Swine Flu: Your Questions Answered on 'Good Morning America'

Oct. 9, 2009— -- With the arrival of the swine flu vaccine this week has come a fresh round of worries about the virus and how to prevent it.

"Good Morning America" took a look Thursday inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the men and women charged with slowing the spread of the flu and preventing as many deaths as possible.

Viewer response was so overwhelming that ABC News' chief medical editor Dr. Tim Johnson and senior health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser took time to answer several questions that came into "Good Morning America."

Q: A CDC report showed that 25 percent of patients who were hospitalized for swine flu went into intensive care and 45 percent of those were 18 years old or younger. What do those numbers mean?

A: "What it says is we really need to take this seriously," Besser said. "Pandemic hits children very hard."

Johnson said the reason older people don't seem to be as susceptible to the H1N1 virus is that previous viral disease has likely provided them with some natural immunity.

Q: How many children have been tested for swine flu?

A: Besser said the good news about all the children who have been tested is that previous flu vaccines have proved successful for the "tens of millions" of young patients who have received them.

When it comes to the swine flu, he said, "children under 10 need two doses."

Doctors: Vitamins Won't Give Same Protection as Vaccine

Q: My doctor is advising me to take supplements for vitamin D and vitamin C in lieu of the swine flu vaccine. Will that work?

A: "Both of those vitamins have a reputation for boosting the immune system ... but neither one of them should be substituted for the vaccine," Johnson said.

Q: If I've already had the swine flu, or if I have it now, should I get the H1N1 vaccine?

A: "If you didn't have specific testing [for swine flu], then you really need to get vaccinated," Besser said.

Q: Will you get the swine flu shot?

A: Johnson said that he will get the seasonal flu vaccine, but wait until everyone else gets his or her swine flu vaccine first. And Besser said he would get the swine flu vaccine, but only after his children do.

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