Watching Bill Maher getting schooled in immunology by the former Senator from Tennessee Bill Frist brought to mind all of the good that vaccines have done for the people of the world and my own experience with a Type A flu. Not that there haven’t been problems with vaccines in the past and not that there won’t be problems in the future.
Update Below
I have clear memories of the mass polio inoculations of the late 50’s, early 60’s, though I was not much more than a toddler. I remember how seriously my mother took this just as clearly as I remember the pink liquid, the sugar cube and the shots. What I don’t remember however, is the fear that would grip communities all over the nation as summer wore on and the warm temperatures made the world a breeding ground for the polio virus. That was a little before my time. Public pools closed, children were not allowed to congregate in large numbers and many summer activities would come to a halt. I can only imagine the relief of parents as fall hit and the temperatures dropped and their children were safe from this deadly, crippling disease, or the grief of parents whose kids weren’t so lucky.
The flu isn’t polio, but it can be deadly and it can also maim as well as kill. It can ravage the lungs, tax the heart and wreak havoc on the immune system. The odd thing though, is that the influenza virus itself does not do the damage. Your own immune system will kill you long before the virus does. This is important to know to understand why our latest type A flu, the H1N1 or ‘Swine Flu’ needs to be taken seriously. Think of the influenza virus as an allergen like pet dander or pollen and we can begin to see why it hits the people with the strongest immune systems the hardest. Men and women from adolescence to young adulthood and pregnant mothers whose immune systems are amped up to protect the baby. It’s exact actions and the bodys response remains something of a mystery, but its’ sometimes tragic results and the type of people it hits hardest are clear and unmistakable.
Late one summer in the early 80’s I came down with a bug. I figured that it was ‘just the flu’ and I’d get over it soon enough. Maybe a week, maybe two. Well, I spent two weeks with a fever hovering at 104 degrees (spiked at 106 before I saw a doctor) and another month or so with a fever around a hundred and one. I was miserable and I’m sure I can’t recall half of that misery. My throat swelled to a point where I could barely take water, every breath was a gurgling chore. I lost my voice entirely, and for months I sounded like Froggy from the Little Rascals It never really recovered completely. The illness hung on for over three months.
I don't think my immune system ever got over it. This is conjecture on my part, but I suspect this is what causes the allergic asthma that has left me hospitalized a few times over the years. I never quite felt the same after the ordeal. OK, but not quite the same.
My father was seven years old in 1918, the year of the deadly "Spanish Flu" pandemic. He told me he remembered those days as a "parade of hearses", every day picking up the bodies of his neighbors. His friends also were old enough to remember that pandemic and the comparison of their symptoms and mine was remarkable. Some of the old guys caught this flu too but the immunity they gained from being infected back then reduced the severity of the symptoms drastically and they recovered quickly.
I understand the distrust of vaccines. Let’s return to the 50’s.
A good friend of mine, a few years older than I, received the first live virus vaccination. One morning about a week after his inoculation he woke up in horrible pain. He ran to his parents bedroom and got into bed with them. He was eight years old and he didn’t tale another step until he was in his twenties and only after years of therapy and struggle.
Recently in Africa a live polio vaccine was used because it was cheap and required only one dose. It has sickened thousands and unleashed the mutated virus they used which has turned out to be more virulent than the "wild" virus they had hoped to contain.
Strict and direct supervision of the pharmaceutical companies by the FDA with congressional oversight is in order, certainly, but in light of the report by The Macneil Lehrer today that more children have died in the last two weeks from the H1N1 virus than normally die in an entire flu season it seems obvious to me that measures must be taken to limit the effects of this pandemic. The flu season hasn't even started yet.
So let’s be careful, but let’s leave the decision to receive the vaccine up to each individual. If you have concerns please speak to your doctor about them. Dig around, do your research. Let’s not base our decisions on what ‘New Agers’ and late night comedians have to say. Bill Maher is convinced that the flu doesn’t kill healthy people. Believe me Bill, if you haven’t had a Type A, you haven’t had the flu.
Update: As per request I's like to add a bit about the types of vaccines being used for H1N1. First we have the Nasal Spray which is a live virus which is altered(attenuated, they call it)so that it is unable to reproduce itself. There are two vaccines which will be given as shots and they bothe use the dead virus. One was reported to have another agent that activates the immune system and speeds up the process of developing immunity. This can be very dangerous for some individuals, it is reported and has caused controversy. I now hear that that will not be used but that needs confirmation.
People with asthma,pregnant women, children between 6 months and two years, people with respiratory disease or immune deficiencies should NOT take the LIVE VIRUS NASAL SPRAY
I shoud add that the purification process has improved immensley since the 50's, and even the 70's when a few unlucky recipients were paralyzed by a reaction to a Swine Flu vaccine. People with asthma,pregnant women, children between 6 months and two years, people with respiratory disease or immune deficiencies should NOT take the LIVE VIRUS NASAL SPRAY