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As some of you know, I make my living as a music teacher. It's an incredibly rewarding career, and I even get to be skeptical about it every now and then. I teach at a private school, so some of the normal rules of health and safety in the school don't apply to me. This in mind, I decided to start looking after my own neck when it comes to H1N1.
Pictured: My neck, which needs looking out for. And my arms, which need to be crossed.
A couple of days ago, I asked my students that day if they had planned to get the vaccine. All but one said yes, and the lone dissenter proudly exclaimed that "Nope, because my mom says the vaccine has not been tested!" It can be difficult to discuss current scientific consensus regarding a vaccine to an 11-year old girl who just wants to be the next Taylor Swift, but I did my best to explain that her mother is in fact wrong, and the vaccine has been thoroughly tested.
The next day, things got a little more real. Every student I asked if they were getting vaccinated said that they would, and most of them had a few extra bits of information for me.
One student told me that over 100 students were sent home earlier in the day. Another student from a different school told me that over 200 students were sent home....all because kids were showing flu-like symptoms (understandably, the schoolboard takes this very serious). One student told me that 10 of his friends are in the hospital. Another told me that he hasn't seen a particular friend of his in 2 weeks because of the flu.
Now I recognize that kids will exaggerate claims, or misunderstand things. But multiple people (mainly parents and fellow teachers) have confirmed the above numbers (where applicable). I live in a small-town area of Niagara, and news doesn't travel around here as fast as it does in Toronto, so forgive me for being unable to find news links (if any are even made...this area is notoriously underestimating the seriousness of this pandemic). A few parents told me that the Niagara school board is considering closing down if this keeps up over the next few days.
Normally, I leave work feeling very satisfied: having taught a bunch of kids how to play songs by the Beatles, Eric Clapton or Led Zepplin, I get to drive home singing the songs I love that I get to share with kids. But this day seriously tried my emotional stability. No 12 year-old should ever have to say "10 of my friends are in the hospital". One of my students, aged 9, told me that half of his class got sent home, and then proceeded to have a coughing fit into the cradle of his arm so severe that his eyes were watering.
The other day, a healthy 13 year-old boy from Etobicoke (just west of Toronto) went from infection-to-death in the span of just 48 hours. Sadly, with the current spread of anti-vaccination propaganda and misinformation, it sometimes takes a tragedy like that to shock some people into action. I'm writing this the night before posting, and I intend to get the vaccine first thing in the morning (which for you, has already happened). It will take my body 10 days to create a sufficient supply of antibodies to make me protected*. In the interim, I will still be vulnerable. Being around children (which are basically hoodie-wearing germ-factories) all day, I have gotten sick several times since I started in September. I have to accept the notion that there is a possibility, however remote, that I am already infected...possibly very recently. I have some flu-like symptoms, but only a small number of them (muscle soreness, closing throat), and it's nearly impossible for me to tell whether or not this is the normal cycle of getting mildly ill from being around so many children all day, or something more significant. I'm already in the highest-risk group (after pregnant women and the immune-compromised): aged 30-45 with a chronic health condition (asthma), and I'm around germy-kids all day. While my body builds up the antibodies I need, I'm considering refusing to teach any child that does not have the vaccine.
More than half of my students have been directly affected by the Swine Flu, and I have 40 students. I want nothing more than to say in a couple of weeks that I am overreacting, and I'll happily report as such. But as it stands, I'm surrounded by the Swine flu, I am very vulnerable, and will be for at least 10 days.
- People under 65 with chronic medical conditions
- Pregnant women (more than 20 weeks or at any stage with other medical conditions)
- Children 6 months to 5 years old
- Health care workers involved in pandemic response or the delivery of essential health care services
- First responders
- Poultry and swine workers
- Household contacts and care providers of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines such as infants less than six months of age and persons who are immunocompromised
No one needs to die because of this anymore. Those of us in Ontario got hit by the virus before the vaccine could get here, but we will very soon have powerful tools to fight this disease back. I'm done being angry, now I'm just sad when I read that 48% of Canadians reported that they are unlikely to get the vaccine. Let me be very clear: Not getting the vaccine has very serious risks for the individual, for the family, for the economy, and for the country.
