Luckily, E was able to track down a mercury-free flu shot from her primary care doctor (who shares an office with a pediatrician), so that's no longer a worry.
What is worrying, however, is that flu shots are one of the few (if not the only) vaccinations that still use mercury (thimerosal) as a preservative. Yet no one talks about that.
Just this evening, one of the local news channels aired a piece on the benefits of the flu shot. Apparently it may (key word) boost your child's immune system in utero. (NOTE: the Washington Post reported the study's findings in June of this year. That's some crack reporting by the locals.)
At the end of the piece, the local anchor repeated the same old CDC line, urging all pregnant women to get a flu shot.
Just last week, I listened to a great podcast on just this topic. Dr. Robert Sears, author of The Vaccine Book, was interviewed and said that if a pregnant woman plans to get a flu shot, they should seek out the thimerosal-free version.
Amen to that.
(By the way, Pregtastic is a great podcast for moms-to-be [and dads-to-be too]. If you browse their library of podcasts, you're bound to find a topic that you're dying to know more about.)
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I was at the mall the other day and saw HUGE posters in the food court advertising flu shots. One of them featured a pregnant woman, one a small toddler.
After the research I did (I blogged about it
here) my wife and I decided against getting the flu shot for our 18 mo old.
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