Flu shot...do you get one?

[NHdisneylover]

I have to or my work will fire me. The only people who don’t have to get it are those that are allergic and they have to wear a mask for 6 months out of the year. They don’t even allow a religious exemption anymore and it is a religious hospital.

Even with the shot I got the flu a few years back. Worse 2 weeks of my life. I could barely walk across the hall to go to the bathroom without feeling like I was going to pass out. I never want to go through that again so I really hope they do a better job picking the strain from now on.

I'm glad you're required. I'm surprised by how many medical workers and teachers/daycare workers are on this thread and do not get them. Seems to me all those should be required

 

[John VN]

" Flu shot...do you get one? "

First time ever right before our cruise last month along with pneumonia shot.

 

[MillauFr]

I wonder if Bre Payton's death will cause anyone to reconsider. I hope it does. The woman was only 26 and in good health. I understand she was an anti vaxxer and didn't get the flu shot.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/br...evision-guest-dies-at-26-after-sudden-illness

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Looks like she put herself in the running for a Darwin Award.

 

[Christine]

Looks like she put herself in the running for a Darwin Award.

Why do you say that? You can die from the flu with or without the vaccine. She had meningitis which no doubt was what did her in so quickly.

 

[MillauFr]

You can die from the flu with or without the vaccine.

Technically true. Just like you can get killed from getting struck by lighting sitting inside of your own house. However, standing on the tallest hill around with a large metal rod pointing up at the sky does slightly increase your chances of getting killed.

 

[Sweetpancake]

No and I probably should have gotten one. I cough the flu the first week of December a week before we went on holidays. I was SO sick. I did take sambucol which seemed to help.

 

[Christine]

Technically true. Just like you can get killed from getting struck by lighting sitting inside of your own house. However, standing on the tallest hill around with a large metal rod pointing up at the sky does slightly increase your chances of getting killed.

Just not sure how not wanting to get the flu shot makes her a candidate for the Darwin awards. I don't want to get all up in arms about the flu shot, but it's efficacy is not like the efficacy of, say, a tetanus, polio, or measles vaccine. People seem to get sick and/or die with or without this particular vaccine. Now, if she'd been against the tetanus vaccine but lived her life roaming barefoot on farm, I'd say that would classify as a Darwin award. Right now I know several folks with the Type A flu, they are mixture of vaxxed and unvaxxed and not one is seeming to fare better than the other.

 

[katie01]

Just not sure how not wanting to get the flu shot makes her a candidate for the Darwin awards. I don't want to get all up in arms about the flu shot, but it's efficacy is not like the efficacy of, say, a tetanus, polio, or measles vaccine. People seem to get sick and/or die with or without this particular vaccine. Now, if she'd been against the tetanus vaccine but lived her life roaming barefoot on farm, I'd say that would classify as a Darwin award. Right now I know several folks with the Type A flu, they are mixture of vaxxed and unvaxxed and not one is seeming to fare better than the other.

I completely agree. Last year’s flu vaccine was only 25% effective. Two years in a row when I received the influenza vaccine, I had a terrible case of influenza months later that turned to pneumonia both times. Prior to that I’d only had influenza once in my life despite not having the vaccine. I vaccinate myself and my children for everything the doctor recommends, but I am just not 100% sold on flu vaccine after personal experience. Add the fact that my friend’s child was severely injured by flu vaccine (she is no longer allowed to receive it) that I really have to weigh the risks vs benefits on that one, since it has never seemed to prevent flu for me. I just think it’s unfair to blame someone for their death by an illness that kills both the vaccinated and unvaccinated at a much higher rate than the example of of lightening strike killing someone indoors

 

[mousefan73]

Just loving the posts. It actually makes me laugh to see how people can be so judgemental for those of us that do not get flu shots. Basically accusing us of potential manslaughter for the potential case that we might spread the flu or the Darwin award if we die getting it.

