Some areas of Canada are reporting H1N1 outbreaks and our public health boards are getting really pushy about having to get flu vaccinations. My province will not allow people to enter hospitals unless they have been vaccinated or they wear a mask. I'm OK with that.

Problem is, there are conflicting reports about this H1N1 vaccine. They are using the same formulation as they did in 2009 here and subsequent studies that were done at that time revealed that those who had the vaccine were 50-75% more likely to get the flu. Apparently that was a "Canadian vaccine" issue only.
Add to that the health board claims that this H1N1 virus is unchanged from the one in 2009, yet their own researchers say that viruses mutate at a very rapid rate and so vaccines must always be changed to accommodate that change for them to remain effective.
It leaves me to wonder why this H1N1 hasn't mutated in 4 years, or if we are getting the whole story. Right now it just sounds like someone along the line is cashing in on the sale of the vaccine...maybe at the expense of the public's health. IDK.

I don't get the flu shot because the three times that I have, I've gone into a major flair that took months to recover from each time. The last one I got was in November of 2007, and the body spent the next 6 months in a flair of MS and digestive inflammation. By April of 2008 I was still in and out of ER because of those symptoms as well as pericarditis and thyroiditis.

When the 2009 H1N1 epidemic hit, there was the same push to get vaccinated as the one that is going on now. My PCP was all for it but my naturopath, who is also a pharmacist, said that for some people, the adjuvant (primarily squalene oil), causes pre-existing auto-immune diseases to increase in severity, and may actually cause an auto-immune disease called Gillain-Barre to develop. Gillain-Barre syndrome is very much like MS in that the immune system attacks the squalene oil component in the myelin as well as the squalene component in other soft tissues like the joints.

Because the Canadian vaccine contained squalene oil (I've since found out that the USA didn't use squalene oil in their H1N1 vaccine, but did use it for soldiers deployed during Desert Storm; and that many soldiers developed auto-immune and neurological symptoms during that time), she suggested that I not take it, so I didn't.

I've since been diagnosed as having SPMS and can't get a straight answer from anyone on whether or not the current Canadian vaccine contains squalene oil or not. On the one hand, I don't want to get the flu (haven't had a flu since 1989), but on the other I most certainly don't want my immune system to go crazier than it already is.

The latest threat from our government that being tossed about is that we may be denied government funding of our health care if we are not vaccinated. Already hospital workers have been fired or laid off for refusing to have it. Teachers and other public sector workers are now being pressured with the same threat.

If it comes to mandatory vaccination, I really don't know what I'll do; but I am prepared to quarantine myself away until the flu season is over. The risk of taking the vaccine is just too great the way I see it now .

With love, Erika