# What could be wrong with the swine flu vaccine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369 "2009-10-27T23:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![This\_Just\_In\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@This\_Just\_In\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_Just_In_2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/21 "2009-10-28T14:43:38Z")
If you care about doing a service to society, everyone who can should probably get the shot. You’ll (statistically) probably be fine, but what about all those others who are dying? If 70% of people are vacinated, then the swine flu will not be able to effectively transmit through the population. [http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/09September/Pages/SwineFluVaccinationPredictions.aspx](http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/09September/Pages/SwineFluVaccinationPredictions.aspx) Sure you might be a healthy person, only ever get sick for two days or whatever excuse to not mind the risk. But you can still be a carrier to others who may be weaker and less able to fight off the flu. So since many people have conditions such that they are not even able to accept a vaccination, or be too ignorant, stubborn or selfish - anyone who can should get vacinated to help get closer to that 70% number. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/22 "2009-10-28T14:57:40Z")
> [@This\_Just\_In\_2](#): > > If you care about doing a service to society, everyone who can should probably get the shot. You’ll (statistically) probably be fine, but what about all those others who are dying? Sure. Or perhaps everyone might do as well if we all were really good about washing our hands, isolating ourselves when we felt ill, etc. Heck, if someone strolled from office to office, handing out shots for free, I’d roll up my sleeve. But I’m not convinced of any significant uregncy to incur any hassle and/or expense trying to get one. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/23 "2009-10-28T15:07:07Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Heck, if someone strolled from office to office, handing out shots for free, I’d roll up my sleeve. But I’m not convinced of any significant uregncy to incur any hassle and/or expense trying to get one. I agree. I am not waiting six hours in the cold to get my shot. They started with FOUR clinics in a city of a million people. They’re opening one more today for high-risk people. ---
**Author:** ![This\_Just\_In\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@This\_Just\_In\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_Just_In_2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/24 "2009-10-28T15:12:25Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Sure. Or perhaps everyone might do as well if we all were really good about washing our hands, isolating ourselves when we felt ill, etc. > > Heck, if someone strolled from office to office, handing out shots for free, I’d roll up my sleeve. But I’m not convinced of any significant uregncy to incur any hassle and/or expense trying to get one. Well your attitude is pretty typical then. Realistically, I doubt 70% of people will vacinate unless there was a mass hysteria as people started dropping like flies - but by then it would be too late. That would go for any pandemic by the way. For myself, I’m getting vacinated so I know I can’t be a carrier to anyone - including those I love. Many young healthy people are dying from this virus you know? And the reason the young ones (and by that I mean less than 40 years old) die is because we’ve never been exposed to any variant of the swine flu before - whereas many older people have a long time ago and therefore have some built in immunity. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/25 "2009-10-28T15:21:02Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > We’re going to try to get the H1N1 vaccine for our son today, because his asthma places him in the high-risk group. Don’t know what the lines will be like, though. It’s done, took 30 minutes at Huntsville’s first clinic, which was only supposed to be open for people in the high-risk groups. My husband said there were a lot of pregnant women in line. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/26 "2009-10-28T15:21:17Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > We keep hearing that the vaccine hasn’t been properly tested. OK, that’s probably true Actually, _it’s totally false_. H1N1 vaccine is made in exactly the same manner as flu shots for other varieties of flu. It has also undergone the standard testing for flu shots. I’d like to find the person who started that rumor and slap him/her upside the head with a clue by four. > [@](#): > > …but what are the dangers? Could it kill us? How? Make us sick? With what? Have bizarro long-term consequences? Like what? The worst that can happen is, _ **if you are allergic to the vaccine** _ you _might_ have a fatal reaction… but if you aren’t allergic to eggs you are almost certainly safe from this. Beyond that - your arm may be sore for a day or two where you got the shot. You might have mild aches or feel a bit feverish for a day or two, but that is not being sick, that’s your immune system responding to the shot. View it as proof that you actually got a vaccine and not sterile water. Most people don’t even feel that. IF you were already coming down with the flu at the time you got your shot you might get the flu anyway… but that is NOT from the shot, that’s from being exposed to the flu virus. There are no “bizarro long-term consequences”. Period. > [@](#): > > Also, I’m breastfeeding. If I get the vaccine, does the kid get some measure of protection through my milk? Unlikely. But if YOU get the flu the kid will almost certainly catch from you. Flu in infants is a serious illness. > [@](#): > > And if the vaccine does something bad, does she get hit by that? No. Impossible. > [@](#): > > No one seems to be able to answer these questions, so I’m turning to you guys. In the future see the site [www.cdc.gov](http://www.cdc.gov) for information on flu and other public health concerns. