Get your flu shot

About that time folks. Go get your flu shots. 

• But it is a scam!
  • Yeah, big pharma is horrible. Oh, but your insurance probably covers it!
• My insurance doesn't cover it
  • Fine, go to Costco. $15. Or Walmart, $25
• It gave me the flu
  • No it didn't. You may have had an adverse reaction to the shot (tell them if you're allergic to eggs), but you didn't get the flu
• No, really, it gave me the flu!
  • No, it didn't. You may have gotten "the flu", but "the flu" and "flu-like symptoms" are not influenza. 
  • No, it didn't. You may have gotten influenza, but it was a different strain and the flu shot had no impact on you getting that strain or not getting it.
  • No, it didn't. You may have gotten the strain that you were vaccinated for, but it takes 2 weeks for the vaccine to provide full immunity. So if you did indeed get the flu strain that you were vaccinated for, it means you were exposed right before or after you were vaccinated. 
• I'm not getting it because it doesn't work, obviously! It is only 25% effective!
  • This argument is like saying you're not going to wear seatbelts because 95% of fatalities in car wrecks were wearing seatbelts. Even if you do get the flu, it wasn't the strand that you're vaccinated for (or you were getting it anyways because the vaccine didn't have enough time to provide immunity), and typically it still reduces hospitalizations for people that do get the flu
• I've never had the flu
  • But you might have. About 20% (I need to confirm this number, working off of memory) of people carrying the virus exhibit no symptoms, but can pass it on to people that end up with symptoms and then could end up dead. (Seriously, remember the Spanish Flu? Kinda a big deal back in 1918)
• I have Guillain-Barre Syndrome
  • You win! You're the one that shouldn't get it. Seriously, if you have GBS don't get the flu shot. 

Seriously folks, go get your flu shot. 

Oh, and if anyone mentions how vaccines cause autism, go do humanity and society a favor and isolate yourself from all other humans.  

I should get it for once.

After having heart issues several years ago that were virus related (long story) The doc told me I should get every vaccine anyone ever offered me, just in case. lol.  Already signed up for the flu shot this year at work. I've done it every year since the heart issue and will continue to do so.

I would, if I have ever had the flu.

I'm a responsible sick person.  I sequester myself.

Let's see, I'm 45.  I got the flu shot one year and didn't get the flu.  The other 44 years I did not get the shot and also didn't get the flu.

I'm not an anti-vaxxer by any stretch, I just don't take drugs I don't need to.  I don't keep on a steady diet of Tylenol to prevent headaches either.

Recent conversation with my doctor:

Doc: did you get your flu shot?

me: no

Doc: you want one?

me: should I get it?

Doc: when was the last time you had the flu?

me: in a former life maybe

Doc: *looks at my chart and sees I'm healthy* Don't get the shot.

Before this gets ugly, I have to say that I bet most people don't even know what the flu is, nor have they ever had it.

The flu can be devastating and the last time you thought that's what you had, it was probably a cold.

That's all I got

I always get my flu shot.

More-so now that my kid is in kindergarten and I don't feel like dying.

Suprf1y said:

Before this gets ugly, I have to say that I bet most people don't even know what the flu is, nor have they ever had it.

The flu can be devastating and the last time you thought that's what you had, it was probably a cold.

That's all I got

Quoting this so that it can be seen again. It is exactly correct. 

I already got mine.  If you’ve ever had the real flu, not the man flu, you still get the vaccine.  The two times I didn’t get the shot, I got the flu.  Tamiflu helped a lot.  Being on immune suppressants, IIn not taking a chance.  

Probably good to emphasize that even typically healthy people should get the flu shot to help protect those that can't get it. I used to pass every year but then I started dating a girl whose nephew has a heart condition that prevents him from being able to get the flu shot. That same condition also means the flu is much more likely to kill him than others. I get the shot now. 

I've had the flu when I was in my 20s.

I've gotten a flu shot every year since then.

Curtis said:

I would, if I have ever had the flu.

Let's see, I'm 45.  I got the flu shot one year and didn't get the flu.  The other 44 years I did not get the shot and also didn't get the flu.

This is not solid logic, unfortunately. I've never had my life saved by a seatbelt either but I still wear them.

mtn said:

About that time folks. Go get your flu shots. 

• But it is a scam!
  • Yeah, big pharma is horrible. Oh, but your insurance probably covers it!
• My insurance doesn't cover it
  • Fine, go to Costco. $15. Or Walmart, $25
• It gave me the flu
  • No it didn't. You may have had an adverse reaction to the shot (tell them if you're allergic to eggs), but you didn't get the flu
• No, really, it gave me the flu!
  • No, it didn't. You may have gotten "the flu", but "the flu" and "flu-like symptoms" are not influenza. 
  • No, it didn't. You may have gotten influenza, but it was a different strain and the flu shot had no impact on you getting that strain or not getting it.
  • No, it didn't. You may have gotten the strain that you were vaccinated for, but it takes 2 weeks for the vaccine to provide full immunity. So if you did indeed get the flu strain that you were vaccinated for, it means you were exposed right before or after you were vaccinated. 
• I'm not getting it because it doesn't work, obviously! It is only 25% effective!
  • This argument is like saying you're not going to wear seatbelts because 95% of fatalities in car wrecks were wearing seatbelts. Even if you do get the flu, it wasn't the strand that you're vaccinated for (or you were getting it anyways because the vaccine didn't have enough time to provide immunity), and typically it still reduces hospitalizations for people that do get the flu
• I've never had the flu
  • But you might have. About 20% (I need to confirm this number, working off of memory) of people carrying the virus exhibit no symptoms, but can pass it on to people that end up with symptoms and then could end up dead. (Seriously, remember the Spanish Flu? Kinda a big deal back in 1918)
• I have Guillain-Barre Syndrome
  • You win! You're the one that shouldn't get it. Seriously, if you have GBS don't get the flu shot. 

