Swine Flu Myth Busters
Myth: Swine flu isn’t that serious, so there’s no need to get vaccinated.
Swine flu causes mild symptoms in most people, generally lasting for about a week, but others are more likely to develop complications.
Those at particular risk include people with long-term health conditions such as diabetes, chronic heart, kidney, liver or neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis, pregnant women or those whose immune system is affected by a disease or treatment for a disease.
In some cases, people may need to be treated in hospital for complications such as pneumonia or difficulty breathing, and in the very worst cases, may die.
Myth: The vaccine hasn’t been properly tested and isn’t safe.
As with all vaccines used in the UK, the swine flu vaccination has been licensed by the European authorities as safe to use after clinical testing on thousands of people.
Scientific evidence from trials suggest the risk of a serious reaction is extremely small and far outweighed by the risk of becoming seriously ill from the swine flu virus itself, especially if you are a pregnant or have an underlying health condition.
Myth: The vaccine isn’t safe for people who have an egg allergy.
There are two versions of the swine flu vaccine, one of which Celvapan by Baxter has been especially created without the use of hens’ eggs, so that it is safe for people with a severe allergic reaction to egg products.
Myth: The vaccine will give people swine flu.
The vaccine does not carry a ‘live’ virus, so it cannot give swine flu to the person being vaccinated. Some people may experience mild symptoms like fever, headache and muscle aches as their immune system responds to the vaccine, but this is not flu and will usually disappear in one or two days without treatment.
Myth: There’s no need for people to get the vaccine if they think they’ve already had swine flu.
Unless a case of swine flu has been confirmed by a laboratory test, most people cannot be certain that they have had the disease, or that they will be protected if the virus mutates.
People in the priority groups are therefore recommended to receive the vaccination unless they have had a positive test for swine flu.
Myth: If you have the seasonal flu jab, you don’t need the swine flu vaccine.
The seasonal flu vaccination will not protect people against swine flu. People in the at-risk groups for the swine flu vaccine should get both jabs to ensure they are protected against both swine flu and the other flu strains in circulation.
Myth: If you don’t usually catch the flu, you won’t catch swine flu.
Swine flu is caused by a new strain of the influenza virus called H1N1. Because it is a new type of flu virus, no one has immunity to it and everyone could be at risk of catching and spreading it.
Myth: People need to stay off work or school after receiving the vaccine.
Those receiving the vaccination can return to their normal routine straight after the jab or in between doses if two are required. As the vaccines do not contain a live virus they do not make a person infectious.
Myth: There’s no point getting the vaccine as it won’t protect me if the swine flu virus mutates.
While it is impossible to predict if or how the virus will change, experience with the similar vaccine for the bird flu (H5N1) strain suggests the swine flu vaccine would provide a high level of protection from closely related strains.
Myth: The vaccine can’t be given to people if they have religious laws or dietary requirements that mean they don’t eat pork.
Some porcine (pork) products are used in the manufacture of Celvapan, however there are no detectable traces of these products in the vaccine itself. The other version of the vaccine, called Pandemrix, does not contain porcine products.
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