Everything You Need to Know about The Flu

Flu Vaccine 411

Everything You Need to Know about Flu Vaccines
Dr. Anne Schuchat, Assistant Surgeon General of the United States and director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, joins The Doctors via satellite from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia to provide the most up-to-date information about the seasonal and H1N1 flu virus.

Making the Flu Vaccine

Go inside Novartis Laboratories to see how the flu vaccine is made.




Should You Get the H1N1 Vaccine?
According to a Harvard poll:
• 40 percent of people are "absolutely certain" they will not get the H1N1 vaccine
• 28 percent of people think they're not at risk for contracting the flu at all
• 25 percent of people think that if they get sick with H1N1, there is medication they can take to prevent a fatal form of the disease

OB/GYN Dr. Lisa Masterson emphasizes the importance of getting the H1N1 vaccine. "So many people are afraid of the vaccines; they don't think they're safe. And there are all these myths out there,"  "The vaccine has been tested and proved, and it's one of the best things that is going to help you."


Who Should Get The Seasonal Flu Vaccine?
• Children ages 6 months to 19 years
• Elderly
• Health care workers
• Pregnant women
• People with underlying, chronic health conditions

Flu Vaccine FAQs

Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Anne Schuchat addresses common concerns and questions about the flu vaccine.


Chronic health conditions:
Certain medical conditions place people at greater risk for the flu, so if you have any of the following conditions, consider getting both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccine:
• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Heart or lung disease
• Kidney disease
• HIV
• Morbid obesity
• Sickle-cell anemia
• Cerebral palsy
• Muscular dystrophy

Who Should Get the H1N1 Vaccine?
• People ages 6 months to 24 years
• Pregnant women
• Health care workers
• People with underlying, chronic medical conditions (see list above)

Elderly people are not considered at risk.

"It seems like many decades ago, seniors probably were exposed to a virus close enough to this one that they're naturally protected," Dr. Schuchat explains. "So that's great news. Every year, with seasonal flu, about 90 percent of the deaths that we see are in the elderly. Fortunately, they're really pretty much spared from this H1N1 virus."


Should You Vaccinate Your Children?
Yes. Dr. Schuchat and pediatrician Dr. Jim Sears explain why children need to get the H1N1 vaccine.






What to Expect from the H1N1 Vaccine
Community member MyMartinez wrote into www.producethedoctors.com and asked The Doctors to "tell the whole story" about the potential side effects of the H1N1 vaccine. Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Anne Schuchat answers MyMartinez's request and explains what to expect from the H1N1 vaccine.





Pregnant Women and the Flu
"You're at risk [for flu] when you're pregnant because your immune system is supporting two people," OB/GYN Dr. Lisa Masterson says. "Your cardiovascular system is overloaded, and the blood volume is increased. Pregnant women need to be treated right away with anti-viral medications, they're not going to hurt the baby. We need to be very aggressive with pregnant women and the swine flu."

"It's not a new vaccine," Dr. Schuchat adds. "It's just a different strain being put in the [traditional] vaccine. We think that it should really protect pregnant women, who, unfortunately, have been getting very sick from the virus."

Watch a special report from affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas on pregnant women and the H1N1 vaccine.

Learn more about pregnancy and the flu vaccine.


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