At this moment …
The boys’ high school has a supply of the H1N1 flu vaccine and is likely shooting the kids up with poison as we speak.
The school district requires parents to give written permission in order to allow their children to get the vaccination.
No. I will not be giving my boys permission to receive the vaccine.
No. We have never, and will likely never, line up to get a flu shot of any kind.
No. We are not in a high-risk category. We rarely get sick. And if we get sick this go-around, we’ll ride it out.
It’s the flu.
Yes. I realize it’s a pandemic. But here’s how I see it: if this was a life-crippling disease (and yes, I realize that people have died from this flu and have died from other flu strands, but I’m talking about something as serious as small pox or anything else that can alter quality of life), and tens of thousands of people were dying from it world-wide (like in the Black Plaque days), as opposed to the few hundreds that have died (in the U.S.), and statistically die, from the flu each year, then yes, I would seriously consider vaccinating my family.
But when you compare the number of people who have died from the H1N1 flu (and there is some debate that these people actually died from the H1N1 strand specifically) worldwide and compare that to the MILLIONS of people who live on this planet overall and the few thousand that have died is roughly the same number every year of people who die from some flu strand, it doesn’t seem to warrant the panic it has stirred up.
Please understand that I’m not making light of those that have died from the flu. Or the ones who have gotten deathly ill from the flu or any other sickness. But I have a natural suspicion of something, anything, that the government, a company, or anyone else, for that matter, tells me is ESSENTIAL to my overall health. That if I don’t take it, I will likely get very sick and/or die.
There is a part of me that stands back and looks at the situation in a calm, and rational matter and my gut instinct is to question the paranoia and the panic, weigh the facts (as opposed to listening to the lame-stream media) and then make an educated decision for my family.
And my educated decision is to reject it at this time.
No. I am not downplaying the H1N1 flu. I’m sure it is, and has been, a terrible thing to endure for some people, but it’s the flu. And it’s hard to jump on the vaccine bandwagon when I read some physicians vehemently endorse getting the vaccine and other physicians vehemently reject the vaccine. If our health care officials are this divided on this vaccine, then that in itself is a red flag to me and deserves a closer look.
And as of now, I’m saying no to the vaccine. If we get the H1N1 flu, or any flu, for that matter, we’ll deal with it.
Dear Diary: 
Write From Karen 