Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
After the novel H1N1 swine flu virus was first isolated, scientists moved quickly to develop a swine flu vaccine. Thanks to their work, a novel H1N1 vaccine was developed for distribution in the fall of 2009. James Steckelberg, M.D., an infectious disease specialist at Mayo Clinic, reviews what you need to know.
If I get the swine flu vaccine, will I still have to get the regular flu vaccine, too?
Yes. The regular flu shot protects you against seasonal influenza viruses that remain in circulation all the time but occur in epidemics every fall and winter. Most people should get this annual shot.
Regular flu shots protect you from more than one strain of influenza. This year, the seasonal flu shot includes one H1N1 strain — but that virus and the one the swine flu vaccine guards against are not the same. A number of H1N1 viruses have been isolated over the years, and they'll keep cropping up because flu viruses are always rearranging their DNA. Novel swine influenza H1N1 is just the newest one.
The swine flu vaccine targets the H1N1 virus that made its first reported appearance in the United States and Mexico in spring 2009. The virus was quickly isolated and characterized as a new infectious agent. With novel swine flu H1N1 spreading in every region of the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the infection a pandemic.
Who should get the swine flu vaccine?
In the United States, the swine flu vaccine is recommended for:
- Pregnant women. The risk of swine flu complications is higher during pregnancy. Mothers can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated.
- Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age. Younger infants are at higher risk of flu complications and cannot be vaccinated. Vaccination of those in close contact with infants less than 6 months old might reduce the infants' risk of exposure to the virus.
- Health care and emergency medical services personnel. Infections have been reported among health care workers, who can be a potential source of infection for vulnerable patients. Also, increased absenteeism in health care workers could reduce health care system capacity.
- Babies, children and teens, from 6 months through 18 years of age. Many cases of novel H1N1 influenza have occurred in children. Influenza viruses spread easily in school and child care, and children infected in these settings carry the infection to their families.
- Young adults, from 19 through 24 years of age. Immunization is important for young adults because they tend to live, work, and study in close proximity, and they move and travel often.
- People ages 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza. These conditions include heart disease, lung disease and some types of cancer.
What if there's not enough swine flu vaccine for everyone?
It's possible that demand for the swine flu vaccine will be higher than expected or some other unpredictable factor will slow vaccine production and distribution, particularly in the early stages of vaccine rollout. If necessary, these subgroups will have first access to the swine flu vaccine.
- Pregnant women
- People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age
- Health care and emergency services personnel with direct patient contact
- Children 6 months through 4 years of age
- Children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions
What about older people?
The risk of swine flu infection is lower for people age 65 or older than for younger people. But people over 65 should still get the seasonal flu vaccine, as has been recommended in other years. As vaccine supply and demand among younger age groups is being met, the swine flu vaccine will be offered to people over the age of 65.
When and where will the swine flu vaccine be available?
Every state is developing a vaccine delivery plan. Vaccine will be available in a combination of settings such as vaccination clinics organized by local health departments, health care provider offices, schools, and other private settings such as pharmacies and workplaces. Most people should be able to get their seasonal and swine flu vaccines on the same day. However, if the availability of swine flu vaccine is delayed, you should go ahead and get your seasonal influenza vaccination as it becomes available.
Do both vaccines require a shot?
For pregnant women, children between 6 months and 2 years old and adults over 49, injections are required.
Otherwise, you don't have to get two shots. The seasonal and 2009 H1N1 vaccines are both available in injection and nasal spray forms.
Is it OK for me to get a regular flu shot and a swine flu shot on the same day?
There's no reason not to, but in most places, the swine flu vaccine won't be available as soon as seasonal flu vaccine is. For the best protection, go ahead and get your seasonal influenza vaccination as it becomes available.
Also, if you prefer both vaccines in nasal-spray form, make sure you get them at least a month apart. The seasonal nasal spray and H1N1 nasal spray should not be given on the same day.
Will the swine flu vaccine be mandatory?
In the United States, that's up to state and local health departments. If you choose vaccination for yourself or your children, health professionals will screen you for contraindications to vaccination (such as an allergy to eggs). You will also receive information sheets describing the vaccine's risks and benefits, possible adverse events associated with vaccination, and how to report these events.
Will one dose of the swine flu vaccine give me immunity, or will I need two?
In adults, one dose produces a strong immune response, so that's all you need. Children between 6 months and 10 years old need two doses, given 21 to 28 days apart. The vaccine should not be given to babies less than 6 months old.
Is the swine flu vaccine safe?
Yes. Its nonvirus components are the same as those used in the seasonal flu vaccine, which has been tested extensively and monitored for serious reactions for several years. The only difference is that in the swine flu vaccine, novel H1N1 virus replaces the influenza A viruses used in the regular vaccine.
Will there be a version of the vaccine that doesn't contain the preservative thimerosal?
Yes. The nasal spray is preservative-free, as is injectable vaccine in filled, single-dose syringes. Multiple-dose vials do contain thimerosal.
- Key facts about seasonal flu vaccine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- Fiore AF, et al. Prevention and control of seasonal influenza with vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2009. MMWR Early Release. 2009;58:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr58e0724a1.htm. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- CDC. Swine influenza A (H1N1) infection in two children - Southern California, March--April 2009. MMWR 2009;58:400-402.
- Novel H1N1 flu (swine flu) and you. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- CDC advisors make recommendations for use of vaccine against novel H1N1. http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2009/r090729b.htm. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Flu FAQs related to H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines. http://answers.flu.gov/categories/501. Accessed Sept. 22, 2009.
- Questions and answers: Novel swine flu (H1N1) update. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/public/vaccination_qa_pub.htm. Accessed Sept. 22, 2009.
