Will you require your childcare provider to obtain a swine flu vax?

[Anonymous]

I am planning to hire a college student to provide a few hours of childcare for my 1 year old once a week. Should I require her to get the swine flu shot? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Some will get it and some will not. You may ask her.

[Anonymous]

When exactly are you expecting the swine flu vaccine to become available to college aged (presumably healthy) students? Just curious what your time frame is.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure whether she would be considered high priority.

But why wouldn't you get your child vaccinated instead? Doesn't that solve the problem? And if you aren't vaccinating your child, it would seem hypocritical to expect it of an employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am planning to hire a college student to provide a few hours of childcare for my 1 year old once a week. Should I require her to get the swine flu shot? Thanks!

You should hire an illegal, sneak up on her and inject her when her back is turned. If she complains, threaten to have her deported. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Are you for real asking this question?

I would never, ever suggest to someone that they be a guinea pig for a vaccine. They produced that vaccine in a matter of months and did a tiny amount of testing probably to make sure they didn't run into too many problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you for real asking this question?

I would never, ever suggest to someone that they be a guinea pig for a vaccine. They produced that vaccine in a matter of months and did a tiny amount of testing probably to make sure they didn't run into too many problems.

It wasn't that different from the production of the annual influenza vaccine. They all get produced in a matter of months. And I don't think you can justify characterizing the testing as "tiny". Really, you are just stirring up fear without a good working knowledge of vaccines and therefore doing a disservice to others.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it will be readily available until Nov/Dec.

[Anonymous]

I work as a nanny and have been requested to have the flu vaccine before. I had never had one, but complied due to their child's health issues. They paid for it. I've gotten one every year since because I work with kids, some with health issues.

[Anonymous]

PP nanny here. I had a chat with my doc about the swine flu vaccine and I will probably not be getting it. One of "my" kids tested positive (the same day I was catching his vomit all morning) and I had flu symptoms several days later, so I likely have the immunity I need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you for real asking this question?

I would never, ever suggest to someone that they be a guinea pig for a vaccine. They produced that vaccine in a matter of months and did a tiny amount of testing probably to make sure they didn't run into too many problems.

It wasn't that different from the production of the annual influenza vaccine. They all get produced in a matter of months. And I don't think you can justify characterizing the testing as "tiny". Really, you are just stirring up fear without a good working knowledge of vaccines and therefore doing a disservice to others.

You clearly have no knowledge of vaccines or you wouldn't make such a silly statement. A disservice to others is pretending that a person should not actually research and discover what the vaccine does and does not do, how much testing was done, and know all the potential side effects.

BTW as someone who previously worked in childcare, I think its silly to suggest that a childcare worker is going to infect the child. My first year as a daycare teacher I got the flu 4 separate times (this was before the flu vaccine was popular). For the next 10 years I never go the flu once. You get a certain amount of immunity built up after awhile being in that field.

[Anonymous]

No. If I want my child protected, I'll consider the vax for him (he's in a high risk group). I would never ask someone else to get vaxed. I'm not thrilled with this vax, but I'm also not thrilled with death. But that's our family decision to make. Let the child care providers make their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you for real asking this question?

I would never, ever suggest to someone that they be a guinea pig for a vaccine. They produced that vaccine in a matter of months and did a tiny amount of testing probably to make sure they didn't run into too many problems.

It wasn't that different from the production of the annual influenza vaccine. They all get produced in a matter of months. And I don't think you can justify characterizing the testing as "tiny". Really, you are just stirring up fear without a good working knowledge of vaccines and therefore doing a disservice to others.

You clearly have no knowledge of vaccines or you wouldn't make such a silly statement. A disservice to others is pretending that a person should not actually research and discover what the vaccine does and does not do, how much testing was done, and know all the potential side effects.

BTW as someone who previously worked in childcare, I think its silly to suggest that a childcare worker is going to infect the child. My first year as a daycare teacher I got the flu 4 separate times (this was before the flu vaccine was popular). For the next 10 years I never go the flu once. You get a certain amount of immunity built up after awhile being in that field.

No. A disservice to others is making a claim that is alarmist and false. If the poster had said to do research that would have been an excellent idea. But she didn't.

And you wrongly assumed that I thought the worker needed the vaccine. I was the poster who said the child should get inoculated, but that I do not know if the nanny is considered a member of the high priority group. Some epidemiological models are suggesting that school age children and parents are the most effective candidates from a public health perspective, because the children spread virus to each other and then the parents bridge that virus into the workplace. The same logic may not hold for childcare workers, because their workplace is the school or childcare environment.

This is how an influenza vaccine is produced: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_vaccine_20090806/en/index.html We are into the last phase, testing. The other phases are complete. This is not new science. This is the same science that produces influenza vaccine every year. In this year's case, the urgency was to get the vaccine virus out to the manufacturers (see steps 1-3), but that was done months ago.

Here is a Q&A on the pediatric portion of the testing program. It is part of five clinical trials going on. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/QA/qaH1N1pedvax.htm Other countries are doing their own testing as well. I know at least Britain, Germany, China, France, Greece, and Australia are doing their own testing. Manufacturers are doing testing as well. In other words, the pediatric portion is just a small part of the overall testing.

Here is an article about the NIAID press conference on the status of the testing process http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/08/21/swine-flu-vaccine-seems-safe-in-early-trials.html

When the testing is done, safety results will be robust. The big risks are in being certain about the required number of doses, and in the use of adjudivants, but the U.S. does not license influenza vaccines with adjudivants.

[Anonymous]

You're joking, right? Since the vaccine is for self-protection and not reducing its transmission, I'm assuming your motive is to reduce the chances of her getting sick and leaving you without care. Give me a break!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am planning to hire a college student to provide a few hours of childcare for my 1 year old once a week. Should I require her to get the swine flu shot? Thanks!

How can you require something that will be voluntary?