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/27 "2009-10-28T15:25:45Z")
Once you get a flu shot (H1N1 or seasonal), how long does it take before you have immunity? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/28 "2009-10-28T15:26:54Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > But did you previously get the flu regularly before you started getting the shots? > > In my anecdotal experience, the only year that I got a shot, I also got the flu (or flu-like symptoms.) But the “flu” never seems to knock me out for more than a day or 2. I’ve never had the weeklong incapacitation I hear about. So, the only year you got the flu shot, you got the flu, but you didn’t really get sick like the flu or get diagnosed with the flu you just made up that you got the flu to make some point about the flu shots effectiveness? Have you ever considered the possibility that you have never ever had the flu at all? I know I had the flu once in fifteen years because that’s what the ER docs said after raping my nose with a q-tip. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/29 "2009-10-28T15:29:26Z")
:sigh: I’m still waiting for my place to get the Shots- Hopefully they’ll be here by mid-November… Lucky all you people who have it available… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/30 "2009-10-28T15:32:48Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > Once you get a flu shot (H1N1 or seasonal), how long does it take before you have immunity? After I got my seasonal shot at work, they told us it would take about 2 weeks for the full effect to build up. I haven’t received the H1N1 vaccine yet as I’m not in the highest priority departments here, so I’m not sure about that. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/31 "2009-10-28T15:37:07Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > So, the only year you got the flu shot, you got the flu, but you didn’t really get sick like the flu or get diagnosed with the flu you just made up that you got the flu to make some point about the flu shots effectiveness? > > Have you ever considered the possibility that you have never ever had the flu at all? Of course I did. Or didn’t the parenthetical clue you in? Not really trying to make any point or convince anyone of anything other than that I found the article I linked an interesting read. To my jaundiced eye, the current events may say a good deal about the media’s love of a good story and modern consumers’ desire to be protected by a “magic bullet”, in addition to whatever they say about immunology. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/32 "2009-10-28T15:48:33Z")
> [@Electronic\_Chaos](#): > > My wife is breastfeeding, and our pediatrician told us both to get the H1N1 vaccine ASAP. You will pass on antibodies to your child, which is a good thing. Sorry, but this is a little hot button of mine. Cell mediated immunity is not passed via milk. Babies develop their own immune response in reaction to being exposed to the pathogens on/in mom from close exposure to her/her skin/her body fluids. It works, but it does not work the way many people think it does. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/33 "2009-10-28T16:21:38Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > After I got my seasonal shot at work, they told us it would take about 2 weeks for the full effect to build up. I haven’t received the H1N1 vaccine yet as I’m not in the highest priority departments here, so I’m not sure about that. That’s the same thing I heard from the nurses last night. They said “don’t go around acting like you’re immune just yet - be diligent for at least 2 weeks.” I got the nasal vaccine, by the way. They had many more of those at my location than the shots, which were being given to people with weaker immune systems (nasal is “live” and the shot is “dead”). One weird thing that happened was that my mom, a perfectly healthy 58-year-old, was told she couldn’t get the nasal vaccine. But not until she waited in line all night and got to the nurse. Luckilly for her, they scrounged up a shot to give her. We hadn’t heard about the age restriction, for people under 64, in all of the stuff we’d read. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/34 "2009-10-28T16:41:57Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Of course I did. Or didn’t the parenthetical clue you in? > > Not really trying to make any point or convince anyone of anything other than that I found the article I linked an interesting read. Then why did you even suggest you had the flu? The sentence could just as easily have been “In my anecdotal experience, the only year that I got a shot, I also got a mild cold”. Instead, you tried to imply that you had the flu then covered your butt with the parenthetical. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/35 "2009-10-28T17:06:23Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Then why did you even suggest you had the flu? The sentence could just as easily have been “In my anecdotal experience, the only year that I got a shot, I also got a mild cold”. Instead, you tried to imply that you had the flu then covered your butt with the parenthetical. I’m done with this! 😛 Sorry if I confused, misled, or upset anyone other than this one. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369/36 "2009-10-28T21:52:36Z")
It also depends are you getting the dead vaccine (shot) or the weakened live vaccine (nasal mist). It’s not possible to get the swine flu from the shot, and though unlikely it IS possible to get it from the weakened nasal version. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-be-wrong-with-the-swine-flu-vaccine/515369.md?page=1)