How Do You Feel About The Flu Shot?

TinaMLT

don't even get me started on vaccinations for babies and children. It gets my blood boiling. :devil:

You've never watched a child gasp for breath while trying to fight off whooping cough have you. You definately don't have a teenaged boy who has come down with mumps and is now sterile either. Because if you did you would be the one DEMANDING that every child be vaccinated against these killers. Measles kills, mumps kills, pertussis (whooping cough) kills. It isn't pretty and it isn't just those with a weak immune system that can catch these diseases.

We are very lucky to live in a era where we no longer lose our children to the "childhood" illnesses. Before the advent of vaccines 1 in 5 kids died of these diseases. In the developing world the stats are still the same because they don't have access to vaccination programs. Their kids still die of measles and rubella and malnutrition has only a small part in that.

I know I will never change your mind about vaccinating kids, but I work in a very advanced care pediatric hospital and we lose a few "normal" kids every year to whooping cough. Kids who by all means would have had a productive and happy life, if only their parents had had them vaccinated against it. I would love to have you ask them how the now feel about vaccines. It's amazing how much your attitude changes once you see these terrible illnesses first hand.

FairyMiss

don't even get me started on vaccinations for babies and children. It gets my blood boiling. :devil:

You've never watched a child gasp for breath while trying to fight off whooping cough have you. You definately don't have a teenaged boy who has come down with mumps and is now sterile either. Because if you did you would be the one DEMANDING that every child be vaccinated against these killers. Measles kills, mumps kills, pertussis (whooping cough) kills. It isn't pretty and it isn't just those with a weak immune system that can catch these diseases.

We are very lucky to live in a era where we no longer lose our children to the "childhood" illnesses. Before the advent of vaccines 1 in 5 kids died of these diseases. In the developing world the stats are still the same because they don't have access to vaccination programs. Their kids still die of measles and rubella and malnutrition has only a small part in that.

I know I will never change your mind about vaccinating kids, but I work in a very advanced care pediatric hospital and we lose a few "normal" kids every year to whooping cough. Kids who by all means would have had a productive and happy life, if only their parents had had them vaccinated against it. I would love to have you ask them how the now feel about vaccines. It's amazing how much your attitude changes once you see these terrible illnesses first hand.

i totaly agree, there was a post earlier , with a graphic from the cdc show how so many deadly and crippling (in the case of polio) have been practially eradicate do to childhood vaccinations. I am fortunate enough that i have never had to deal with some of these, the stories i heard from my mother about how hard the family had to work to keep my uncle alive, and not handicapped as a result of contracting polio

(btw this is coming from the mother of an autistic child , which the vaccines had absolutely nothing to do with)

hsnider29

I am sorry but this bull. I have worked in healthcare for 10 years and the people in hospital from flu complications have caught the flu outside of the hospital. I have never had a patient that caught the flu in the hospital.

As a nurse, I am not anti vaccine at all but they should not be mandatory. My son has gotten the flu ( yes the real flu) every year for the past 5 years and the year I decided to have him vaccinated, he still got the flu. I think the vaccine is great for people with medical problems or are immunocomprised, where getting the flu could potentially be life threatening. For your average healthy person, the flu is rarely deadly.

I have gotten the flu one year and it was the only year I chose to get vaccinated. I know that the vaccine did not make me sick but to me it was pointless to get it.

TinaMLT

I am sorry but this bull. I have worked in healthcare for 10 years and the people in hospital from flu complications have caught the flu outside of the hospital. I have never had a patient that caught the flu in the hospital.

As a nurse, I am not anti vaccine at all but they should not be mandatory. My son has gotten the flu ( yes the real flu) every year for the past 5 years and the year I decided to have him vaccinated, he still got the flu. I think the vaccine is great for people with medical problems or are immunocomprised, where getting the flu could potentially be life threatening. For your average healthy person, the flu is rarely deadly.

I have gotten the flu one year and it was the only year I chose to get vaccinated. I know that the vaccine did not make me sick but to me it was pointless to get it.

Then here's a good question for you:

Would you consider getting the flu shot after the WHO and the CDC announce that a highly virulent, very contagious flu is about to go pandemic? If so, what is the difference, every time you catch the flu you run the risk of all the serious complications including pneumonia, multi-organ system failure, and god forbid death.

You should know better than most that the vaccine only carries immunity for 3 kinds of influenza (the 3 most likely kinds that year) but it does not provide you with immunity to every flu virus out there. Your family has got to be the most unlucky family on the planet, to catch influenza so frequently.

