I don’t want to talk about vaccines and autism for the same reason I don’t feel like standing up and repeatedly smacking my head against the wall. I would, however, like to pass along the following information about the H1N1 flu vaccine and mercury.
There are three different companies that make H1N1 (swine flu) flu shots. Of those only one, Sanofi Pasteur, has a shot FDA approved for kids less than 4 years old. Sanofi Pasteur makes three different H1N1 flu shots, one of which is FDA approved for kids older than 3, the other two are approved for kids all the way down to 6 months.
Of the 2 Sanofi Pasteur shots approved for kids older than 6 months:
-one is a 0.25 mL prefilled syringe (an individually packaged shot) which contains no mercury
-one is a 5.0 mL multidose vial (a bottle of vaccine that 10 shots can be drawn out of) which contains 25 micrograms of mercury per shot.
A mercury free H1N1 vaccine is out there for your kiddo if you are so inclined, don’t let any fear mongers tell you otherwise.
CDC website — scroll to the table near the bottom if you want to see for yourself
October 9, 2009 at 10:31 am
It seems to be a gamble like everything in life. Whether or not to get flue? Whether or not to take a shot? In the end we all die sooner or later, more or less painfully.
October 9, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Read they are adjuvant free too…
October 9, 2009 at 2:53 pm
As if I understand what that is, and why that’s good…but people were saying that they were going to push adjuvants that are normally not in shots here in the usa….but they aren’t doing that. I hate to hear people say the shots can cause autism when there is NO PROOF of that. I am very cautious, and want the least intervention possible. To me, a pregnant woman, it seems that a flu shot might be less intervention in the long run than tamiflu and other things once contracted and symptomatic…
October 27, 2009 at 10:41 am
then you must not have had a normal developing child that received the MMR vaccine and went to sleep for a full 24hrs. (unable to wake him) then after 24hrs woke up lost. Autistic. Lost every skill that he had before (MMR vaccine). B/c if you had seen this first hand you wouldn’t hate it when people make such claims. I am not saying that shots cause Autism, i think certain children have different genetic make up that cannot tolerate so many vaccines with mercury, aluminum and on and on. It overloads their systems and brings out these issue that under other circumstances may not have developed. I will never know. But i will never pump up another child with the recommended CDC schedule of vaccines. We take it one at a time now and watch for reations. Lots of kids have allergic reations, to lots of different things, why is it so hard to believe that ingredients in vaccinations are the same as any other allergy.
October 27, 2009 at 4:25 pm
And you have?
October 10, 2009 at 11:10 pm
FYI…for all those concerned…it is very tiring to hear the constant worries about mercury in these vaccines. You should know 25 micrograms is a trace amount. For example, there are 28 micrograms of mercury in a tuna fish sandwich…
November 16, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Yes, but we ingest tuna and with shots, mercury goes directly into your blood…
October 11, 2009 at 4:01 am
Right. Vaccinations are a gamble like wearing seatbelts in a car is a gamble.
October 18, 2009 at 12:04 am
Yeah, vaccination is like wearing a seatbelt. They will both protect me if I am exposed to a dangerous situation. However, the seatbelt WON’T POTENTIALLY KILL ME BY PUTTING BY PUTTING IT ON. Whereas vaccines have been known to do exatcly that just by receiving an injection.
October 12, 2009 at 1:45 am
Ten, I’m confused…sincere question…if the treatment for H1N1 is simply Tylenol and Motrin as you described in your last post, then why bother with the vaccination?
Tylenol is cheaper,
October 15, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Because the flu makes you miserable and occasionally kills you.
October 18, 2009 at 4:27 am
Life is a minor detail, LOL!
I gotcha, thanks.
November 3, 2009 at 3:56 pm
It’s who it is effecting and the percentage of deaths. More children are dying and for someone like myself with an 8th month old I have a hard decision to make and am going to seek out the none mercury version. I am okay with myself getting mercury. BUT even thought there is no proof mercury is not linked to Autism there is no proof it is not.
October 12, 2009 at 12:25 pm
It’s just about time for science to discover that mercury is a miracle ingredient, especially if combined with radium.
October 12, 2009 at 5:41 pm
would like to know the cost of the shot without the mercury
October 15, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Hi 10/10. As you stated in one of your previous posts you find it hard to find the time to write in your blog. But i have a request for a post. My request is simply put “doctors and feelings” When is it OK to cry? (or is it OK at all?) what is the general opinion in your clinic? Etc Etc..
This is something i often think about as a Medical Student since i can be very empathic.
Thanks for a great blog.
October 18, 2009 at 12:32 am
Dan writes: “However, the seatbelt WON’T POTENTIALLY KILL ME BY PUTTING BY PUTTING IT ON.”
Actually, Dan, there are situations where you can suffer more injury from wearing a seatbelt than if you’d not been.
As with vaccinations, these situations are extremely rare compared to your chances of harm from exposure to what you’re being vaccinated against. Many non-scientists seem to wish to believe otherwise, and the huge weight of scientific evidence showing them to be wrong is apparently not enough to convince them otherwise. (These are the same sort of people who believe that water can cure everything from the common cold to cancer.) But prudent risk management says you’re far better off with the vaccine than without.
October 18, 2009 at 12:45 am
By the way, specific to the ‘flu shots, there’s an interesting article in the Atlantic Monthly this month:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1
The long and short of it is that while vaccination has worked very, very well for various other diseases, it may not work so well for flu.
That said, vaccination against flu is still harmless, even if it’s ineffective, and there’s not really much point in avoiding vaccination against flu if you’re not part of a study, since avoiding it won’t help in any way.
November 15, 2009 at 7:42 pm
I thought you would enjoy this one. It’s not exactly true, I think it’s not really the year of the year of the pig, but still funny.
I’m not really concerned about swine flu. Here’s my concern.. 3 years ago, Chinese calendar year of the cow . . . Mad Cow disease. 2 years ago, Chinese calendar year of the bird . . . Avian flu. This year, Chinese calendar year of the pig . . . Swine flu. Next year is the year of the cock – Anybody worried
BTW, we all had some flu (never went anywhere to get tested-who wants to go to the doctor for the flu?) and we all just stayed home and were miserable. LOL
November 19, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I was reading some very interesting “conspiracy theory” about H1N1 vaccine and Baxter. Said “theory” suggests that the outbreak of H1N1 was leaked! There was a patent on the vaccine 2 years before the actual outbreak and um, the first outbreak was 50 kilometers from a Baxter facility. CrAZy! I’m sure it was just serendipitous!!