Swine Flu Vaccine Evaluation

After the 27 million doses of the swine flu vaccine make their way across the country and into the immune systems of Americans, independent health advisers will begin to monitor the outcome. This group is a specially appointed working group that is part of the National Vaccine Program office.  They are interested in seeing the outcome of so many people taking this vaccine. They know there is always the possibility of side effects with any vaccine. There is no such thing as a 100% safe vaccine, but the reason people still take them and the Center for Disease Control encourages people to take them is because the benefits far out way the risks. WebMD discuss some of the small side effects including a sore arm, headache, and a small fever, but each of these are a small percent of those who receive the vaccine and these symptoms do not often last long after the initial vaccine. Serious side effects are very slim including the 1 in million chance of having neurological damage. With these possibilities unlikely but apparent the CDC does not want normal diseases rates to be influenced by those caused by a vaccine these include 2,500 miscarriages that occur daily in the U.S. and 3,000 heart attacks, as reported by the The Lancet, British medical journal. No one is really able to know if these are due to vaccination or if they would have occurred despite the individual being vaccinated.
So what do we has citizens and consumers of this vaccine have on our side as protection if something goes wrong? Well the 2006 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness ACT (PREP ACT) has issued protection for vaccine manufactures and health officials, but in response congress enacted the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VCIP) in conjunction with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 to help children and their families who are injured due to vaccinations. This is a no fault means alternative for compensation that some families find helpful. If you need advice about taking these actions you can always get helpful advice with your local attorney’s office.

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/is-the-h1n1-swine-flu-vaccine-safe
http://www.hrsa.gov/Vaccinecompensation/