Everyone should get a flu shot

[JohnH_in_OKC]

Everyone should get their flu shots. From the CDC website: CDC estimates that from the 1976-1977 season to the 2006-2007 flu season, flu-associated deaths ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people (US deaths per flu season). From Wikipedia: The 1918 flu pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. It infected 500 million people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—three to five percent of the world's population—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.

I plan on getting my flu shot on Monday at the VA.

[mkjeeves]

I got one yesterday. I blame my wife.

[Teo9969]

I've never had a flu shot, and I'm still alive -^(':')^-

[kevinpate]

Sorry. Perhaps it was pure coincidence, but the one and only year I decided to go get a flu shot is the one and only year I ended up with a flu battle.

Perhaps it would have been worse sans that shot that year. But in the many, many years since that one bad experience, that has not been the case for me.

[PennyQuilts]

Wish I had gotten a "Cold" shot. . Suffering through my first one in years.

[RadicalModerate]

I got my flu shot the other day. I don't think I've ever had the REAL "flu"--even though I just started getting flu shots, yearly, about nine years ago. Amazingly, last year I didn't even get a real cold. However, correlation isn't causation. Or non-causation, as the case may be. =)

p.s.: (re: colds): Zicam really seems to work for me. At the first sign of a cold you start taking it. It's actually just zinc and ascorbic acid. But for some reason--probably psychosomatic--it works.

[PennyQuilts]

U

I got my flu shot the other day. I don't think I've ever had the REAL "flu"--even though I just started getting flu shots, yearly, about nine years ago. Amazingly, last year I didn't even get a real cold. However, correlation isn't causation. Or non-causation, as the case may be. =)

p.s.: (re: colds): Zicam really seems to work for me. At the first sign of a cold you start taking it. It's actually just zinc and ascorbic acid. But for some reason--probably psychosomatic--it works.

Thanks. I am already on the mend!

[mkjeeves]

My wife gets a shot every year. I get one about every two or three years when she badgers me into it. We happened to be at Walgreens together when they weren't busy and when she brought it up. Bonus this time, we have a new insurance carrier this year and it was covered 100%. (Thanks, Obama!)

I'm generally pretty healthy and don't worry about it too much, but the two most ill times I have had as an adult were both flu and both before I started getting shots.

[silvergrove]

I mentioned this in the other virus thread but here goes:

A little unrelated but if everyone have or can get the influenza vaccine, you should do so.

As Ebola and the flu have similar initial symptoms, it's best we not clog up the hospitals emergency rooms as the flu season kicks in. I'm sure tons of people will flood the hospitals during the Ebola scare when they just have the flu. Especially with the Ebola craze, why stress the hospital systems even more? Consider it your patriotic duty!

I just got my vaccine last week, I got the live attenuated influenza vaccine instead.

[Zuplar]

I don't plan on getting one and don't want one.

[RadicalModerate]

I don't plan on getting one and don't want one.

Does that mean "a cold" . . . "a flu shot" . . . or a case of intestinal flu due to cross contamination from undercooked chicken?

p.s. I was one of those little kids, mention on The X-Files, who innocently lined up for Polio Vaccines and, later, Polio Sugar Cubes back in the day. =)

[RadicalModerate]

My wife gets a shot every year. I get one about every two or three years when she badgers me into it. We happened to be at Walgreens together when they weren't busy and when she brought it up. Bonus this time, we have a new insurance carrier this year and it was covered 100%. (Thanks, Obama!)

I'm generally pretty healthy and don't worry about it too much, but the two most ill times I have had as an adult were both flu and both before I started getting shots.

Did you consider getting a rabies shot at the same time? Badgers are notorious for carrying rabies.
Obviously the anti-tentanus (lockjaw) shots I had a few times when I was a kid were effective.

[mkjeeves]

Did you consider getting a rabies shot at the same time? Badgers are notorious for carrying rabies.
Obviously the anti-tentanus (lockjaw) shots I had a few times when I was a kid were effective.

They did try to upsell me with a Tdap shot. (Yeah, I had to ask what that was too.) I'm current on tetanus though and have been most of my life, with periodic qualifying injuries instigating them.

[kevinpate]

Oddly enough, no one tends to suggest a shot intended to prevent lockjaw to me.
Not real sure how to take that.

[JohnH_in_OKC]

Does that mean "a cold" . . . "a flu shot" . . . or a case of intestinal flu due to cross contamination from undercooked chicken?

p.s. I was one of those little kids, mention on The X-Files, who innocently lined up for Polio Vaccines and, later, Polio Sugar Cubes back in the day. =)

I had a friend with polio & an uncle who had polio as a child. Be very thankful that the polio vaccine saved thousands of children (and adults) from lives being crippled and paralyzed. My friend was often bedridden & wore braces on both of her legs & my uncle had to use a cane to walk.

