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Only 1 in 3 US adults would likely take the swine flu vaccine. |
With the US government attempting to get sufficient quantities of swine flu vaccine ready for Americans by next autumn in time for the expected rebound of the H1N1 virus, a new poll conducted by the Associated Press-GfK shows an interesting discrepancy. The poll showed that only one third of US adults would likely take the vaccine themselves, while almost two thirds said they would likely give permission for their children to be given the vaccine at school –something the government plans on implementing- and 40 percent of parents said they would very likely give their permission. The poll involved 1,006 randomly selected adults from across the US.
Flu experts are not surprised. With only 300 of the over one million Americans diagnosed with swine flu having died of the disease, many Americans are not feeling the heat. In fact 56 percent of those polled said they were not worried that they or their family members would catch H1N1. A third of adults and 1 in 4 parents oppose the vaccine altogether. One reason being the fear of side effects such as the Guillain-Barre syndrome (a rare condition that causes paralysis) that appeared after the mass swine flu vaccination that took place back in 1976.
One theory for the disparity is that although parents are not worried of catching swine flu, they could not bear the guilt if one of their kids contracted the illness due to their failure to vaccinate them.
Those on the list to receive the vaccine once limited supplies become available include school-age children, health care workers and young adults most at risk to the disease due to conditions such as asthma.
If the Swine flu vaccine becomes available in your country, will you be likely to get vaccinated yourself? Do you think you would vaccinate your children even if you don’t? Are you afraid of potential side effects the vaccine may have?
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