DALLAS - Catherine Triantos has three children who are perfectly healthy, so this mom &mdash whose father and brother are both doctors &mdash has no plans to get them the H1N1 flu vaccine.
"I just choose not to administer anything foreign into their bodies," she said. "If they are going to get it naturally, I feel their bodies are strong enough to fight it."
Triantos is not alone. A new ABC News poll shows 39 percent of U.S. parents probably won't get the H1N1 vaccine for their children. When asked why, 53 percent of them don't think it's safe.
But Jacob Henderson's mom thinks every kid should get the vaccine. Jacob barely survived a swine flu infection.
"He was on his death bed, to be quite honest," said Niki Henderson. "He went into cardiac arrest, and it was the hardest thing ever."
Jacob, who has asthma, spent three weeks in intensive care battling a lung infection so severe he had to be hooked up to a machine because the flu left his heart and lungs too weak to pump enough oxygen into his blood.
"It felt like I was in pain," Jacob said.
Infectious disease experts say the H1N1 flu vaccine is just as safe as last year's version, but the threat may grow.
"We have good reason to believe the virus could become more potent and cause more serious disease, which is one reason we want to make sure everyone can be protected," said Dr. Jane Siegel of Children's Medical Center Dallas.
Still not convinced? Here's another reason, from Niki Henderson:
"To sit and watch my son in ICU for three weeks was the hardest thing I ever had to do - and not know if he would walk out of here because of some stupid little flu."
To add a comment, please register or login.