With the swine flu becoming so widespread and dangerous, killing countless people each day, many are considering getting the vaccine.  The main question that many people have, though, is whether or not the vaccine is safe.  In short, the answer is yes.  The vaccine has been tried and tested to be safe for the majority of people that receive it.  With that in mind, you’ll want to express some concern if you belong to a high risk group.  The main one I’m referring to here is pregnant women, who aren’t even cleared to receive the nasal spray vaccine.

What a lot of people also don’t realize about the vaccine is that it contains a dead virus.  You will not get the swine flu from getting the vaccine.  Your body will just bein producing an antibody against the swine flu.  It essentially puts your body into ‘warning’ mode to combat the flu so that you can get over the illness much more quickly.

A common misconception that a lot of people have about vaccines is that they work instantly.  This isn’t the case.  In fact, most flu vaccines don’t even work for about 40% of the population.  That is, they don’t cause enough of a reaction to allow the body to fend off infection from the flu.  In that case, you’ll still be able to get sick from the swine flu.  For those that the vaccine does work for, you’ll still need to wait about 2 weeks before your body is completely ready to fight it off.  Think about it this way: how long does it take to get over a cold?  That’s about how long it takes your body to start producing antibodies in large enough quantities to fend off a virus.

If you’re considering getting the flu vaccine, you should also realize that it doesn’t mean that the virus can’t infect you.  You’ll still be able to carry the virus to an extent and will therefore be able to spread it to people in high risk groups.  Don’t think that just because you’ve been vaccinated that you’ll be able to spend time around pregnant women because you still run the risk of infecting them.

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If you want to learn more about how to prepare for swine flu, check out this guide: Survive Swine Flu

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Is the Swine Flu / AH1N1 Vaccine Safe?

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