Ehscommoner's Blog

Okay, so I am going to take this one on, like it or not. I really can’t handle all the madness and misinformation that is going on around the H1N1 or swine flu virus. Whether it is unreasonable fear of the vaccine, or people coughing and sneezing all over and touching stuff, let’s get hygienic please!

On the vaccine, I understand that people are fearful of the side effects like Guillen-Barre syndrome and all the thimerisol/mercury stuff.  If you are going to give up eating salmon, tuna, meat, breathing air, and using transportation, I’ll cede you that point. However, the vaccine should be the least of your worries. Every decision we make in life involves risk. You drive to the store, some idiot texting and driving can end you. So weigh your risks. First, your risk is much greater of getting the flu, especially this year. We have already exceeded the occurrence of annual seasonal flu related hospitalizations, and we are still seeing new cases (see the CDC,) and it is only October. Your risk of coming down with side effects from the immunization is much, much lower. So my advice, take it or leave it, get vaccinated! I mean when it becomes available that is.

As far as covering your cough and sneeze goes, I can’t believe we have to have this discussion, but I see adults with  practices worse than a seven year old all the time! Before you go and criticize how infantile it is to have hand-washing and cover your cough discussions, think about what you do next time you sneeze/cough. A lot of us still do it in our hand, then we touch every surface around us, doorknobs, faucets, and handshakes before we do anything about it. Good hygiene is the most effective way to prevent the spread of any illness, but it is the practice that is taken the least seriously (‘dude I’m clean, come on, do I smell like a pig.’) Same thing for daily activity, what all did you touch before you started playing with your gum, rubbing your stubble, and scratching your eyes? I am not going to tell you how to go about it, but some key words that go well here are handwashing, sanitizer, tissues, and sleeves.

Why should you take these precautions, after all, you never get sick, and when you do it just makes your immune system stronger . . . right? Who cares. What really matters is that if you are not taking these precautions, you are a part of the problem. Those people who end up dying from the flu, how do you know that you were not a part of it? Like it or not, unless you are living in the hills for months on end, what you have, you will spread if you are not responsible. Getting vaccinated significantly reduces your risk of contracting flu (70-90%,) and practicing good hygiene ensures that you are not either picking up or spreading the virus.

I will save some of the other discussions for other posts like surgical masks vs. N95 respirators, and the research behind vaccine side effects and effectiveness.  It isn’t hard to imagine why countries who don’t have child immunization programs have such problems with Polio, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, etc.