 

Seriously folks, go get your flu shot. 

 

Oh, and if anyone mentions how vaccines cause autism, go do humanity and society a favor and isolate yourself from all other humans.  

I’m gonna need to see some credentials before I proceed with my beration. 

I think I might actually start getting it this year. My girlfriend was diagnosed with RA last year. This February, I came home with a nasty cold, which she eventually caught. Because of the immuno-suppresing drugs you take when you have RA accelerate things.

She went from cold Friday evening, to sleeping all day Sat/Sun, to almost being hospitalized with pneumonia on Thursday......if the 2nd round of anti-biotic shots hadn't worked on Thursday, her doctor told her she was admitting her to the hospital the next day. But was trying everything possible to avoid that. 

As obviously, you don't want to send someone to the hospital with pneumonia, who already takes immuno-suppressing drugs. 

Haven't gotten a flu shot since I left the Navy where they were mandatory. 10 years and no flu. Before that it was 3 days a year of being sick with the so-called flu like symptoms. Even if I get the flu this year, I'll take my odds at getting once every 11 years over 3 days of super suckiness every year.

My wife and son get one every year and they also don't get the flu, but they also don't get knocked on the their butts from the shot like I do. No way would I willingly have that injected in me unless I somehow changed to be a person who likes to feel feverish and have bodily aches and an arm that feels like it was run over by a truck for several days every year.

I hope everyone else gets their flu shots though, so less people have it and less chance that I get it.

I have no medical credentials, I just read medical journals to read peer reviewed studies. Also, I'd be shocked if everything I said wasn't reflected on the CDC webpage. 

T.J. said:

Haven't gotten a flu shot since I left the Navy where they were mandatory. 10 years and no flu. Before that it was 3 days a year of being sick with the so-called flu like symptoms. Even if I get the flu this year, I'll take my odds at getting once every 11 years over 3 days of super suckiness every year.

My wife and son get one every year and they also don't get the flu, but they also don't get knocked on the their butts from the shot like I do. No way would I willingly have that injected in me unless I somehow changed to be a person who likes to feel feverish and have bodily aches and an arm that feels like it was run over by a truck for several days every year.

I hope everyone else gets their flu shots though, so less people have it and less chance that I get it.

Out of curiosity, do you have an egg allergy?

In reply to mtn :

Last year was the first year I didn’t get the flu Yes I got my flu shot!!

Two years ago I got pneumonia 5 times that winter.  I’d stop in after work and the doc would confirm, yep it’s pneumonia, focused this time on the left( or Right ) lung.  Once  I got lucky and had double pneumonia!  

Yes! I’ll get the flu shot and both pneumonia shots!  

In reply to mtn :

Oh good, you brought up the CDC. Just know, the organizations around you are not always out for your benefit. 

In reply to _ :

dude.. can you let me in to your secret facebook group where they sell the real essential oils.. 

_ said:

In reply to mtn :

Oh good, you brought up the CDC. Just know, the organizations around you are not always out for your benefit. 

OK, go on then. Out with it.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Hahaha. We’ve moved on from essential nanobots, now it’s all about the super powders that contain things that are overhyped buzz words. 

Oh- and the last place to conduct secret meetings is FB. Talk about government invasion of privacy....

Verifyable facts: Flu shots are a 4  BILLION dollar a year industry in the US alone, selling untested injections, usually produced in China (the folks that still get caught putting lead paint on kids toys), that are 50% effective due to being a 100% wild ass guess.  Flu virus' mutate rapidly and every time you get the shot, your body has less natural ability to defend itself in the event your Chinese maybe shot is wrong.  The are millions of strains of flu virus and the quadrivalent version supposedly protects against 4 of them.

Here we go..

ibtl

Justjim75 said:

 selling untested injections

They've all been FDA approved. They're most certainly not untested.

Justjim75 said:

usually produced in China 

Source? I've found some made in the USA, some in Canada, some in Belgium, some in the UK... none of the widely distributed ones have I seen made in China, and based on the difficulties of QA/QC, many pharmaceutical companies won't manufacture in China unless it is necessary (i.e. with Heparin). 

Justjim75 said:

 (the folks that still get caught putting lead paint on kids toys

We're comparing an injectable drug to toys? Don't we think that there are more stringent QC standards with drugs?  

Justjim75 said:

that are 50% effective due to being a 100% wild ass guess.  Flu virus' mutate rapidly and every time you get the shot, your body has less natural ability to defend itself in the event your Chinese maybe shot is wrong.  The are millions of strains of flu virus and the quadrivalent version supposedly protects against 4 of them.

We're lucky if they're 50% effective, but they certainly aren't a 100% wild guess. And yes, they mutate rapidly, but your body does not have less natural ability to defend itself. That is just a gross misunderstanding of how vaccines and the immune system work.