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Roe urges those at high risk to get H1N1 vaccine

Published November 8th, 2009 | 0 Comments

U.S. Rep. Phil Roe says he’ll take the H1N1 vaccine if the opportunity comes along, but he isn’t forcing it on 1st Congressional District constituents.

When asked whether he’s advising district constituents to take the H1N1 vaccine, Roe said: “That’s an individual’s option. You gotta make your own decision, and certainly if you are high risk, you ought to.”

About three in 10 Americans named reports about the fast-spreading flu and its vaccine as the story they followed more closely than any other in a survey conducted Oct. 30-Nov. 2 among 1,001 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. In a previous Pew survey, 47 percent of Americans said they would get the H1N1 vaccine if it was available to them, while an identical percentage said they would not get the vaccine.

Roe, a Republican and former Johnson City mayor, recalled the 1976 H1N1 outbreak.

“The vaccine actually caused more problems than H1N1 did,” Roe, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist, said during a conference call with reporters. “It was one of those things where no one knew. We had heard how bad it was going to be. I have talked to the infectious disease people at ETSU (East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine), the primary care people are the ones who are seeing most of this flu. (This H1N1 strain) is probably not any more deadly than seasonal flu is.”

Roe, nonetheless, said he would take the H1N1 vaccine.

“I take my flu vaccine every year anyway. ... I certainly will not take it until children who are at risk take it, and people with cystic fibrosis and other pulmonary diseases ... and the elderly take it,” he said. “I’ll get in the back of the line. But if it becomes available, I’ll do it just like I would for any seasonal flu. Because of the health care we have today — because of antivirals and Tamiflu — all of those things make it a lot less risky than it was in 1918 (when a flu pandemic occurred).”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising everyone age 50 and older to get the seasonal flu vaccine as soon as possible.

The CDC also says people age 65 and older are not at high risk of getting H1N1. They are not in the initial target groups for vaccination but may get vaccinated when supplies become available, the CDC adds.

The organization also says seniors who have health conditions associated with a higher risk of flu complications should get the H1N1 vaccine.

For more, go to www.flu.gov or http://health.state.tn.us.

A flu information line can be called at: 1-877-252-3432.

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