What are the swine flu vaccine ingredients?

How do you quickly find out what ingredients are in the H1N1 flu virus vaccine, either the shot or the intranasal type? If you can reach your doctor by phone or email, ask your physician which manufacturer is being used. Sometimes the nurse giving the shot can take five minutes to read the name of the manufacturer to you over the phone and any relevant information on the package or insert. That way, you'll know what you're getting when you come in for a vaccination.

Five companies today supply flu vaccine: GlaxoSmith-Kline; Switzerland's Novartis AG; Australia's CSL Biotherapies; MedImmune, part of Britain's AstraZeneca PLC, and France's Sanofi-Aventis SA. You can check out the research on flu vaccines of the past five years. The medical journals reveal more research currently than in the past two decades.
The company J & J is planning to develop a universal flu vaccine as well as an Alzheimer's vaccine, according to the Sacramento Bee article, "Vaccine: Focus was on treating diseases," Nov. 18, 2009. Pfizer Inc. after purchasing Wyeth for $68 billion in October also is planning to work on an Alzheimer's vaccine, which Wyeth was working on at the time of the acquisition. Also see the article, "Golden Era for Vaccines: Firms target an array of dread diseases," by Linda A. Johnson, Nov. 18, 2009 Associated Press, Sacramento Bee.
What if you're allergic to eggs and can't take any type of flu virus vaccination? See the article, Can Monolaurin Crack the Shell of the Flu Virus and Stop it from Replicating If Taken At First Symptom? 
To find out what exact ingredients are in the flu vaccination you're going to get from your doctor, consider contacting the manufacturers directly if you aren't satisfied with the ingredient information you are getting from the CDC, FDA, and your doctor. Will your doctor let you read the little paper insert that comes in every vaccine package so you can jot down and research the ingredients?
The H1N1 flu vaccine starts out life as a virus that begins to reproduce inside a chicken egg. It replicates inside the egg. When the virus has divided a set number of times, vaccine manufacturers remove the H1N1 flu virus and purify the contents. 
The H1N1virus is blocked from ever reproducing itself. Manufacturers of flu vaccine (and their scientists) say the process of dispatching the H1N1 virus is called "being attenuated." The word, 'attenuated' refers to procedures that weaken an agent of disease (a pathogen).
An attenuated virus is a weakened, less vigorous virus. A vaccine against a viral disease can be made from an attenuated, less virulent strain of the virus, a virus capable of stimulating an immune response and creating immunity but not causing illness.
Once the H1N1 flu virus is attenuated, it has been treated with chemicals in such a way that it can not reproduce/replicate. In the lab the flu virus is now damaged genetically. At this point it's less able to actually cause an infection of the flu.
This is what is used to make the vaccination or shot. On the other hand, the flu mist that's squirted up a child's nose is a weakened virus. But the virus is still alive in the nasal spray form, and the child can shed that virus to others for a specified number of days.
When you're talking about the swine flu shot, not the nasal mist, the vaccine is put into a carrier. This carrier is the liquid that's in the vaccine bottle. It's a solution that carries the attenuated virus. It's this liquid that gets injected into each person getting a flu shot.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides package insert information for all four formulations of the H1N1 vaccine. The adults-only vaccine made by CSL Limited, the vaccine made by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, which is approved for ages 4 and up, the vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur, Inc., which is approved for infants ages 6 months and up, and the intranasal vaccine, approved for toddlers age 2 and up, were all approved in September, 2009.
What's happened now is a lot of misinformation as to what's actually in the vaccine to preserve it. The misinformation could be based on the last batch of swine flu vaccine produced back in 1976. More than 33 years ago, a flurry of people receiving the swine flu shot back then came down with Guillain-Barr. That's the paralyzing and/or neurological disease based on a swine flu epidemic that never materialized. Millions of people took the vaccine in 1976. Eventually production of that vaccine was halted.
Guillain-Barr is an auto-immune neurological disorder. It's rare, and it most often happens after a person has a viral illness such as mononeucleosis, the flu, or even a cold. Some people get a rare reaction to any type of flu vaccine by having their immune system turn in on itself and affect them neurologically. Eventually most of the people recovered.
Some scientists thought vaccines might be associated with developing mycobacteria-caused illnesses. But mycobacteria diseases are found in raw or undercooked chicken. Back in 1976, few people realized that eggs also could carry mycobacteria.
All safety and dosage information used for the current H1N1 vaccine package insert is based on historical information about the seasonal influenza vaccine. Among other ingredients, different formulations of the swine flu vaccine contain cancer-causing agents, mercury, and MSG.
Most single-dose formulations of the H1N1 vaccine are mercury-free, but the single-dose vials produced by Novartis do contain trace amounts of thimerosal. Most of the thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, is removed by a purification process, but small amounts remain after processing.
Compare today's flu vaccines to the innoculations given in 1976. When scientists look back to 1976, they surmise that perhaps it was mycobacteria in eggs that might have caused the neurological diseases associated with flu vaccines the way they were made back then. It's different now.
Scientists know about mycobacteria growing in eggs. The way vaccines are made have changed. Today, the new flu vaccines don't even contain the entire swine flu virus anymore. They contain genetic 'snippets,' in genetics called SNPs. What's a snippet?