Get vaccinated.
*UPDATE* I just got back from the vaccination clinic, and the nurse who administered the injection told me that it takes 14 days, not 10, in order for the body to be fully protected.
17 comments:
Sorry for the off-topic post, but I couldn't find anywhere else to contact the website!
Great site! I'm really enjoying the emails with the articles. I just have a quick constructive criticism. In the email updates, the name of the writer is not always included in the post. It is possible to ensure that it is from now on? I like to see a name attached to the writing for my own silly reasons.
This leads me to my next constructive criticism (the nice way of saying, "it's broke so fix it!"). I couldn't find a 'contact' button on the website so this is the place that I thought would be best to post this. Perhaps I just missed it?
Thanks,
Jason (chipcherry30@hotmail.com)
Might I suggest you stock your studio with ample supplies of sanitizer and make sure to wipe down your instruments regularly (if you're not already doing so)?
Thanks for your reasoned and timely advice. I just tried to do the same over at thetyee.ca in reply to a fearmongerer. More of us need to actively dispel the B.S. being spewed by the tinfoil hat crowd.
Sorry - but you're little rant is wrong in one respect.
If you listen to the Chief Medical Officer for Price Edward County (Ontario), the peak may happen within a week - and the shot will be ready for most in 2 weeks.
You are only correct that the most vulnerable should get it - kids - so why are clinics not turning away every hysterical mother who thinks she needs it too?
No, you won't get it - and if you do you will live. You would already have it by now.
Stop promoting this panic - where were you last year when thousands of people died from the flu?
Exactly.
The concern is less about where the progression of the pandemic is now and more about where it can be in very short order.
There is no reason to panic. But there is every reason to calmly do what you can, and that is what Steve is promoting.
While I refuse to be a dickhead and go and try to get my shot now, when I am not slated to (which would at the very least waste people's time). I am anxiously waiting for the next ten days to pass so that I can get it and quit being pissed off when co-workers show up to work practically hemhorraging phlegm.... now THAT is being a dickhead.
The Chief Medical Officer for Price Edward County?
Okay, but the Chief for the whole province says "go get it". Guess what? Sometimes doctors disagree. That guy is a notorious contrarian, and even he admits he may be wrong. The current provincial chief doctor is the one I put my money on.
H1N1 has killed fewer people since it first appeared than the average seasonal flu does in a day. It is also less contagious than the average seasonal flu. There is no reason to believe that there will be any harm in taking the vaccine; however, compared to what we normally see every year, H1N1 is relatively harmless. Get the vaccine or don't. Just don't buy into the hysteria.
you are dangerously uninformed
To all those who pooh-pooh vaccination. Do you know anyobody who has had smallpox? Polio? Tubercu losis? Do you know why? Vaccinations, that's why. And there are a myriad of other diseases you have never heard about that used to be commonplace. You seem ignorant of the fact that over the last several decades, vaccines have saved the lives of countless millions. Your attitudes will put you comfortably in place with other progressive thinkers, such as the Taliban, who go around threating immunization health workers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
By the numbers...
Seasonal flu:
"Influenza epidemics occur yearly during autumn and winter in temperate regions. Illnesses result in hospitalizations and deaths mainly among high-risk groups (the very young, elderly or chronically ill). Worldwide, these annual epidemics result in about three to five million cases of severe illness, and about 250 000 to 500 000 deaths."
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/
H1N1:
"As of 11 October 2009, worldwide there have been more than 399232 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009 and over 4735 deaths reported to WHO.
As many countries have stopped counting individual cases, particularly of milder illness, the case count is significantly lower than the actually number of cases that have occurred [infection rate is higher, but death rate probably isn't much]."
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_10_16/en/index.html
Oh, and just for fun, as of April 28, there had been more deaths from seasonal flu in the United States (13000) than there have been from H1N1 to date... worldwide.
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/04/28/US-seasonal-flu-kills-13000-since-Jan/UPI-64801240974841/
Condolences Steve. We in BC have been hit with the virus before the vaccine was available too. Low risk folks (like myself) won't be able to get it until next week.
However, rather like you, I already have some infection that matches most of the listed symptoms of H1N1.
