# Where can I get my swine flu vaccine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416 "2009-07-18T06:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/1 "2009-07-18T06:11:31Z")
I work in the psychology building of a campus with 18% psych majors, a large majority of which are freshmen that live in dorms. I consider myself at a high risk of contraction. We’ve already had several cases on campus and thats just summer camp. When school starts its going to be roaring through campus. I’d rather systemically take a little bit now if it saves me from the big time later. So where is my vaccine? How do I get one? Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. Help! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/2 "2009-07-18T06:25:45Z")
There is currently none approved for the US although it is likely to be [fast tracked](http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20090717/swine-flu-vaccine-fast-track). Given expected shortages your best bet is to be a child or a member of a high risk group to get it. > [@](#): > > July 17, 2009 – Pandemic swine flu vaccine should be fast-tracked, with vaccinations starting in mid-September – soon after schools open. > > That recommendation came today in a unanimous vote by the National Biodefense Safety Board (NBSB), an influential board of outside advisors to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. … > > … Initial doses likely will go to those most severely hit by the pandemic so far: infants, toddlers, school-age children, pregnant women, and adults with risk factors for severe flu disease. Next week, the CDC’s vaccine advisory board will recommend a priority list for exactly who will first get the vaccine. > > The NBSB recommendation puts into words a fear that government officials have so far expressed only privately. > > “Having vaccine only after the peak [of the pandemic] may be worse than having no vaccine at all: It incurs all of the risk and cost with no potential benefit,” the recommendation reads. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/3 "2009-07-18T15:41:10Z")
Wow, a fast-tracked vaccine! I don’t see what could _possibly_ go wrong by skipping so many of those tedious safety tests… ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/4 "2009-07-18T16:33:09Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > Wow, a fast-tracked vaccine! I don’t see what could _possibly_ go wrong by skipping so many of those tedious safety tests… One would _hope_ they’d continue the safety tests in parallel with the manufacturing of the vaccine… For me, I believe I and my family had the Swine flu about a month ago. Perhaps I’ll have my kids opt out of it. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/5 "2009-07-19T02:50:44Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > So where is my vaccine? How do I get one? Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. Help! 🙂 The CDC and WHO have both reported that most cases of the swine flu were mild, not different than other seasonal flus, and that people who died or required hospitalization had other significant health issues (or were babies/elderly with weak immune systems). I had the flu in May. It was a miserable experience. My doctor told me that for folks that are otherwise healthy, their treatment for the swine flu wasn’t any different than for other strains of the flu… rest, plenty of liquids, and stay home for 7 days. My doctor had been advised by the state board of health not to bother testing otherwise healthy folks to see which strain it was. Talk to your family physician. A flu vaccination might be advisable because of the environment you work in. As with most communicable diseases, prevention is the first line of defense. Wash your hands, don’t rub your eyes, and you have a good chance of avoiding it. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/6 "2009-07-19T02:56:55Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > Wow, a fast-tracked vaccine! I don’t see what could _possibly_ go wrong by skipping so many of those tedious safety tests… How much different could it be from the other flu vaccines they safely make? I assume they aren’t using completely untested techniques for this one. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/7 "2009-07-19T03:59:45Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > How much different could it be from the other flu vaccines they safely make? I assume they aren’t using completely untested techniques for this one. FTA: > [@](#): > > Panel: Skip Most Safety, Efficacy Tests to Get Swine Flu Vaccine in September So it seems like they’d be doing the bare minimum (or less?) to get this out to market ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-my-swine-flu-vaccine/503416/8 "2009-07-19T13:17:52Z")
Also in the link: > [@](#): > > Why deploy a vaccine that hasn’t completed safety and efficacy testing? Because we already have a lot of experience with similar vaccines, concluded the NBSB flu vaccine working group, led by University of Utah flu expert Andrew Pavia, MD. > > Pandemic swine flu is a type A, H1N1 flu virus. For decades, a type A H1N1 vaccine has been part of the regular seasonal flu vaccine, and the new vaccine is made exactly the same way. So **WarmNPrickly** nails the logic down. Its a very similar product made exactly the same way as previous A/H1N1 influenza vaccines. The risk of something significantly different showing up in this particular version that has not shown up in multiple other versions is infintesimal. The risk associated with getting the vaccine out too late to do much good is much more substantial.