Both kinds of  vaccines are made the same way. The virus is injected into chicken eggs and grown into larger quantities. If you have a known allergy to chicken eggs or a compromised immune system due to some other medical condition, talk to your doctor about whether flu vaccination is even an option for you.

For the vaccine that is administered by needle, the virus is harvested from the eggs, killed and chopped into segments. When it is injected into you, it activates your body’s immune system to produce the antibodies that will kill the actual flu virus should you become exposed to it.

When making the nasal-spray vaccine, the virus is grown in the eggs at lower temperatures, which weakens it so that it can only survive in the nose. The nasal vaccine infects the mucosal cells that are closely monitored by your immune system and once this system detects the vaccine, it produces permanent immunity to the flu virus.

Only healthy people ages 2 to 49 and who aren’t pregnant can receive the nasal-spray vaccine. If you fall into this category and cringe at the thought of having to get a  needle, the nasal spray might be the way to go. However, if you are getting both the seasonal and the swine flu shots, you will need to wait four weeks in between the two nasal-spray vaccines.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you can’t get the flu from either the injectable vaccine  or the nasal-spray, because the viruses have been inactivated. With the flu shot, minor side effects can occur, including soreness, redness or swelling where the shot is given, low grade fever, aches and nausea. These problems could occur soon after the shot is given and last from 1 to 2 days.

The nasal spray can cause the following side effects in children:

• runny nose
• wheezing
• headache
• vomiting
• muscle aches
• fever

In adults, side effects, if they occur include:

• runny nose
• headache
• sore throat
• cough

There can be serious side effects from either vaccine but these are very rare. One such side effect is Guillian-Barre Syndrome, a rare disorder in which the person’s own immune system damages nerve cells. Visit the CDC website for questions and answers about this condition.

The Flu.gov website has links to Q & A’s about both the H1N1 nasal spray and the needle that answers questions about what symptons to look for in the event of any kind of severe reaction and how to proceed.

Experts argue that the swine flu vaccine is actually the result of a 60-year-old tried-and-true process of making  flu vaccine  that was tested on thousands of people, including some volunteer researchers, before being scheduled for distribution.

The first testing of both the arm-shot and nasal-spray vaccines was performed on 3,000 volunteers in eight laboratories at Baylor University, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Emory University, Seattle Group Heath Cooperative, St. Louis University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland and Vanderbilt University.

It’s also being tested by the five firms licensed to make up to 250 million doses of the vaccine by next spring for the U.S. market. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt, was one of the volunteers and says that the vaccine is tested for safety and to see if it produces the level of anti-body production in the blood that reaches FDA standards.

Kenneth Alexander, an infectious disease expert at the University of Chicago, says there is no reason to believe this flu vaccine will be any less safe than the seasonal flu shots because the only difference between the two is the virus it’s made from.

The FDA’s acting deputy commissioner for public health, Jesse Goodman, says that there’s a lot of misinformation being spread around and added that it’s important to have all the facts before making up your mind about whether or not to get the vaccine.

The Tribune article goes on to detail how the vaccine is made:

Last April, when the H1N1 virus was first identified by federal health officials in Mexico and California, they sent it to the pharmaceutical companies  they contract so that each of them could formulate their version of the vaccine for field testing before mass production. That process took a month.

The only FDA-approved method for making flu vaccines dates back to the 1940′s.  This involves injecting the virus into chicken eggs to be grown into larger quantities. Like many everyday foods and medicines, the ingredients contain a number of vital chemical substances that could be toxic in large doses but are included in the vaccine in harmless, trace amounts.

For instance, the active ingredient in aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid which, taken in proper doses, is effective in reducing fever and relieving headaches. However, if aspirin where to be swallowed in large doses, there would be serious consequences.

A preservative added in trace amounts, thirmerosal, which contains ethyl mercury, is the ingredient that anti-vaccine activists question the most. Critics allege that it can cause autism and other neurological disorders but researches insist that it is present in such a small amount that it poses no harm. Still, single-shot doses can be ordered without thimerosal and there is none of this ingredient in the nasal spray. The U.S. does not add “adjuvants,” another compound raising concerns and sometimes added to vaccines to stimulate the immune response in recipients.

Here’s a list from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of groups who have been prioritized to receive the 2009 H1N1 vaccine first:

• Pregnant women
• People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age
• Health care and emergency medical services personnel
• People between the ages of 25 and 64 years old who are at high risk for H1N1 because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems

The CDC reports that, of the 27 states reporting hospitalizations from September 1st to October 10th this year, more than half were people age 24 and younger and about 23 percent of deaths reported from 28 states during this time were in this age bracket.

