Allergist out of flu vaccine 
On an equally frustrating note, Ds2 is allergic to dogs and everything that grows/blooms in our state!

Quote from: maeve on January 14, 2013, 12:51:28 PM
DD has gotten the flu shot at her pediatrician's the past 2 years.  We wait in the waiting room for 30 minutes after the shot.  She has done wonderfully.  She was able to just get the straight shot at her peds because she tolerated baked egg in a challenge.  Otherwise, I think Hopkins would have advised us to have them administer it.

Exactly us except not Hopkins!

Hey, though-- HERE is some HUGE news--

FDA approval for cell-culture production of Flu vaccine.


Rapidly Produced Flu Vaccine Wins F.D.A. Approval

It's made using sf9 cells.  These are an insect cell line that is commonly used to produce mammalian proteins using an insect virus as an amplification system.

(I've used this particular system myself to make recombinent proteins for further study, so I know precisely how it works.)

This is egg-free.  There are other proteins of concern used in the cell culture medium, however-- bovine proteins would be of particular concern, and possibly gelatin/other additives.

It's also potentially VERY fast-- much, much faster than the current outdated method of egg culture.

Because the cell line in question does NOT come from a mammalian system, there are far fewer reasonable risks associated with this.  I'd be comfortable with it in a way that green monkey kidney cell lines were never going to make me comfy.  (You're injecting something produced in an immortalized cell line, so...  mostly these are aggressive tumor cell lines.  Theoretically, there should be no residual cellular material remaining after purification... but.)


But I digress.  This is AWESOME news.  It's actually really awesome news for EVERYONE-- because vaccine produced this way is infinitely scalable, and production can start LATER, meaning better matches for circulating strains, meaning that more people are BETTER immunized each season.  This is FANTASTIC news.     

I think that the other thread is down in the egg allergy forum. 

Is this it?

Flu vaccination advice for 2011/2012 season

MandC--no worries.  I just know that other thread had some very specific information, but I was looking for it and I couldn't find it (the search on this board is so hard).  CM--I was thinking sooner rather than later to avoid duplication.  Do you know where it is?

We've done flu shots since David was three, as he has asthma and an immune deficiency.  The first three years were all at the hospital with a 10/90 split.  The next was a single shot at Children's.  Last year, he could have done it at the pedi's, but they were out of shots.  This year, he did a single shot at the pedi.  The first year, he had some mild hives at the site, but that was it.  Otherwise, it's gone smoothly.  Well, minus the drama that goes along with any shot, lol.

We haven't done it yet.  I'm just too nervous.  Dd's allergist thinks she should get it, but her ped disagrees.

Here's a link about an egg free flu shot, I am not sure if it is available yet but the FDA approved it.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/21/fda-approves-new-type-of-flu-shot/

My daughter has a severe egg allergy, too. She got the flu shot in two doses at her allergist's office. No problems at all, other than some boredom on her part.

DD has gotten the flu shot at her pediatrician's the past 2 years.  We wait in the waiting room for 30 minutes after the shot.  She has done wonderfully.  She was able to just get the straight shot at her peds because she tolerated baked egg in a challenge.  Otherwise, I think Hopkins would have advised us to have them administer it.

Quote from: GingerPye on January 14, 2013, 11:14:37 AM
I KWYM. 

I was so amazed last year when they did okay -- not a hive or an itch or anything!

Yes, this!!

I would NEVER have thought that my DD could get a flu shot.  Never.

She did hive up around the injection site, and the local reaction was pretty fierce for a few days-- but that is a really small price to pay in her estimation and ours.  Nothing systemic this year (at least nothing that I recall).


I'll merge this with our other thread in another week or two, if that is okay.

Oh, sure. Sorry!

We we have a thread on this. Can we merge them?

I KWYM. 

I was so amazed last year when they did okay -- not a hive or an itch or anything! 

Thanks ladies! That's kind of what I thought. I'm absolutely terrified though.... I still have PTSD re his reaction @ 9 months.  Most terrifying night of my life