-Gianna is not afraid to say "no!" to the boys when they want to start rough play. She doesn't ask for help from the teachers to make them leave her and her friends alone.
-Although she is the youngest in the class, she is amongst the brightest.
-She is behind in English, but is on track with other ESL students.
-She is very eager to start activities and learn; she often understands concepts that the other children can't grasp.
I am not sure if I will send her back for the remaining two school days this week. One of her classmates is down with suspected H1N1. It will take 3 days to get results back, as Germany does not seem to stock in-office tests.
In fact, their whole attitude towards the disease has been rather arrogant. They received one batch of quality vaccine from Baxter last month and inoculated their military and politicians (um, are they planning to take over the world again?). Later this month, a batch of lower quality vaccine will arrive to vaccinate high risk patients including pregnant women and children. I've spoken with several doctors including Gianna's pediatrician, asking where we can go to get her inoculated and their answer is they won't be getting any vaccine in because they "don't expect it will get as bad here as in the States". And that conclusion is based on what scientific logic? Americans are going around coughing on each other and licking door handles whilst the German superstitions of wearing scarves year-round and opening all the windows in the morning to let the stale air out are going to keep them protected? Once I hear batches of the vaccine have arrived, I am going to call around, see who has it, get both Gianna and myself vaccinated. Until then, my ears are finely tuned to any child that's down with H1N1. Schweinegrippe raus!
Keep her home. No harm done.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't testing for H1N1 here, just assuming that if you have the symptoms then you have. The random testing that was done showed 99% of samples that tested +ve for the flu was H1N1 - only 1% were seasonal flu.
I don't get the two levels of vaccine though, or the arrogancce. Wow.
Wow, here it is almost like mass panic. So many schools have been closed for it. If one in a class gets it, the class is sent home for the week. If 3 in the school have it, the whole school shuts down for a week. But it's like mass hysteria. They have so publicized things that people are so afraid to get it. It's the talk of the day every day...very annoying.
ReplyDeleteThings are getting a little out of hand here in order to keep the population unconcerned and disinterested (quite the opposite of Jordan, it seems). Today Glaxo announced that the vaccine shipment to Germany will be delayed until January! Reported cases of H1N1 have been growing exponentially despite the fact that local doctors are refusing to test kids with flu symptoms for H1N1. The logic, it seems, is that if they can keep the reported numbers low, it will seem like the pandemic has spared Germany and there will be no outrage that the general public still does not have access to a vaccine while the military and government were vaccinated last month.
ReplyDeleteTyler and I were both raised in anti-vaccine homes so it's been something we've had to re-evaluate as parents now. But does the fact that you would be getting a "lower quality vaccine" worry you at all? What exactly does that mean? On another subject...you seem far more knowledgable about blogging than myself...how do you make a work the actual link to your albums, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI got the swine flu when it first came around in July. It is a nasty, nasty variety! I was out for over a week, with sneezing, coughing, and the basics of the flu... but the worst was the aches and the fatigue that came along with it! Who knows what immunity Gianna has from the orphanage, it might be really, really good! Stay healthy! ;)
ReplyDeleteThe "high quality" vaccine that was shipped and administered to the German military and government is Celvapan by Baxter. The "low quality" vaccine that will be shipped by GlaxoSmithKline is called Pandemrix. The differences:
ReplyDeleteCelvapan contains 7.5 μg deactivated virus per 0.5mL dose plus buffers and preservatives (trometamol, sodium chloride, water for injections, polysorbate 80). It is propagated in cell lines, not eggs.
Pandemrix: contains 3.75 μg deactivated virus per 0.5mL dose plus preservatives and buffers (polysorbate 80, octoxynol 10, thiomersal, sodium chloride, disodium hydrogen phosphate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, potassium chloride, and magnesium chloride) and adjuvant AS03 (squalene, DL-α-tocopherol, and polysorbate 80). It is propagated in eggs. It is expensive to make a vaccine fast AND with a lot of virus, so they make up the difference in efficacy with the adjuvant, which could cause a greater number of adverse immune reactions. Also, it contains 5 μg thiomersal, which is 49% mercury by weight, so 2.5 μg mercury per shot. According to the FDA, a 6 oz can of albacore tuna contains 52.7 μg methylmercury (81% mercury by weight, so 43 μg mercury). So, make your own risk assessment. I am just miffed that they reserved the higher quality vaccine for their government and not high risk patients or health care workers.
Based on your previous posts, I've logically concluded that the German immunity to swine flu is based on the fact that they are made of wood. Or maybe it's just their heads?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how they fare against chestnut blight?
ReplyDelete