I am reluctant to go to a clinic for verification (is that possible?) because if it's not H1N1, then the various aerosols floating around a clinic are not good to play with -- clinics and emergency rooms are, as we know, veritable hotbeds of infection not unlike your hoodie-wearing germ factories.
Also, I just don't feel up to getting up and going out -- luckily I do not have work issues to worry about as I am unemployed at the moment anyway.
Good luck.
SicPreFix
Anonymous, you are missing something. You are compairing all flu vs. H1N1. It's true that more people have died this year from all other strains of flu than vs. swine flu...however those were multiple different strains. It's not fair to compare one strain vs. all other strains out there. H1N1 is a highly infectous strain, and we know that it's the one hitting, which makes it preventable.
The earlier commenter (not sure if you are the same person) who claimed that swine flu is not more contagious is wrong, in the sense that most people have less resistance to H1N1 than other flu strains.
We also have an opportunity to vaccinate now before there is a chance for it to mutate into a more deadly strain. Of course, this may never happen, but it's a risk worth preventing.
Those who think it is wise to consider lessons learned by history, might look back to 1918. That H1N1 epidemic started out rather lack luster. It faded out and returned after rejigging itself to wipe out 50,000,000 people, 3% of the global population.
Is this pandemic going to do the same, probably not. But if we break it's spread with "Herd immunity" I will sleep better at night. And if the virus does become more virulent, I am going to have some H1N1 antibodies in circulation.
Now I think I'll put a bit of ice on my sore deltoid.
There are entirely too many anonymous posters in this thread. I reluctantly enabled anonymous posting when we launched, but I'm now asking that people leave some kind of identifying marks, especially if you're going to accuse me of "spreading this panic".
I suggest that people either post with an existing profile provided in the drop-down menu, or otherwise leave a similar identifying mark as "SicPreFix" has above.
I didn't want to have anonymous posting because it enables to throw stones from a hidden location, and they tend to think that they can say any kind of hostile rhetoric that they can. This is not ebaumsworld or 4chan. If this continues to any significant degree, I will disable anonymous posting.
And to whatever anonymous poster that accused me of spreading a panic: read the links I've provided. I'm surrounded by H1N1, and as of today, half of my students are at home sick...two of them with confirmed H1N1 cases. Don't tell me that I'm over-reacting until you've spent 7 hours a day teaching coughing children and are able to read scientific and epidemiological studies.
Also, I made it very clear that I live in Niagara, not in Prince Edward County. How am I wrong?
Melany, if it mutates then the vaccination will likely no longer be effective. That's the very reason why you need to get a new flu shot every year; otherwise, we would have long since immunized the entire population against every strain of the flu. While there is a chance that the current H1N1 vaccine will provide resistance against a mutated strain of this virus, it isn't terribly likely--most likely they will need to produce a new vaccine to immunize against the mutated strain. "Herd immunity", as the other poster called it, has never worked against the flu before; there's no reason to believe it will this time.
As far as the seasonal flu comparison goes, it is a legitimate comparison considering that 1) we don't typically distinguish between the various strains of seasonal flu in a given year, nor is there generally data available to do so 2) the comparison is being used in the media, health professionals, and the WHO (see, eg. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/frequently_asked_questions/about_disease/en/index.html), and 3) it provides a standard baseline of comparison. The comparison is also significant when we look at the hysteria caused by H1N1 (and West Nile... bird flu... SARS...) versus the known and documented effects of the seasonal virus. We don't get four stories per day in every newspaper in the country about the seasonal flu, nor do we get an in-depth biography of every person who happens to die from it, nor do we have Purel dispensers in every public place, nor do we have teachers refusing to teach students who aren't vaccinated. We don't do any of these things even though we *know* that the seasonal flu is going to infect millions and cause hundreds of thousands of deaths--for that matter, despite the worldwide devastation caused by the seasonal flu, it isn't typically even called a pandemic. The novel H1N1 strain has not yet given any indication that it will be as bad as an average seasonal flu, so mass hysteria hardly seems justifiable.
Anonymous, see here for why this is not an apt comparison: http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/10/how_bad_was_the_first_wave.php
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