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01 November 2005
Are you getting the flu shot?→[More:]Why or why not? My husband, kid and I have never gotten one, but I'm considering doing it this year. What's your take on the whole flu shot thing?
Yes. The shots are safe, and flu is really sucky. It isn't a cold, it's much worse. Also, and this is the real reason, I work with people with compromised immune systems which makes me both more likely to be exposed and more likely to infect someone if I am exposed.
My doc always wants me to get one. Perhaps, he thinks I qualify as very elderly or already ill? I'm neither to my knowledge.
Actually, I think he thinks "hey this is New York, a major metropolitan area with people coughing and sneezing on you all the time on that darn L train." (Note: It is possible that the L train is not to be running on weekends for about 7 weeks in 2006).
Really, safetyfork - if that's true, I might find an article in an on-line newspaper and post it on MeFi.
I don't need no steenkin flu shot either - like gigawhat?, I think anything that doesn't kill me makes me stronger. I'm not scared to, though. Plus, I am dubious about the long-term effects to us both individually and collectively of getting shots against every single thing. Plus, it is almost summer, so why would I need a flu shot now?
I have never had the flu. I am not social enough to catch the flu. I like to stay locked up in my disease-free apartment and only go outside to go for solitary motorcycle rides.
Yup. I used to get killer flu every winter. Now I get flu shots. Once I had a reaction because I was already coming down the flu -- it was the shortest and mildest flu I ever had. I'm a believer. Goddamn plague-carrying college students!
I always get one; medical workers are recommended to do so.
Too late; I got the flu, and am told it's the one they're immunizing against this year. No jab for me. :(
Have been violently incredibly ill all week; I can't emphasize enough how ugly this is. I'm very healthy and don't have asthma. I needed supplemental oxygen for about 8 hours during the worst of the coughing/lungs filling up part. Everything hurts, I still can't talk or move around much without getting short of breath. I coughed so hard i chewed a hole in my tongue, but today is the first day that hurt is even noticable... and it's a fairly big hole.
People who have kids in daycare should consider getting their children the immunization, too.
reflecked, how do they tell if it's one they're immunizing against? Do they do some kind of DNA thingie if you go to the hospital with it, or can they tell from the symptoms that you have what it might be? Sorry to be so ignorant, but color me curious and dumb.
Some sort of Violent Death Monkey Flu already made the rounds amongst my roommates and acquaintances. It was pretty nasty, but I didn't really get it, despite pretty close exposure (my s.o. was pretty sick for a few days). I attribute my robust immune system to never ever getting shots for anything, and suffering as a kid. Suffering as a kid == strong healthy adult.
The world health organisations/research facilities put a great deal of time and effort into discriminating between the types of flu going around, and try to identify/predict the nasty of the season. I did get tested while i was so ill; that's a benefit of working in hospital.
Alleskar...There's flu, and there's THE flu. Don't confuse a run-of-the-mill viral flu with the nasty rotten possibly lethal variety of influenza that people who are at high risk are immunized against every year.
Most of the "colds" people get are some minor flu virus.
The last time I had the flu it knocked me off my feet for about a month. Actually this thread has made me think about it enough that I am almost certainly going to get the shot now.
Yes, I am. My workplace is offering them free of charge. Right now my health is such that I would be particularly harmed by flu, but even if I didn't I would get it. And if I had children, I would certainly get them shots.
Two years ago, I visited the hospital bed of my otherwise healthy, flu-infected brother-in-law. He is in his early 30s. Even if I hadn't read widely about it, that's all the experience I'll ever need to convince me that if you have the access to a flu shot, no matter your age, you should do it.
No. I agree that the flu is awful, but I also know that the supply of shots is limited and I'd rather someone truly at risk get it. I survived getting the measles at 21, I can survive influenza.
I got extremely sick a few times as a kid, a couple of times getting real influenza so bad it knocked me out for more than a month with pnumonia and everything.
Thereafter, I've never had to get a flu shot. The idea of willfully injecting a new, live virus into me every years gives me the heebs.
I've had some really bad flus come through my peer groups and when I got it it's usually pretty mild. So (when I'm gainfully employed somewhere) I save my sick days for mental health days and stay home and drink and play video game days.
So, what Cali says. There's people who need it more than I do. I also have all my organs, tonsils and appendix included.
I'm pretty hyper-aware of my body, especially as far as rhino virus and influenza virus stuff goes. When I get sick, I know I'm actually getting sick right at the beginning because it's just so uncommon. When I notice it, I go home and load up on garlic, vitamin C, B vitamins and zinc. (Thank you, Emergen-C!!) and stay hydrated and just rest. It's over before I know it.
I would probably get a flu shot if there was an actual pandemic occuring. I'd like to be reassured that there's preparations and safe-guards in place for a real pandemic, but I'm not holding my breath.
Oh man. More conflicting opinions. I'm certainly not anti-vaccination, but I always thought of the flu vaccine as a bit unnecessary. Nothing that compulsive handwashing can't do. Now I'm not quite sure.
Damn you and your rich variety of opinions and experiences, metachat!!!
I got my first one ever last week at the request of the family pediatrician since we have a newborn in the house. Then my sister-in-law, a nurse, tells me that getting vaccinated doesn't prevent you from carrying the flu and infecting others. So now I won't even know if I have it and shouldn't be holding the baby.
I am dubious about the long-term effects to us both individually and collectively of getting shots against every single thing.
Antibiotics are not the same as vaccines. An antibiotic is something that an organism can develop resistance to; a vaccine is essentially bred specifically for the virus in question, and viruses normally burn themselves out as a matter of course. These are opposite and non-analogous problems.
I also know that the supply of shots is limited and I'd rather someone truly at risk get it.
The priority requirement expired on October 24. The assumption now is that the people most at risk have either gotten a shot, or refused it. Supplies are nominal this year, unlike last year when there was a late surge by a virus that the vaccine they'd been breeding couldn't do much against. That's unusual. Most years, there's plenty to go around.
Stilicho, thanks for the information on flu shot availability and general sensible advice. I feel strongly enough about this to repeat what I previously posted: my brother-in-law, a father of two very young children, was hospitalized for days with flu despite being a young, healthy man in none of the traditional high-risk groups. If you and your family can get a shot, I strongly urge you to do so, jrossi. The pain and panic that resulted my brother-in-law's illness (in no small part because we were waiting for the shoe to drop regarding the unvaccinated kids) is something I'd like to see anyone avoid if they can.
Being someone with a chronic illness (diabetes) I'm supposed to have the shot every year. I haven't yet had one since diagnosed (Feb 2001). I just read this PDF and I think I'll get one this year.
In general, what stilcho said (the "cutoff" date thing is handled differently here).
Thank you, puddinghead; I've decided to live. :)
Yeah.. the shots always hurt; others have told me that this year's flavour carries a hefty wallop. It's always seemed to me that the amount of ouch and next-day malaise is proportional to the fugliness of the strain being inoculated against (this may be one of those anecdotal misinformation things).
Brave doctors and nurses getting owies to protect their patients .. who'd a thunk it?
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
