BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
A busy signal. Again.
I had been calling our pediatrician's office for hours.
I wanted to make an appointment for my son to get the H1N1 vaccine. My husband and I did a lot of research, investigating the pros and cons. We wanted to be first in line.
Apparently, a lot of other parents had the same idea; I could not get through.
Hours passed. Eventually we stopped trying, and my husband went to their office.
That turned out to be a good decision. Our pediatrician's practice received just 100 vaccines for the entire practice. Our son got on the list because he's two. Kids between the ages of 6 months and 4 are a priority.The nation-wide vaccine shortage means everyone else has to wait.
Because he's healthy, my son's a good candidate for the nasal spray. It uses a live, weakened strain of H1N1 that is free of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that makes some parents nervous.
When my husband called me with the news, I felt like we'd won the lottery!
Our son was getting vaccinated!
We prepared. We read a book about going to the doctor. We practiced breathing in the spray through our noses. It worked. He did great.
Then I asked about the booster.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends toddlers get a second dose four weeks later.
I learned a second vaccine wasn't likely; there just wasn't enough to go around.
I started to worry. Would it still work?
"Even without the booster," says Middletown-based pediatrician Cliff O'Callahan, "the vaccine should be effective. Some people only need one dose to produce antibodies. We recommend another because some may not react the first time and will react better the second time."
The worry dissipated, a little.
H1N1 is here. Some of us will be exposed, get sick and fight the flu like any other virus.
Most will be fine. But still, it's scary, and parents have a lot of questions.
That's why we keep the phone lines busy.
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