H1N1 Vaccine

H1N1 Vaccine

by Nicole Hanratty

As a world community, we are up in arms over H1N1. We don't know if we should brush it off as an over-hyped media blitz reminiscent of the Richard Heene story, a government hyped political story to get health care reform passed (as Rush Limbaugh would argue), or whether we should just follow along and line up for the vaccination. Either way you slice it, the mounting number of young people dying from H1N1 this fall flu season is--without question--alarming.

Throwing paranoia to the wind, I admit I found myself in line. The benefits seemed to outweigh the risk with my family full of underlying conditions. (Everyone will handle this crises differently and opinions seem to get heated when you bring up the topic for discussion, so I am not in any way suggesting that any one should get this vaccine. Consult your doctor, your priest, your personal guru or your mother but do not interpret this as advice in way, shape or formation.)

For three hours I was entertained by the countless number of cameras, photographers, reporters, news vans, satellite dishes, radio djs, and personalities, including the man in front of us who listened to me quiz my child for a history test then explained a little more that we should know and told us about the book he wrote that he was promoting while in line. (Here's another plug for his book: Jacob's Rescue by Michael Halperin.) Hundreds of people, mothers with toddlers, pregnant women, health care professionals, teachers and critically ill patients were all brought together for one common cause: to fight the flu (or to report on fighting it).

So why I ask you, when the County Supervisor and Mayor Villaraigosa showed up did they walk down the line shaking hands spreading germs from one person to the next? Fantastic as their intentions were, it seemed antithetical to the cause. As they approached us, I contemplated asking them this question, but instead I took advantage of the photo-op then grabbed my always handy anti-bacterial wipes and laughed at the irony.

What made even less sense is that while the line continued to not move at all for the first hour before the clinic opened, people continued to shuffle closer together as if huddling in tight would make the time pass by more quickly. Instead, all it did was put us all within kissing distance of one another which was a breeding ground for any H1N1 germs that were hopping around from one person to the next. The poor women behind us was at one point sandwiched in so tightly she had to ask the people around her to give her stroller/toddler some space.

Next came the news reporters, who also thought it polite to shake your hand before they shoved a microphone in your face, to ask you really well thought out questions such as, "Why are you here," and my personal favorite, "Are you worried?" It took every bit of manners my mother ever taught me to keep a straight face and answer the questions with words that were polite. My guess--call me crazy--is that it seemed fairly obvious that those of us who lined up to be the first ones in Los Angeles to receive this vaccination were indeed worried. However, most of us would prefer not to admit our advanced stages of H1N1 paranoia in front of our children who we had pulled from school and dragged down to the park where they had to stand in an endless line for hours and could only look at the play equipment in hopes that at some point in the day they would be allowed to climb all over it. (The mom behind me had convinced her two year old that they were attending a block party that would start as soon as they got a little medicine but I am sure she wouldn't mind telling the reporter that she was panic stricken because she has relatives in New York who are high risk and can't even get the vaccination.) Then another, "Nice meeting you," hand shake was offered spreading more germs down the anti-flu line forcing me to pull out my hand wipes once again.

Au revoir for now...n