“I just don’t think there’s been enough research,” said Sheila Jones.

Jones, the mother of a 2-year-old boy, has decided not to get the free H1N1 — or swine flu — vaccine that the Union County Health Department is providing to children and their caregivers.

Jones isn’t a radical. She, her husband, and their son have all had the seasonal flu vaccine, a cocktail of three strains of influenza. But H1N1? No, Jones says. It’s “just kind of rushed” and “scary,” unlike the seasonal flu vaccine that has been given “for years and years and years now."

She’s not alone in her concerns.

Parents across Union County are split over whether to vaccinate their children against H1N1. Some say it’s dangerous; others have called countless medical offices, looking for a spare dose. The truth, according to CDC spokesmen, is that H1N1 has so far been milder than the usual seasonal flu, but spreads more quickly and is a particular danger to pregnant women and, unexpectedly, young people up to age 24.

Dan Hagler, chief medical officer and infectious disease specialist for Carolinas Medical Center-Union, said H1N1 is spreading fast, but notes that only severe cases are actually cultured to confirm the exact flu strain.

“The assumption is everything we’re seeing now is H1N1,” he said, but there is no need to panic. “If it looks like flu, treat it like flu.”

This year, he said, those with flu-like symptoms will likely be treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral to fight against the flu. The medication cuts the flu short and prevents severe side effects, Hagler said. Other doctors might tell patients with milder symptoms to stay home and let the flu run its course.

“If you’re otherwise healthy, I wouldn’t get all bent out of shape about it,” he said.

To prevent the flu — and its associated risks, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list as pneumonia, dehydration, brain damage and death — Hagler recommends both seasonal and H1N1 vaccinations.

Elizabeth Perry was quick to get her H1N1 vaccine. Perry and her husband are expecting their first child in May, and one of Perry’s friends recently lost her newborn to H1N1 contracted from the mother.

“There’s such a high risk for H1N1,” she said, but made sure to request a preservative-free vaccine.

Preservative-free vaccines do not include thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury. Perry said she was worried about its link to autism spectrum disorders, but Hagler — and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine — say that connection is a myth.

“There’s no relationship to autism,” Hagler said. “The science doesn’t support that.”

High doses of thimerosal can give a person mercury poisoning, he said, but that is not a concern with the vaccine.

Tiffany Springer waited for a preservative-free vaccine anyway. At the time Springer’s 4-year-old daughter got the H1N1 vaccine, the pediatrician did not yet have a preservative-free dose for her 1 year old. A week later, the youngest got the flu. “I’m not going to get it (the vaccine) for her since she already had the flu,” she said.

Tiffany Springer got the seasonal flu vaccine for herself, but hasn’t had time to get the H1N1, which is recommended for people who take care of children. “I think it’s the same essentially as the flu shot, just a different strain,” she said. “I think it’s just as safe.”

Her husband, Blake Springer, has gotten both vaccines. Blake Springer works in the intensive care unit at CMC-Union, but said he would have done it even if he wasn’t in the health care profession.

Seeing more flu patients than in previous years, Blake Springer concluded that H1N1 is “definitely a more dangerous virus.”

Hagler said although it is “very contagious,” H1N1 “does not appear to be as deadly as seasonal flu so far.”

H1N1 does make children and pregnant women more sick, he said, and medical conditions such as asthma, emphysema, cancer and heart disease can always complicate the illness, no matter what kind of flu a person is battling.

There have been deaths related to H1N1, he said, but they are not as prevalent as some might think.

According to flu.gov, there have been 32 flu deaths in North Carolina this season and 540 hopitalizations due to influenza-like illness.

Blake Springer also encouraged his family to get vaccine injections, dead virus, instead of the nasal spray, live virus.

Hagler said both are safe. Those who receive the nasal spray might transmit the strain, he said, but will not get the flu. Pregnant women should not get the nasal spray.

“Despite the concern, it’s a very benign vaccine,” Hagler said.

Beverly Irvin wants to get the vaccine, but “I can’t find it,” she said.

Irvin’s 2-year-old son is allergic to eggs and can’t receive flu shots. Both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines contain small amounts of egg protein. He could get the nasal spray, she said, but might pass the live virus to her.

Living with lupus, a chronic, autoimmune disease, Irvin said getting the flu would be “more dangerous than whatever side effects the vaccine could have.” The vaccine “is right for our family because of our situation,” she said.

Free vaccinations today

Piedmont High School will host a free H1N1, or swine flu, clinic today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Lydia Lyon, a communicable disease nurse with the Union County Health Department, said the clinics have been popular.

The department has given nearly 2,000 doses so far and will have another 2,300 Saturday in both flu mist and injections. Those numbers do not include the thousands of seasonal flu vaccines also given out.

“It’s just now becoming to come in more steadily,” Lyon said of the H1N1 vaccine. Although the seasonal flu “is not yet circulating,” she recommends getting both vaccines.

The Health Department is also dispersing some H1N1 vaccines to private providers. It has ordered a total of 85,000 doses. “I can see it coming in until late January,” she said. “We’re going to have more clinics as it comes in.”

Future clinics will be scheduled as doses arrive.

The clinic is only for those at high risk of contracting H1N1, including pregnant women, children from 6 months to 24 years of age, health care workers, individuals who care for children less than 6 months old and people ages 25 to 64 who have underlying medical conditions.

Lyon said some people, especially the elderly, have called the department in hopes of getting the vaccine, but not all qualify. Only those at high risk are eligible for it until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifts that mandate.

— Staff Writer Tiffany Lane

How Vaccines Are Made

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention podcast from Nov. 5 explains why manufacturing and shipping the vaccine takes so long. Influenza vaccine production usually begins nine months ahead of time when strains that best match expected flu strains are selected.

Millions of chicken eggs are then disinfected and injected with the live virus — one strain per egg, killing the embryo and allowing the virus to spread. The virus fluid undergoes several purification steps and a special chemical inactivates the virus. It is then split chemically, and viral fragments from the three strains are combined. Each lot must be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prior to shipment.

“Vaccine virus is grown in eggs because the flu virus grows well in them, and eggs are readily available,” the CDC states.

H1N1, however, came along a few months too late to be included in the seasonal flu vaccine. The CDC says millions of doses are “in the pipeline” and will be distributed as soon as possible.

— Staff Writer Tiffany Lane