Wow, there’s a lot of heated debate about the H1N1 vaccine! Parents are being offered free vaccines for their schoolchildren here in Beijing, and we doctors are getting a lot of phone calls. Is there reason for concern?

I hope that we all can at least review the most reputable sources of data and use that as a baseline for discussion. The facts remain that this H1N1 vaccine is safe, and there is no reporting from any country’s public health department regarding any unusual side effects. The facts also remain that H1N1 is proving to be more dangerous than expected in pregnant women as well as children. And every major public health group is advocating vaccinating your children. That includes all major pediatric groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as the WHO and the US CDC.

The data is there for you to look at; they all have updates and all continue to recommend the vaccine for children. I have multiple links to these from my previous posts:

• Why So Afraid of H1N1 Vaccine?
• H1N1 Mortality Trend Is Reverse of Seasonal Flu
• H1N1 Flu: The Basics