Pozzers Told To Get Swine Flu Vaccine

The San Francisco Department of Public Health is advising that HIV-positive folks get the swine flu vaccine when it becomes widely available later this fall.

San Francisco health officials stress there is no evidence to suggest that people living with HIV are any more susceptible to the swine flu than they would be for the seasonal flu. "They should think of it as the same as the seasonal flu. Whatever their reaction would be for the seasonal flu should be their reaction for H1N1," said Dr. Susan Fernyak, the health department's director of communicable disease control and prevention. "If they don't care about the seasonal flu, they shouldn't be up in arms about swine flu." Health officials have long advised HIV-positive people to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu each year, and that is still the case this year. Each year 6,000 Californians die due to influenza. "It is still a serious disease in California and people should get immunized for seasonal flu," said Amy Pine, director of the health department's communicable disease prevention unit. "Everyone should get [vaccinated], including people with weakened immune systems."

Poz internet forums lit up with worried postings last week at the news that an HIV-positive Castro bar owner had died of the swine flu, but SF city officials stress that that the average pozzer doing well on his meds is not at greater risk.