Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Pros trump cons on H1N1 vaccine

Next week, my 5-year-old daughter, Lyric, will probably let out a cry at school, though she may hold it in until day's end and save the tears for me.

I'm OK with that.

She'll be among the thousands of students in Horry County Schools who will be receiving the H1N1 vaccination. So will her 8-year-old brother, Kyle, though I imagine he'll scrunch his face until his forehead touches his chin to avoid tears in front of his peers. He's a tough football player now, after all, just finishing up a successful flag-football season.

Neither of them much likes needles, but I know they'll be fine.

I know there are a lot of legitimate concerns about this swine flu season. That's understandable, given its paradoxical status.

This particular flu strain is lethal in less than 1 percent of those who are infected. More than 99 percent of those who contract it have mild to moderate to sometimes harsh reactions for about a week before getting better. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from April to July, 1.8 million to 5.7 million people were infected. Out of that huge number, up to 21,000 people were hospitalized. Only 800 died. Some experts have speculated the swine flu may dampen or cancel the normal flu season, which annually kills 36,000 people.

Even with those facts, millions of Americans are nervous - about H1N1 and the vaccine - and the media lead with swine flu coverage on TV broadcasts, the front pages of newspapers. Schools and other organizations have detailed contingency plans if it mutates and suddenly becomes seriously lethal.

And President Obama has declared it a national emergency. That serious-sounding term is little more than a technicality - it allows medical facilities to make decisions they normally are barred from making - not quite a declaration that we are all about to die.

So why did I sign the permission slip to let my kids be vaccinated at school? Simple. It makes more sense than not doing it. There have been no credible reports about the vaccine being harmful, and even though more than 99 percent of those infected survive, I'd rather have my kids and their classmates vaccinated than endure an outbreak that can shut down their school, as has happened in other states.

Besides that, I don't like seeing my kids sick - their smiles disappear, their frenetic activity comes to a halt - even if there's more than a 99 percent chance of them getting well after a few miserable days.