We, at least I am, are actually very smart and informed people who choose not to get the flu shot. A good friend of mine is actually the lead pharmacist for a city Hospital. He is not required to get the shot ( which does surprise me ) and he chooses not to get the shot. One year he got sick after getting the shot and since then, the statistically speaking, the shot does not really make that much of a difference. And he really does know which strains are active in which season and for which strains the shots are good for that year. He says One should not view the flu shot as a vitamin that will over the years build your immune, it does not. He does say though that if he were a physician that had every day direct contact with sick people he would then get the shot.

 

[MillauFr]

Just not sure how not wanting to get the flu shot makes her a candidate for the Darwin awards. I don't want to get all up in arms about the flu shot, but it's efficacy is not like the efficacy of, say, a tetanus, polio, or measles vaccine. People seem to get sick and/or die with or without this particular vaccine. Now, if she'd been against the tetanus vaccine but lived her life roaming barefoot on farm, I'd say that would classify as a Darwin award. Right now I know several folks with the Type A flu, they are mixture of vaxxed and unvaxxed and not one is seeming to fare better than the other.

I don't believe it makes her a candidate for a Darwin award nor would I ever say that.

I also know of many people who were wearing seat belts that got into car accidents that were killed anyway. I also know of several that weren't wearing seat belts that survived. By your logic we shouldn't wear seat belts. I mean since they are not 100% effective they are useless. Correct?

 

[MillauFr]

I completely agree. Last year’s flu vaccine was only 25% effective.

Even if that is true isn't it a no brainer to get the vaccine?

 

[katie01]

Even if that is true isn't it a no brainer to get the vaccine?

Not if you have a severe reaction to it. Also, no drug is 100% free of side effects, and neither is any vaccine. So if you are talking about something with low efficacy, some people may not want to take the risk. For instance, the risk of liver damage with ibuprofen is low, but possible. If it’s effective in curing my headache, I’ll take the risk of liver damage. If it’s never helped me at all, I won’t bother. Maybe some people feel the same way about a flu shot? If, like me, the only times they have ever been diagnosed with influenza is during years they’ve had the flu vaccine, but every time they have gone without the vaccine they’ve not contracted flu, maybe for them the risk of vaccine injury, however small, just isn’t worth getting a vaccine that has never personally helped them.

I do get what you are saying. Generally, it’s best to get the flu vaccine if it has even a small chance of helping. But I think we also need to be sensitive to the fact that vaccine injury is real, and some people are even forbidden by their doctor from receiving certain vaccines. The whole idea of “Darwin awards” in general just makes me cringe. What is that saying, that “stupid people” deserve to die? Not everyone is born with a high IQ. And all of us, no matter how intelligent we are, have made bad decisions from time to time and have just been fortunate to survive it. Others make decisions that may be different from others, but they feel in their gut or based on research are right for them. I don’t think any of those people deserve to die. Why can’t we just be kind and assume most people are at least trying to do what they think is best for themselves and others? Maybe someone who is not in favor of the flu vaccine this year will decide next year that it’s righr for them. Or maybe someone who is adamantly pro flu vaccine this year will get GBS and decide or be told they can never get it again.

 

[Hrhpd]

Just loving the posts. It actually makes me laugh to see how people can be so judgemental for those of us that do not get flu shots. Basically accusing us of potential manslaughter for the potential case that we might spread the flu or the Darwin award if we die getting it.

We, at least I am, are actually very smart and informed people who choose not to get the flu shot. A good friend of mine is actually the lead pharmacist for a city Hospital. He is not required to get the shot ( which does surprise me ) and he chooses not to get the shot. One year he got sick after getting the shot and since then, the statistically speaking, the shot does not really make that much of a difference. And he really does know which strains are active in which season and for which strains the shots are good for that year. He says One should not view the flu shot as a vitamin that will over the years build your immune, it does not. He does say though that if he were a physician that had every day direct contact with sick people he would then get the shot.