About 90 percent of hospitalizations and deaths from the swine flu are in people age 64 and younger. This is the reverse of what we see with the seasonal flu, where 60 percent of hospitalizations and 90 percent of deaths are in people age 65 and up.

Another group that is at high risk for the swine flu includes people with immune systems compromised by diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. These folks are at risk for complications from both types of flu, that is, seasonal and H1N1, and should get both vaccinations as soon as they become available to them. For more information about inflammatory arthritis and the flu shot, visit the CDC website.

Even healthy pregnant women can have medical complications from both the seasonal and swine flu. It is recommended that you get both of these shots as soon as possible. However, you should not be given the nasal spray flu vaccine.

It seems that the flu poses added risks to pregnant women because pregnancy weakens a woman’s immune system and makes her more likely to suffer pneumonia when she catches the flu. The CDC says that, in earlier flu pandemics, infection also raised the risk of premature birth.

It’s a double dilema for pregnant women with asthma and some other health conditions. These women are particularly at risk for complications. The CDC recommends that pregnant women take prescription flu medicines if they are diagnosed with the swine flu. It is believed that the virus poses a greater risk to the unborn baby than the unknown risks of the drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. These anti-viral drugs can help lessen or avert complications, according to Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC.

The website Flu.gov has more information for pregnant and nursing moms.

Swine flu is quite another story. This is a particularly nasty virus that can be fatal and it’s recommended that every last one of us get a shot in the arm against it, especially the over 65 crowd, children, pregnant women and those with health concerns such as diabetes, asthma, cancer, HIV/Aids, heart or kidney disease. That means some of us will have to endure two needles.

The next step is finding out where and when to go to get these shots. Government health-related web sites are good places to start. In the U.S. go to Flu.gov. There’s a map at the top of the page. Simply click on your state and it will take you to a page with a heading near the top of the page that says “Flu shot locat0r.” Click the appropriate button and get a listing flu shot locations and the dates they will be in operation. Looks to me like all of the states have the same page set up.

In Canada, go to the Public Health Agency of Canada website and you will find a similar map about half way down the page. Click on your Province or Territory to arrive at a page with flu information from your Provincial or Territorial Government. Look for a button to click that will take you to clinic schedules. For example, Ontario’s page has a button to click on near the bottom left-hand side of the page that says “Important information about scheduling your flu shots this year.” That will take you to the clinic information. For B.C. a box near the top right-hand side of the page says “Find your local flu clinic.”

So, I guess in Canada each of the Provinces and Territories were told to come up with their own pages. That makes it harder to tell you where to look, but the information is there.

Both Flu.gov and the Public Health Agency of Canada have a ton of information about the flu, including how to protect yourself and others, frequently asked questions about the H1N1 vaccine and knowing the difference between the seasonal flu and Swine flu.

The symptoms are fairly similar with coughing, fever, lack of energy, discharge from the nose and a decrease in appetite.  In order to limit the transmission of the flu virus from pigs to people and people to pigs, the following steps can be taken:

• Vaccination of pigs. By administering influenza virus vaccinations to pigs, farmers can help to eliminate the potential spread of infection.
• Vaccination of farm workers. By making sure that all workers who come in contact with pigs are vaccinated, companies and farm owners can decrease the chances of pigs spreading the virus to workers and vice versa.
• Avoid contact. If you are infected with the influenza virus or any other infectious illness, avoid contact with as many people as possible and stay home.  In contrast, if you see that others are not feeling well, try to avoid them, as well.
• Practice good hygiene. Always cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze and wash your hands with soap often.
• Maintain healthy habits. Remember to get enough sleep, eat healthy meals full of fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water.
• Do not pet pigs. You cannot get the swine virus from eating pork, but you could get it if you have direct contact with a pig, so stay clear until you know that it is safe to be around them again.

For now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are issuing a travel health warning for Mexico, advising people to avoid all non-essential travel to Mexico.  If you must travel to Mexico, the CDC recommends that you be up-to-date on all of your current vaccinations, including seasonal influenza vaccines.  They also advise you to do your homework and know where healthcare facilities are located in the area you will be traveling.

Be sure to pay attention to healthcare announcements being made while you are in the country and always follow the local public health guidelines.

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