H1N1 vaccine experience: Out of the fire, into the frying pan

Relief and exhaustion. We finally got H the H1N1 shot - or at least, the first round. She'll need another one in a month, if she can get it. But at least she has some protection.

It only took waiting in line for more than 2 hours during dinnertime with our two-year-old and probably a thousand other kids and their parents, in a local school. And we were the lucky ones, who got there 45 minutes before the town's clinic started. We were inside the school when the clinic began, whereas most of the line snaked outside and around the school building. Then, they had the brilliant (note the sarcasm) idea of letting people who said they wanted only the nasal spray go into a separate, much shorter line; but when we got to the front, those folks were allowed to choose whether they go the spray or the shot. We waited in the original line - our daughter had a cold, and we just weren't sure enough of the vaccine would go in, never mind if she wiggled. We ended up being one of the last people to get the shot, though they did still have some nasal spray at that point. I just wouldn't want to have been one of the folks waiting in line for the shot because they couldn't get the spray (because they're high risk), only to be turned away.

I hated having to make the decision on the fly between spray and vaccine, not only because of what I noted above, but because the vaccine contained mercury. I was finally convinced by the attendant - they had a lot of these folks available, and they did seem knowledgeable. She said the shot contained only the amount of mercury that's in one tuna fish sandwich. I guess that's a sorry comment on the state of our food sources, but in fact it convinced me to go with the shot. I didn't like not being able to discuss it with a doctor or check the statement with another good source - I'm doing that right now!

Here's one site I found: . Granted, it's from Washington state. But it notes that the level of thimerosol (the mercury-containing preservative in the vaccine) should not exceed 1.0 microgram per 0.5 ml dose of the vaccine. Now, they noted that Washington state has suspended that limit for he current H1N1 vaccine program. But let me check if that's the amount generally found in one tuna fish sandwich...Hmmm. The FDA says regular albacore tuna contains 0.353 parts per million of methylmercury (apparently a more permanent, i.e. harmful, form of mercury than what's in thimerosol). Uh oh. If I'm doing my conversion right, 1 microgram per 0.5 ml is 2 parts per million, far more than 0.353 parts per million. The only comfort is that they type of mercury in thimerosol breaks down much more quickly than the type in tuna - so it's not in the body as long. I'm going to have to double-check with her pediatrician about this.

Well, I'd already decided to try to get the nasal spray for the follow-up vaccine. And I do limit my daughter's fish consumption otherwise, so she's not getting a lot of mercury exposure overall. But I think I'll avoid feeding her tuna for a few weeks.

I'm sure I overthink this sort of thing, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not alone in this habit, especially as a mother/parent. I think I did the right thing. H had a low fever after the shot, and developed one again at daycare today. But she was otherwise fine, and by the time I picked her up this afternoon, she wasn't hot at all. It was just the vaccine doing its work.

I did happen to meet another mom with type 1 diabetes in the line - right behind us! So that made the wait more interesting for me, if not for my daughter or ever-patient husband. I'll have to share that discussion in my next post, though. I need some rest!