A big fuss here as a 59 year old doctor collapsed after having the jab. He was quickly paralysed. They are now testing to ensure it was the jab that caused it. You can imagine how traffic at the clinics has somewhat dwindled at present.
Later today came this report:

"Government health experts on Thursday said initial examinations showed that the 58-year-old man who developed weakness in his lower limbs was likely to be suffering from a rare disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). ..."
That's good news but quite a setback to the programme for a while.

All flu shots, not just the H1N1, can pose a very small risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome. The risk is about 1 in a million. And Guillain-Barré syndrome occurs in people for reasons other than having had a flu shot.

This is some info on GBS:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/gbs_qa.htm

The risk to people over the age of 65 of dying from the flu is far greater than the risk of dying from Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Quote:

---

In a paper published in the Canada Communicable Disease Report, Philippe De Wals, an epidemiologist in the department of community health services at the University of Sherbrooke, calculated that for a person over the age of 65 (those at greatest risk from the flu) the risk of dying of GBS after a flu shot is about one in 10 million, while the risk of contracting influenza and dying if a person is not vaccinated is about one in 1,000. In other words, the fear of GBS should not dissuade people (seniors, at least) because the risk of dying from not getting the shot is 10,000 times greater.

---

That someone would suddenly collapse, with a paralysis, immediately after getting a flu shot, is rather strange. Usually, when these things do happen, it's within a few days, or even weeks, of getting the shot.

The paraysis from Guillain-Barré syndrome generally reverses itself within a few months. My uncle had it and he recovered completely. In his case it was unrelated to a flu shot, but, once he had suffered from GBS, he never again received any flu shots.

Everyone, should consider risks from any medications or vaccinations that they take. But the incidence of serious risks, from any flu shot, does appear to be very low.

Healthy adults might decide to pass on the flu shots. But, anyone over 50, and those with chronic diseases, should carefully consider the risks to themselves of contracting the flu. Those risks do seem to far outweigh the risks associated with flu vaccines.

I've gotten both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu shots in the past few months and I'm feeling fine. No ill effects at all.