COVERITLIVE.COM

11:28

Baltimore Sun - Hello all! We'll be starting the chat with Hopkins flu expert Andrew Pekosz in about 30 minutes. Feel free to start submit questions now.

11:29

11:29

Baltimore Sun - Flu expert Andrew Pekosz is an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

11:59

Baltimore Sun -

Welcome! Andrew Pekosz is online and ready to chat. We want to get to as many questions as we can, so let's jump in!

11:59

[Comment From Debbie]
hi i am a 25 year old mother of 2 my oldest is a 4 year old preschooler and my baby is 6 moths old, is the swine flu shot safe enought for a 6 month old? is there a chance that if i get the vaccine for us that something bad could happen to us.

11:59

Andrew Pekosz - Hello everyone.

12:02

Andrew Pekosz - Debbie, the 2009 H1N1 vaccine is not formulated for children under 6 months. you and your 4 year old can get the vaccine and getting the vaccine will help keep your 6 month old safe because you and your son will be resistant to the infection.

12:02

[Comment From Patrick P. Hu, MD, PhD]
Also there has been a lot of press about adjuvants in vaccines. For awhile I was reading that the vaccine makers were contemplating adding adjuvant to increase the amount of H1N1 vaccine supply available. Now, there is a widespread media coverage saying there is no adjuvant. Further reading today in the pres states that in Europe there is adjuvant added, but none in the US vaccines. I used to be a researcher and we added Freund's adjuvant etc to lab mice to increase their antibody production for our research prior to harvesting their spleen etc. I definitely would not want that concoction put in a patient. Doing some more internet research it seems that Novartis has a M59 squalene compound that may be used in the future. Two influenza vaccines with adjuvant are being tested and may be used in the future. Would you or others want to inject adjuvant in a human being and does the end justify the means in protecting against this seasonal flu variant. This is not smallpox or ebola. I disagree with such a nonspecific "ramp up" of the immune system in humans. What is your opinion?

12:03

Andrew Pekosz - Hi Patrick, First its important to state that no US flu vaccines contain adjuvants so concerns about adjuvants shouldn't factor into your decision to get vaccinated with the 2009 H1N1 vaccine.

12:06

Andrew Pekosz - Second, adjuvants are approved for use with influenza vaccines in Europe. They appear to be safe in that regard and they allow for a smaller dose of the actual vaccine to be used, meaning you can get more vaccine doses so you can immunize more people. Adjuvants may be a very important tool for helping us make more effective vaccines but more clinical trials are needed before they are used in the US with influenza vaccine

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