Safety Concerns Swirl Around H1N1 Vaccine
Written by Ann Pietrangelo on October 12th, 2009 in Health Care Policy, In The News, Linked Articles.
Photo: Centers for Disease Control
Concerns over the safety of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine, and the speed at which it was brought to market continue, as it becomes available to the general public amidst a massive campaign to inoculate Americans and lessen the impact of the pandemic.
Health care workers in particular are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated as quickly as possible. This group is consistently low in its participation in seasonal flu vaccine programs. Should the pandemic affect a large number of health care workers, the system could easily become overwhelmed, putting us all in danger. Consequently, some health care systems are requiring their employees to get the vaccine, resulting in a backlash and a call for freedom of choice. There is no mandate requiring individual Americans to get the vaccine against their wishes.
With distrust of the federal government running high and rumors and conspiracy theories swirling about the safety of the vaccine, just how many Americans will seek to get the vaccine is anybody’s guess.
Read this post in its entirety and see the poll results:
