Today I went along to the Derg Centre in Nenagh ,Co. Tipperary and I would like to congratulate all working on the vaccination project.  Every member of HSE staff  I met was courteous and pleasant as well as totally professional .  While so much in our health system seems to be failing, I was delighted to take advantage of this service and be treated like an individual and with great respect.  This is how I would like to see the entire health service run, there are lessons to be learned and the Derg Centre in Nenagh would be as good an example as anyone will get. Thank you one and all.

Except for the vulnerable why would anyone opt for a vaccine. The annual flu vaccine is given yearly because the virus changes. Swine flu will possible do the same so this will go on forever. If it doesn't then one dose and your immune. The illness is mild in most cases so we would be much better to get a dose of it recover then forget about it.

Most likely, as I am in a vulnerable group. I am in no hurry. I have a lot of sympathy with Sick of it All regarding the hype and panic being generated around what is after all only a variant on our seasonal flu. The HSE is hyping it up so that when there is no serious epidemic, its spin doctors will be out in force claiming what a brilliant job it did. A gullible public makes it easy for the incompetent HSE.

Had my flu shot and annual check up today. Awaiting call up for 'flú na muc'.

John, I think that you are being a bit hard on the HSE. Understandable, but why not give them a bit of credit when something does work for them, sadly not too often, but now and then it does. As for getting the vaccine myself, as I appear to have all the "at risk" factors, other than being pregnant, I got the jab as soon as I could. However, no one as yhet has been ablt to tell me if I should go to the well twice.

Yes. I am in the over 65's group and have much underlying illness. I get the ordinary flu vaccine each year with no adverse reaction. I consider the swine flu vaccine to be just as safe, le congnamh Dé, and hope to avail of it when my turn comes.

Quite agree with Sick of it all, apart from very vunerable groups if we are going to contact Swine flu, well so be  it, better get it and build up a resistence. I guess like everything else in this country it will be blown up out of all proportion.

No one ever gets a cold, they get the flu.   Now it will be a case of " have you got Swine Flu or just ordinary Flu?"    Oh well something to take our minds off this dreadful Government; and the sorry state of our country. 

I don't think the media help when it comes to hype on these issues.  They ask the same questions three different ways and then reckon the answers aren't clear! 

Not on your nelly.  This swine flu panic is just that 'panic'.

No one is mentioning the after affects of this jab or its consequences.

Its just another con by the HSE to use up their stocks of Tamiflu that was never used after the bird flue epidemic that never happened.

If the HSE cleaned up their hospitals hygiene, we wouldnt have to worry about vaccines.

I'll take my chances with a packet of uniflue.

I have COPD first diagnosed in the 70's and because I'm over 65 years my GP whom I pay out of pocket even though I also pay VHI (have to be in 10 yrs) refused to give me the shot.I called my former Internist in the States to ask him should I get the shot and he said immediately. It's a joke the way medicine is run here.consultants running their practices from their homes sitting in their living room and being seen in their dining room.no wonder people are fed up.As for the hospitals I have never seen so much waste by mahogony row as it is known in the states.the nurses do a wonderful job once you see them and they are worked to the bone in appauling conditions.I'd give anything to go in and clean out the waste.

I'm not in one of the vulnerable groups, so I won't bother.  I have had the usual flu virus.  As a previous email says, the swine flu is not that serious unless there are "underlying conditions" or pregnancy.  Save the new vaccine for those who need it.  Besides, the vaccine is so new, has it really been tested properly?

The media are hyping up the swine flu news.

Something I would like to ask, did anyone notice that on the TV coverage of people getting vaccine, 'people' administering  vaccine 'no one wearing gloves'. We've been told to be as viligent as possible about spreading colds, flu etc but we have these so called 'professionals' touching other people without gloves, anything can happen. People on blood thinners can easily bleed after a needle and these continue to refuse to wear gloves?? Is this why C Diff is now in Our Lady's of Lourdes Drogheda??????

Sorry but I am tired of people getting this wrong. Seasonal flu viruses mutate and change every year, but they are very closely related to each other so people who have had flu viruses in the past will have some immunity to the seasonal flu viruses because their body will have built up some ability to fight the virus.

The 2009 H1N1 virus is an entirely NEW virus strain. It is very different to the seasonal flu virus so most people have no immunity to it.

I voted No because I am not in the vulnerable or at-risk groups such atsmatic or immuno-compromised, where the H1N1 could be very serious were I to catch it.

I've never had seasonal or 'ordinary' flu so I winder does this make me more or less likely to get H1N1? Either way, I understnad that it's quite mild in the non-at-risk groups.

Ann in fairness, swine flu is not just transmissable in hospital environments. People can catch it anywhere, and given that it is airborne we can catch it from others coughing or sneezing in our direction, as well as touching off items that contain viral contaminants and then putting our hands near eyes etc. Hospital hygiene has nothing to do with it. Although hospital hygiene is always a good thing of course, but a lack thereof is certainly not responsible for the 2009 H1N1.

Re trying to sell off old stock, I was under the impression that Tamiflu is a treatment for when one has already contracted the disease, whereas the vaccine, Pandremix is the preventative. I fail to see how promoting Pandremix will use up Tamiflu. If anything, if the vaccine works as they claim it should, then this should lead to a decline in the use of Tamiflu given that (theoretically at least), more vaccine = less disease = less demand for Tamiflu.

In any case, they are different drugs so I fail to see the relevance of your point.

Katie, I agree that the media ARE hyping up this disease and of course it is not as serious as they make out (as they have huge headlines re swine flu deaths and grudgling put in small print at the end that the victims had underlying diseases!) The media hype everything up, not just the swine flu. We do need to take what they say with a pinch of salt and I fully agree with you on that point. That said, we cannot take away from the severity of the disease for certain people, specifically those who have died, and indeed to do so would be grossly insulting to their families. To some people swine flu IS a very real and very threatening danger.

I am in two minds re getting this vaccine. Reasons for would be that my job involves a lto of contact with the general public (scruffy pups they are ha ha!) and also I have never reacted badly to any vaccine or its excipient. Then again I am not a high risk group. Am not particularly bothered either way.

That said, that is my choice to make, and those who are in a high risk group should of course be allowed to choose for themselves.

Of course people should not be subjected to worrying scare mongering by the media which is going to keep them up half the night, but by the same token, they should not be subjected to worrying scare mongering from the anti-conventional loo-lahs that is rife at the moment. People should be free to make up their own minds and to be honest, one side is just as bad as the other right now.

While it is proper and just that we should be able to exxpress and opinion or though, I think some of our commentators are setting themselves up as Professors of medicine. In my ignorant opinion I would think this is a rather dangerous thing to be doing.

(Not above topic)

We* recently got our renewal premium for VHI Plan C...and guess what?

It has been increased by 26.5%! Repeat...26.5%.

(*Two OAPs in our 70s)

I havent seen anyone claim to be a doctor of medicine here...

I am a pensioner with an autoimmune disease and I am asthmatic. I had vaccination for swine flu. I was nervous getting it but more nervous of the consequences if I got flu and hadn't had jab. I had aches in my legs, arms and  head. I also felt sick.  I was prepaired for this as I had read so much about side affects.  All passed in three days and my arm was barely sore.

My friend had a sore arm and no other side attects, 

I hope this information will help people who are nervous about vaccination.