Not so much the flu shot as the efficacy is not that great and you would not be able to determine who the person spreading the flu was. but I do 100% support criminal charges including manslaughter for other vaccines where the efficacy is proven. If one chooses not to vaccinate and their child passes on measles, polio, or any other diseases that are on the upswing because of antivaxxers, and someone else's child dies due to exposure, I 100% support criminal charges against the parents that refuse to vaccinate with tried and true vaccines. Unless, of course, the child cannot be vaccinated due to underlying disease.

I do think there should be more education out there on what the flu actually is. I cannot believe the number of people that get the flu shot and then get a stomach virus and claim, see, the flu shot didn't work because I got the flu. Flu is respiratory. Or people get a bad cold or virus and also claim they got the flu. Yet they were never swabbed and determined that they had the flu.

The misinformation out there about the flu often gives the vaccine a bad rap.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Not so much the flu shot as the efficacy is not that great and you would not be able to determine the true cause of a death, but I 100% support criminal charges including manslaughter for other vaccines where the efficacy is proven. If one chooses not to vaccinate and their child passes on measles, polio, or any other diseases that are on the upswing because of antivaxxers, and someone else's child dies due to exposure, I 100% support criminal charges against the parents that refuse to vaccinate with tried and true vaccines. Unless, of course, the child cannot be vaccinated due to underlying disease.

Well if you vaccinate then you don’t have to worry. I believe in choice. Nobody gets to decide what you put in your body. That is medical experimentation when they take away the choice. Where there is risk there must be choice and every vaccine carries risk. There must be informed consent. I don’t care what anyone chooses.

 

[Hrhpd]

Well if you vaccinate then you don’t have to worry. I believe in choice. Nobody gets to decide what you put in your body. That is medical experimentation when they take away the choice. Where there is risk there must be choice and every vaccine carries risk. There must be informed consent. I don’t care what anyone chooses.

If a disease has been eradicated for decades, it is no longer medical experimentation. It is fact. If someone chooses to ignore the facts and exposes a vulnerable child that cannot yet be vaccinated, they should face the consequences of their "choice."

Glad to hear you are pro-choice. I agree wholeheartedly people should have choice for any decision regarding their bodies. These decisions should be made by the individual with their doctors and never by the government. People should never be forbidden to make the best decision for their bodies.

To bring it back to the topic of this thread, if a person chooses not to get the flu shot and exposes someone and creates significant harm to another person, they should face consequences of their choice if:

1. It can be proven that the unvaccinated person was the indeed person to pass on the flu to the harmed or deceased person and
2. That strain of flu was covered in the vaccine. That if they had received the vaccine they would not have passed on that particular strain.

Choice is a must, but should never be free from consequences. If someone makes the choice to not vaccinate their healthy child against diseases previously eradicated, and their choice kills a vulnerable person, they should face the consequences of that choice.

 

[Katie Dawn]

And he really does know which strains are active in which season and for which strains the shots are good for that year.

Your pharmacist friend knows which flu strains are going to be the predominant strains for that flu season before that flu season starts? Because people are supposed to get vaccinated before the flu season even begins. No one truly knows for sure which flu strains will be dominant until lots of people get the flu.

 

[RangerPooh]

Yes, every year.

 

[MillauFr]

The whole idea of “Darwin awards” in general just makes me cringe. What is that saying, that “stupid people” deserve to die? Not everyone is born with a high IQ.

I agree with you. The Darwin award comment was completely outrageous and uncalled for.

It s interesting that some of the highest concentrations of unvaccinated groups are in communities of well educated people. Marin County has been hit again by another outbreak of Whooping Cough. Directly attributed to its high concentration of unvaccinated children.

 

[Hrhpd]

Your pharmacist friend knows which flu strains are going to be the predominant strains for that flu season before that flu season starts? Because people are supposed to get vaccinated before the flu season begins, and no one knows for sure which flu strains will be dominant until there's lots more of data coming in on which strains they're seeing.

Exactly. If this person has that kind of ability to foresee the future about the flu when medical experts can only make educated guesses what strains will be predominant the following year, the CDC would be clamoring to hire this person with this unique skill.