From Wikipedia: By 1910, much of the world experienced a dramatic increase in polio cases and epidemics became regular events, primarily in cities during the summer months. These epidemics—which left thousands of children and adults paralyzed—provided the impetus for a "Great Race" towards the development of a vaccine. Developed in the 1950s, polio vaccines have reduced the global number of polio cases per year from many hundreds of thousands to under a thousand today. Enhanced vaccination efforts led by Rotary International, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF should result in global eradication of the disease, although in 2013 there were reports by the World Health Organization of new cases in Syria.

[kelroy55]

Wish I had gotten a "Cold" shot. . Suffering through my first one in years.

Alka Seltzer Cold Plus has always worked well for me.

[kelroy55]

I had a friend with polio & an uncle who had polio as a child. Be very thankful that the polio vaccine saved thousands of children (and adults) from lives being crippled and paralyzed. My friend was often bedridden & wore braces on both of her legs & my uncle had to use a cane to walk.

My dad had Polio and had to wear a brace when he was younger and had a limp his whole life.

[PennyQuilts]

Polio is a bad deal ( Understatement). I was one of the lucky ones to be able to get the sugar cube fix. What a magnificent public health success story! Few of my contemporaries got polio, unlike the generations before. The few that did really struggled with the braces and notable limps. I never worried about my kids getting polio but my grandparents didn't have that sort of peace of mind. I wonder if modern day prosthetics are more helpful for people with polio.

[OKCisOK4me]

Sorry, not getting a flu shot but good luck to you.

[Mel]

I remember the sugar cube med. Of course at that age the only thing that mattered was getting that sugar cube. A one day sore arm muscle was all I got from my flu shot. I'm sure my Grandsons will test it's effect.

[betts]

GYou absolutely cannot get the flu from a flu shot because the virus isn't live. It's coincidence when people say they got the flu the same year they got the shot. Many viruses mimic the flu and the rapid flu test isn't that reliable, so you don't always know when you have it......or don't. The flu is particularly dangerous to the young and elderly, as well as anyone with lung disease. I get the shot every year and work directly with many, many kids who have the flu every winter and I haven't had the virus in years. The year all 3 of my kids got the flu I didn't catch it. Infectious disease doctors say if you're immunized and still get the flu, you will generally have a milder case of the disease than if you weren't immunized.

However, the nasal vaccine is not killed, only attenuated or weakened, and so it is theoretically possible to get the flu from it. That's not usually the case though.

[BBatesokc]

Been trying to get my Flu shot (as I 100% agree that everyone should get one - its a public safety issue in my mind) but the two places I've walked in to so far only had shots that covered 2 strains and not 4.

[MadMonk]

Got my flu shot today. I didn't even feel it, but my arm is getting slightly sore. I'll report back if I wake up dead or something.

[ctchandler]

GYou absolutely cannot get the flu from a flu shot because the virus isn't live. It's coincidence when people say they got the flu the same year they got the shot. Many viruses mimic the flu and the rapid flu test isn't that reliable, so you don't always know when you have it......or don't. The flu is particularly dangerous to the young and elderly, as well as anyone with lung disease. I get the shot every year and work directly with many, many kids who have the flu every winter and I haven't had the virus in years. The year all 3 of my kids got the flu I didn't catch it. Infectious disease doctors say if you're immunized and still get the flu, you will generally have a milder case of the disease than if you weren't immunized.

However, the nasal vaccine is not killed, only attenuated or weakened, and so it is theoretically possible to get the flu from it. That's not usually the case though.

Betts,
I suspect some of the older folks that say they got the flu did receive the live virus vaccination, but that hasn't been used since the 90's. And even then, it was a mild version. I have always tried to get a flu shot since my wife was a nurse, but one year I didn't, 1999 and neither did Dianna. I think I caught it from her and for almost two weeks, we spent most of the day in bed, praying for death but of course I had to get up once in a while to go outside and smoke. But, I was so sick that I couldn't inhale and on December 29th, 1999 I decided that since I had gone over a week without inhaling, I could quit, and I did! The one good thing the flu did for me.
C. T.

[PennyQuilts]

Cc

Betts,
I suspect some of the older folks that say they got the flu did receive the live virus vaccination, but that hasn't been used since the 90's. And even then, it was a mild version. I have always tried to get a flu shot since my wife was a nurse, but one year I didn't, 1999 and neither did Dianna. I think I caught it from her and for almost two weeks, we spent most of the day in bed, praying for death but of course I had to get up once in a while to go outside and smoke. But, I was so sick that I couldn't inhale and on December 29th, 1999 I decided that since I had gone over a week without inhaling, I could quit, and I did! The one good thing the flu did for me.
C. T.

That entire post was a delight to read. You told the story so well.