Recordpub.com - H1N1 vaccinations for Portage students eclipse 6,000 mark Portage Health Department also warns of swine flu e-mail scam

By Mike Sever
Record-Courier staff writer
A total of 6,111 students have received the H1N1 vaccine from Portage County local health departments through the past six weeks.
This week, 954 vaccinations were administered in the Aurora School District. Vaccinations at Ravenna and Kent schools next week will finish up the distribution.
Also, 17 of 24 scheduled daycare clinics have been completed.
Children age 9 years and younger should receive two doses of H1N1 flu vaccine for full protection, according to the health departments. The health departments will begin administering second doses of H1N1 vaccine in the schools. Information on when that will occur will be sent home to parents, the departments said Friday.
Also, the department noted that people should ignore fraudulent e-mails that claim to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about a state vaccination program. The scam asks for personal information.
More information on the scam can be found at www.cdc.gov/hoaxes_rumors.html. />According to the CDC, “the messages request that users must create a personal H1N1 (swine flu) Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov Web site. The message then states that anyone that has reached the age of 18 has to have his/her personal Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov site.
“The CDC has not implemented a state vaccination program requiring registration on www.cdc.gov. Users that click on the e-mail are at risk of having malicious code installed on their system,” the CDC advises.
Information on H1N1 also is available on the Portage County Health Department’s Web site at www.co.portage.oh.us/H1N1.htm.
The department is encouraging people to pre-register for the H1N1 vaccine. That link is available on the Web site.

5.	Posted by whydoicare December 6, 2009
	@NiNI... You are exposing uneducated opinion and no facts. The H1N1 vaccine is made the same way as regular flu vaccine. There is no reason to think that it would be any less safe. You posted no links...what information are you talking about? So you are saying I should not listen to my doctor, health department and most of the scientific community? That is strange. If you a rationale thinker you would understand this simple fact: the chances of a child being seriously ill from the H1N1 virus are much higher than the slim chance that there may be a negative side effect from the vaccine. Hope you and your family don't catch it...

4.	Posted by loveslife December 6, 2009
	Wow! I'm so happy to hear that YOU did your own research. Where did you get all that "inside" information that apparently you don't believe your doctor received? The doctor only has access to medical publications and other medical professionals, but you.....why you can use your highly-trained friends, the Internet, or maybe even talk-radio shows. It amazes me when random people believe they know more about medicine than their doctor. For heaven's sake, if you don't trust your doctor, then choose another. I have to believe that my doctor certainly knows more about medicine than I could even begin to know. Yes, you do have a choice, but don't be so naive and bull-headed to think you know more than your doctor about medicine and its affects.

3.	Posted by NiNi December 5, 2009
	This isn't the same as the regular flu vaccine so no, it hasn't been on the market for a century. Isn't it a little late to have the vaccine anyway?? The threat seemed more severe in October. You have the right to decide what you think is best for your kids and so do I!! I guess I feel just as strongly that people who receive the shot are putting their kids at risk! So much so that when I hear of a child who has been forced to have the shot it makes me sad inside. There are only four kids in our daughters class receiving the shot next week at school and only 6 in my sons class. Most people I know have done the research on their own (and not blindly trusted what a Dr. has to say) and have decided it's just not worth it.

2.	Posted by starttyrant December 5, 2009
	When parents make that decision, they focus on the one-in-10-million chance that a vaccine could kill a child and ignore the one-in-1,000 chance that a disease will do so. I hope you or your kids don't end up in the ER with 104 fever and dehydration when you get H1N1. Your putting them at risk with your decision in my opinion. And by the way, flu vaccine has been 'on the market' for a century. My kids are all getting the shot ASAP and so am I.