Will you give your kid the vaccine if they had a bout of "flu" already this season?

[Anonymous]

Since docs are not testing most kids to see if it's H1N1, how do you know if they had general flu, a bad cold, or swine? And if you don't find out, would you still give your kids the vaccine when it comes out? My kids seem to have it, but I'll never know for sure b/c their ped doesn't test.

[Anonymous]

I think DD may have had H1N1, but like you said, her ped did not test for it. We still got her vaccinated today in case what she did have was something else.

[Anonymous]

Our ped. diagnosed us based on symptoms. He said they aren't testing anymore because of the high rate of false negatives, and that all flu out now was H1N1 (as of a visit yesterday). so no, not vac. against H1N1 as there is no point in it.

[Anonymous]

Actually, the guideline is to vaccinate even if you think you had it.

[Anonymous]

We will vaccinate against both even if we 'think' we've had one.

[Anonymous]

My DD had influenza A over the summer (CDC stopped H1N1 testing) and she received the vaccine in case, per our pediatrician, there are mutations to the variation she had this summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the guideline is to vaccinate even if you think you had it.

Can this be true? If it is, oh brother, that is just plain stupid to recommend vaccinating someone against something they've VERY, VERY likely had (according to our pediatrician).

[Anonymous]

No. It isn't at all. This is CDC guidance. You don't know for sure you had H1N1 unless they sent the test out specifically to test for the flu strain. Unlikely they did that for you. They made an educated guess. There are MANY strains of flu so it is not unwise to vaccinate for seasonal flu and H1N1 and the thing is likely mutating as we speak anyway. There is nothing stupid about it.

[Anonymous]

I've heard they're only testing high risk patients with flu to see if it's h1n1; everyone else they're assuming it is. Even if you are tested and come back negative, I've heard it can be wrong about 40% of the time. Meaning, they'll find it's not H1N1 when it really is.

We're getting the vaccines as soon as we can get in, and already had the seasonal one.

[Anonymous]

I'm almost but not quite positive my kids had it, and I had it.

I do plan to vaccinate them anyhow, just in case. But I have to admit, I'm not frantic about it. Like, I could go and do it tonight, but it's raining and I just don't want to leave the house. I'm content to wait a few more weeks until it is more conveniently offered.

[Anonymous]

I am with PP- I am not positive, but think both DS and I had it a few weeks ago. I will still probably vaccinate him, but I'm not going to take off work and wait 4 hours. I'll wait until things calm down a bit.

For those who think they had it, what were your symptoms? Both DS and I had high fevers, but the illness really only lasted 3 days. DS can't talk, but for me, it was a high fever, HORRIBLE body aches, chills, sore throat, etc. But no cough.