A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, or SNP (pronounced "snip"), is a small genetic change, or variation, that can occur within a person's DNA sequence. The genetic code is specified by the four nucleotide "letters" A (adenine), C (cytosine), T (thymine), and G (guanine). SNP variation occurs when a single nucleotide, such as an A, replaces one of the other three nucleotide letters—C, G, or T. (A helpful book to browse is, How to Interpret Family History & Ancestry DNA Test Results for Beginners.)
What's in today's H1N1 flu vaccine are more like the protein coats of the virus, rather than the attenuated virus whole by itself. If the whole virus isn't used today, there's less a chance of catching anything or having your immune system turn in on itself thinking it has to fight a foreign object that violently. It's a revving up of your immune response, but not so huge a response by your system.
Instead, using just the protein coats of the H1N1 flu virus, your body responds to the protein coat rather than the whole virus. Flu vaccine for H1N1 also goes through a purification process that also eliminates mycobacteria from the eggs in which the flu virus grows.
This new vaccine is safer than the vaccines of 33 years ago. But there are still going to be individuals that respond to the vaccine with some syndrome. That's why the manufacturers and scientists of the novel flu vaccine have contacted neurologists to watch for neurological adverse reactions anyway. Just read the news of each case of rare neurological responses. They're in the news because they're rare. Most people, millions, don't respond severely.
On the other hand, there are still going to be people who get neurologically sick from any vaccinations. Just research how many soldiers joining the military services respond in different ways to their vaccinations.
The solution to this problem is to weigh the benefits against the risks, just as it is with any form of medication. If you get the flu, you don't know whether your lungs will react with a fatality or whether it will be mild.
That's up to how your body responds to the disease. Flu is a serious disease. You may have a mild case, but if an older person catches it from standing next to you in a check-out line or riding in a bus, there's a 20 percent fatality rate for swine flu in when older people catch it.
Pregnant women also have a lowered immune system and need protection against the flu. You'll have to decide whether for your body's response getting the flu or getting the vaccine is going to be your choice. A third way is to wear a protective mask approved for flu protection and to quarantine yourself for the season.
For most people, the shot is safer than the disease, unless you respond to flu shots in general or any vaccination neurologically. What's also in some of the flu shots are preservatives such as thimerosol and perhaps formaldehyde.
You can ask for a flu shot without mercury/thimerosol and without formaldehyde. Some people may be directed to the pediatrics dept. of their HMO to get the shot without the thimerosol (mercury) in it. That's why you're often asked to fill out a form before you get a flu shot checking the box whether you're allergic to the preservative (thimerosol) a type of mercury.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the novel H1N1 influenza vaccine is made with the same ingredients, dose and manufacturing process as the seasonal influenza vaccine given to 100 million Americans each year.
As the season progresses, different influenza viruses may circulate and updated national information on circulating influenza viruses is available in the FluView U.S. Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report. As with any vaccine grown in eggs, people allergic to eggs or egg products shouldn't get this vaccine, according to the FDA.
A study of H1N1 swine flu in Mexico finds that while babies and people under the age of 40 are most likely to get sick, elderly people have the highest death rates. See the article, Older People at Greater Risk of Swine Flu Death.
Common adverse reactions include pain, redness and swelling at the injection site. Less common side effects may include irritability, loss of appetite and drowsiness. See the article, Another Swine Flu Vaccine Approved for Children. More than 50 million people in China are getting immunized daily against H1N1 flu. See the article, 1.5M per day getting swine flu vaccine in China.
When people cry toxins in flu vaccines, what are they referring to? See the article, Dangerous Chemicals in Swine Flu Vaccinations - MSG and Mercury in H1N1 Vaccine, published in Health and Fitness: Medicine. According to that article, current swine flu (H1N1) vaccine may contain monosodium glutamate (MSG) and mercury, depending on the manufacturer and the formulation.
Consumers should also be aware that the intranasal (inhaled) swine flu vaccine contains pork products, which may be a concern for some due to religion or other personal beliefs. All you have to do is look at the insert brochure in the box the vaccine comes in, which you can read in your doctor's office. The little flyer inside the box or package of vaccines given to doctors have the ingredients printed on it. 
Your doctor can tell you what's in the specific vaccine that your doctor has in that particular medical office.   the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. According to the Oct. 7, 2009 Associated Press, Health Day News article, "Sebelius Urges Americans to Get Swine Flu Vaccine," only four of 39,000 Chinese who have received the H1N1 vaccine at that particular date experienced minor side effects such as headache or muscle cramps, and these effects are to be expected.  
Also see the Flu Myth site for statistics on the flu, informational material on vaccines, and related topics about the flu and its complications demystified. Another helpful site is: California immunizations exemptions.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides package insert information for all four formulations of the H1N1 vaccine. The adults-only vaccine made by CSL Limited, the vaccine made by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, which is approved for ages 4 and up, the vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur, Inc., which is approved for infants ages 6 months and up, and the intranasal vaccine, approved for toddlers age 2 and up, were all approved in September, 2009. Below are some additional informational resources you may also find helpful.
Resources 
H1N1 flu vaccine education
Bloomberg News - flu vaccine information
Live intranasal flu vaccine information and education
Special education-childhood vaccinations
Swine flu education
Swine flu ingredients
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