Clinical trials among young children indicate that they will need two swine flu shots in order to develop adequate antibody levels to fend off the flu, according to public-health experts data released on Monday, September, 21, 2009.
The government Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is recommending that all children ages 6 months through age 9 be given two vaccine shots at 21 days apart.
However, older children between the ages of 10 and 17 appear to have a “robust immune response” after one shot, meaning they only need to get the vaccine once, according to officials with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Preliminary results from the small clinical trial has shown that a single dose of swine flu vaccine produces an immune response in 76% of 10- to 17-year-olds 8-10 days after they get their shot.
But antibodies to the swine flu virus were found in only 36% of children ages3 to 9 after the first shot and only 25 percent of infants and toddlers between 6 and 35 months.
That means that infants and toddlers facing their first-ever vaccinations will need 4 shots: 2 for seasonal flu and 2 for the 2009-H1N1 swine flu.
Is the Vaccine Worth the Risk?
That’s a lot of immune and nervous system stress, including high doses of ethyl mercury in Thimeosal, the vaccine’s preservative, within a very short period of time. Is the vaccine worth the risk of serious neruological damage?
So far this year, Arizona has recorded only 1,480 lab-confirmed cases of the Swine flu, which includes 297 cases that led to hospitalization and 22 deaths that included 4 children.
Arizona has designated infants and young children, kids with chronic health infections and pregnant women as the highest priority for receiving the H1N1 vaccine. Next in line will be school-age students and adults who care for newborns or have chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes.
There are roughly 1 million children in the state of Arizona who fall between 6 months and 9 years of age, according to Will Humble, the interim director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The state expects to receive between about 1 million doses of the swine flu vaccine in mid-October, with more to come weekly throughout the remainder of the flu season.