And as a side not, we do not vaccinate health care workers so that they don't catch influenza while at work. We vaccinate them so that they don't make their patients sick with the virus. The vaccine prevents you from being a carrier.

leken04

Well I know everyone is different but I have never had the flu or the shot. I am 34 and I don't get the shot. Some people think I'm looney but I know people who never had it but got the shot and once they did they got the flu every year. Just my opinion

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agthorn

I wear gloves and never breathe or sneeze in a patient's face. I wash my hands 4 thousand times a day.
Why should I be FORCED to get a shot that makes MY BODY less able to fight off a virus on it's own?? I've been fighting off the flu for 30 years.

What is next, anyway? Forced birth control? Forced antibiotics JUST IN CASE I might be carrying staph? Come on, the patient's in my unit eat in a common dining room. If that bug is there, it is wildfire. Not to mention ALL of our patients are required to be screened for flu shots anyway. Make the PATIENTS take the flu shot, not me.

Why do you think a vaccine makes your body "less able to fight off a virus on its own"?

"Forced antibiotics" would do more harm than good en masse, by contributing to antibiotic resistance. Vaccines do not contribute to viral resistance. I'm not sure what "forced birth control" has anything to do with patient safety, as pregnancy is not contagious...

LilMissFoodie

Elderly? Small children? You better never let them step foot in a grocery store. Shopping cart handles are covered in e. coli. Handling money? Hate to tell you what's all over that.

To be fair, a lot of the very elderly or the very unwell don't actually spend a lot of time out mingling in public. I think this is exactly why it is a big deal. These patients wouldn't ordinarily be exposed to a lot of the stuff that young professionals would in all the places they go and the things that they do.

fteale

Baterical Pnuemonia is caused by mucus gathering in the lungs. Said mucus can be a side effect of a viral infection such as the flu. So yes the flu can cause you to get pnuemonia. As well as a range of other things that may not cause some to develop pnuemonia but can cause others to. Allergic reactions to things can cause pnuemonia as well. Her being allergic to things in the shot can cause said allergic reaction and cause her to develop pnuemonia.

Thank you. Both my mother and I got pneumonia last year in exactly this way.

JacksMom12

Better safe than sorry for me! I don't see how a 25 dollar, 5 minute inconvenience isn't worth it. I started getting the flu shot 2 years ago, and sure enough those have been the only 2 winters that I did not get the flu. Works for me.

rockerbabyy

Better safe than sorry for me! I don't see how a 25 dollar, 5 minute inconvenience isn't worth it. I started getting the flu shot 2 years ago, and sure enough those have been the only 2 winters that I did not get the flu. Works for me.

it isnt worth it for me because ive never gotten the flu anyway.

agthorn

Better safe than sorry for me! I don't see how a 25 dollar, 5 minute inconvenience isn't worth it. I started getting the flu shot 2 years ago, and sure enough those have been the only 2 winters that I did not get the flu. Works for me.

it isnt worth it for me because ive never gotten the flu anyway.

I've never been hit by a car while on my bike either, but I still wear my helmet.

rockerbabyy

I've never been hit by a car while on my bike either, but I still wear my helmet.

wearing a helmet is a little different from putting something INTO your body that isnt always necessary

alz6690

I myself am highly upset that everyone here is being forced to take a flu shot regardless of whether you want it or not. It's either take it or lose your job- I have never taken one and I don't want one! What are your thoughts about the flu shot?

I don't agree with you being forced to have one. But they do help you avoid some flus etc. Generally people are getting more pro them in an attempt to keep the working population in work over the winter months, fewer sick days.

Don't know if you're worried about them but they're pretty safe. The ones given in the UK have very few side effects however, cant be given to those who are allergic to eggs! Random I know but its to do with the proteins in the injection. Anyway, no matter where in the world you are you shouldn't have any major side effects, maybe you'll be a bit sniffly for a day or 2 and possibly you're arm will be a bit sore nothing too bad though.

Hope that helps!

FairyMiss

Better safe than sorry for me! I don't see how a 25 dollar, 5 minute inconvenience isn't worth it. I started getting the flu shot 2 years ago, and sure enough those have been the only 2 winters that I did not get the flu. Works for me.

it isnt worth it for me because ive never gotten the flu anyway.

no one even gets anything deadly ....................................til they do

rockerbabyy

Better safe than sorry for me! I don't see how a 25 dollar, 5 minute inconvenience isn't worth it. I started getting the flu shot 2 years ago, and sure enough those have been the only 2 winters that I did not get the flu. Works for me.

it isnt worth it for me because ive never gotten the flu anyway.

no one even gets anything deadly ....................................til they do

yep. but thats not going to change my mind. *shrug* not gonna get something i feel isnt necessary (FOR ME). if i end up dying from the flu some day, then thats my fault and my choice. my childrens dr doesnt believe my kids need a flu shot. i trust him. if my kids get the flu this year, maybe next year ill consider going against the drs recommendation. again. MY choice.

