September 23, 2007 | Health
Temperatures are dropping, leaves are starting to change colors, and that ushers in one more annual development - the flu shot. It’s highly recommended for children, pregnant women, and the elderly, but do talk to your doctor to help decide if you should get it.
One of the primary concerns with the flu vaccine is thimerosal, which is a mercury-based preservative used in several vaccines (not just the flu shot). So here’s the scoop. Several flu vaccines are available, and you can ask your doctor which one he or she uses, armed with the following information about thimerosal:
- FluMist (obviously preferable to most, since it doesn’t involve a shot) is preferable for one more reason now - it doesn’t contain thimerosal.
- Fluarix is a shot, but also does not contain thimerosal.
- Fluvirine and Fluzone are available with reduced thimerosal concentrations.
As always, use your doctor as your primary resource for information, but perhaps this will help you ask more effective questions!
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stacey says:
good to know!
September 24th, 2007 at 11:16 pm