people, don't cough and spit all over the damn place

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

Might be worse? I can tell you getting the flu is worse. As you've already stated, death is a possibility, but there's also other possibilities such as a death watch admission to the ICU on a ventilator for a couple weeks. You think this hysteria is an over reaction? We just admitted a physician to the ICU this weekend - young and healthy a couple days ago before contracting H1N1.

You know what's even scarier, and has yet to make the media? If the trend continues, and the average ICU stay is 1-2 weeks, and we only have ~10-20 ventillators per hospital, we are rapidly going to run out of ventillators. You can figure out the implications.

The other thing people don't know is that it's not really the virus that kills you; it's the body's immune system over-reacting and flooding the lungs with reactive cells and fibrotic tissue. Why is this relevant to you? Because it means having a "competent" or "healthy" immune system is 1) not as protective against H1N1 as against the usual/seasonal flu strain, and 2) could theoretically exacerbate H1N1 complications. Hence why we are seeing a disproportionate amount of young, healthy adults being admitting to hospital and requiring ICU admission.

However miniscule you perceive the risk, if it includes death, a couple days of mild malaise is a small price to pay for some degree of protection.

I cannot thank you enough for this post. I have been telling people until I'm blue in the face that the reason why the bodies haven't piled up in large numbers yet is because the health system has only been bent and has yet to be broken. At the current clip it will be broken. Imagine all the deaths that will occur in a situation where they run out of respirators! Also what won't get reported is how many people die of non-H1N1 related injuries/illnesses beacuase resources were being used to treat H1N1 victims. Everyone assumes that should they get sick enough from H1N1 top quality health care will be readily available for them. Not so if the whole city is out sick.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

What people seem intent on doing instead, is spreading fear that they are going to get sick and maybe die. It's just not that helpful.

How else do you get through to people who are not taking the H1N1 seriously?

NuclearFart posted some great info why people should be getting this shot.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Dion

How else do you get through to people who are not taking the H1N1 seriously?

NuclearFart posted some great info why people should be getting this shot.

But at the current rate of vaccination, not everyone will be able to get vaccinated until after the flu season. I don't see how fear mongering helps them.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

But at the current rate of vaccination, not everyone will be able to get vaccinated until after the flu season. I don't see how fear mongering helps them.

I don't see reporting the facts as fear mongering. People are upset with the lack of information out there and want to know the truth.

Should posts like the one NuclearFart posted be swept under the rug for fear mongering?

[J pold]

Does anyone actually know the current mortality rate for people who contract H1N1 that do not have a pre-existing medical condition,in Alberta?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Dion

I don't see reporting the facts as fear mongering. People are upset with the lack of information out there and want to know the truth.

Should posts like the one NuclearFart posted be swept under the rug for fear mongering?

It is fear mongering if people can't actually do what he wants them to do if they want to avoid the worst case scenerio - which is all it is... a worst case scenerio. That does not mean the same thing as being a fact. Just look at Austrailia where H1N1 flu season was much less drastic than how it was previously predicted to be. Predicting a best case scenerio is just as much of a "fact" as predicting a worst case scenerio... so yeah, I'd say it's still fear mongering.

It would be like coming on here and saying that 1/5 people here will get cancer and so everyone should halt everything and get tested... and if they don't they are going to break our medical system with their treatments. Could that happen... yeah... but that doesn't make it fact.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by J pold

Does anyone actually know the current mortality rate for people who contract H1N1 that do not have a pre-existing medical condition,in Alberta?

Zero.

All deaths have been in people with pre-existing medical conditions as per the Alberta Health Board. No healthy people have died from this flu in Alberta and more then 95% of deaths across Canada have been in people with underlying conditions.

I am hoping they do an autopsy on the 13 year old from Toronto who died of the flu because I don't believe for a second that a perfectly healthy 13 year old boy goes from having a bath to dead in 10 minutes. That's an undetected underlying condition at work there, not a flu.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Zero.

All deaths have been in people with pre-existing medical conditions as per the Alberta Health Board. No healthy people have died from this flu in Alberta and more then 95% of deaths across Canada have been in people with underlying conditions.

I am hoping they do an autopsy on the 13 year old from Toronto who died of the flu because I don't believe for a second that a perfectly healthy 13 year old boy goes from having a bath to dead in 10 minutes. That's an undetected underlying condition at work there, not a flu.

Ya dropping dead just isn't a flu like reaction, if that is what actually happened.

I have 19 boys on my hockey team, 7 of them went down with the flu..1 plus 1 parent confirmed with H1N1 - and they all just had mild symptons, one of them, the kid ended up with pneumonia..but all have recovered just fine. That is not to say that a certain small segment of the healthy population won't get hit hard by the flu, thanks to their genetic makeup.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Zero.

All deaths have been in people with pre-existing medical conditions as per the Alberta Health Board. No healthy people have died from this flu in Alberta and more then 95% of deaths across Canada have been in people with underlying conditions.

I am hoping they do an autopsy on the 13 year old from Toronto who died of the flu because I don't believe for a second that a perfectly healthy 13 year old boy goes from having a bath to dead in 10 minutes. That's an undetected underlying condition at work there, not a flu.

Now now, let's not be rational here...

[Dion]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

It is fear mongering if people can't actually do what he wants them to do if they want to avoid the worst case scenerio - which is all it is... a worst case scenerio. That does not mean the same thing as being a fact. Just look at Austrailia where H1N1 flu season was much less drastic than how it was previously predicted to be. Predicting a best case scenerio is just as much of a "fact" as predicting a worst case scenerio... so yeah, I'd say it's still fear mongering.

I've read all the info from both sides and don't see what NuclearFrat and others in the heath industry are saying is fear mongering. I'm not panicking like a lot of the general public seems to be doing. I've never gotten the flu shot before but this H1N1 virus gave me cause to take the virus seriously and thus get my shot.

It would be like coming on here and saying that 1/5 people here will get cancer and so everyone should halt everything and get tested... and if they don't they are going to break our medical system with their treatments. Could that happen... yeah... but that doesn't make it fact.

Giving people a heads up as to what this virus could do to our health system is a good thing. Far too many people take our heath system for granted and assume it will always be there for them if they ever get sick. To me that attitude needs to change.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Zero.

All deaths have been in people with pre-existing medical conditions as per the Alberta Health Board. No healthy people have died from this flu in Alberta and more then 95% of deaths across Canada have been in people with underlying conditions.

I am hoping they do an autopsy on the 13 year old from Toronto who died of the flu because I don't believe for a second that a perfectly healthy 13 year old boy goes from having a bath to dead in 10 minutes. That's an undetected underlying condition at work there, not a flu.

Zero? Simply not true.

Vanessa Bluebell, a 25-year-old mother of four with no previous medical issues, was the first Calgary-area casualty of H1N1. She grew up at the Yellow Quill First Nation in Saskatchewan, where she likely contracted the virus at a funeral for her cousin. Bluebell was hospitalized June 27, but sent home, only to return two days later when her symptoms worsened. She fell into a coma and died on July 9

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/...458/story.html