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fteale

I've never been hit by a car while on my bike either, but I still wear my helmet.

wearing a helmet is a little different from putting something INTO your body that isnt always necessary

How do you feel about TB vaccinations? Or Polio? Or Hepatitis, or whooping cough or smallpox?

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Sweet_Potato

My body responds poorly to flu shots-- it's worse than any flu I've ever had. I have a strong immune system, and I don't spend much time around children or the elderly, so I don't see the point of getting the shot and having to be home with flu-like symptoms for two weeks.

fteale

My body responds poorly to flu shots-- it's worse than any flu I've ever had. I have a strong immune system, and I don't spend much time around children or the elderly, so I don't see the point of getting the shot and having to be home with flu-like symptoms for two weeks.

Can I ask when you last had one? I used to react very badly, I was in bed for a week after having one when I was 15, but they are very different now. I had mine 3 weeks ago and didn't notice a thing.

Nerruse

I've gotten a flu shot for the past couple of years. I personally don't feel that I need one for myself but I do work at a retail pharmacy and my mother has RA, meaning she has a compromised immune system. So I get it for her and so I don't get sick from all the people who come in to get their flu meds. It helps that flu shots are free for employees.

agthorn

My body is perfectly capable of fighting flu on its own. It was made to do just that. Why put something foreign into it to do the work for it? I do not want my body fighting off a fake threat, I do not want my immune system fooled. If it isn't broken, don't fix it!

You don't understand how vaccines work then. They "teach" your immune system "this is something bad, please make antibodies against it so we will be ready to fight it if you see it again." Then, if you are exposed to the flu (or polio, or whooping cough, or measles, etc) those antibodies are ready to fight off the virus immediately instead of having to take the time to "learn" that it is bad and make antibodies against it - all the while you are sick.

It would be like, oh I don't know...a crazy maniac puts a gun to your head and says "solve this calculus problem or I'll shoot!" If you've already been TAUGHT calculus, you're going to be able to solve the problem right away instead of having to sit down with a calculus book and hope to learn it fast enough.

rockerbabyy

How do you feel about TB vaccinations? Or Polio? Or Hepatitis, or whooping cough or smallpox?

my kids got all their regular vaccinations on an alternate schedule. i have no problem with those. i do have mixed feelings about the chicken pox vaccine. first daughter got the all the shots, second daughter got chicken pox before the last one.
we are a healthy family - if any of us had compromised immune systems, we would all get a flu shot. we shouldnt be forced into it.

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hsnider29

Your family has got to be the most unlucky family on the planet, to catch influenza so frequently.

And as a side not, we do not vaccinate health care workers so that they don't catch influenza while at work. We vaccinate them so that they don't make their patients sick with the virus. The vaccine prevents you from being a carrier.

That was condescending. It is unlucky but my family certainly can't be the unluckiest on the planet. Vaccinate the patients because it should still be my choice.

fteale

It is the flu, people.

Seriously? Comparing it to Hepatitis and TB?
The flu has been contributing to death for a looooong time.
Only recently, with all the shots and vaccines, has it exploded into panic induced hysteria.
Think about it. Vaccines became more common, swine flu emerged.

Please tell me you are joking. Ever heard of Spanish Flu? Here you go.....

The 1918 flu pandemic, commonly referred to as the Spanish flu, was a category 5 influenza pandemic caused by an unusually severe and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1.


The difference between the influenza mortality age-distributions of the 1918 epidemic and normal epidemics. Deaths per 100,000 persons in each age group, United States, for the interpandemic years 1911–1917 (dashed line) and the pandemic year 1918 (solid line).[29]
The Spanish flu pandemic lasted from 1918 to 1919, although Price-Smith's data suggest it may have begun in Austria in the Spring of 1917.[30] Older estimates say it killed 40–50 million people[31] while current estimates say 50 million to 100 million people worldwide were killed.[25] This pandemic has been described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and may have killed as many people as the Black Death,[32] although the Black Death is estimated to have killed over a fifth of the world's population at the time,[33] a significantly higher proportion. This huge death toll was caused by an extremely high infection rate of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by cytokine storms.[31] Indeed, symptoms in 1918 were so unusual that initially influenza was misdiagnosed as dengue, cholera, or typhoid. One observer wrote, "One of the most striking of the complications was hemorrhage from mucous membranes, especially from the nose, stomach, and intestine. Bleeding from the ears and petechial hemorrhages in the skin also occurred."[25] The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by influenza, but the virus also killed people directly, causing massive hemorrhages and edema in the lung.[29]
The Spanish flu pandemic was truly global, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. The unusually severe disease killed between 2 and 20% of those infected, as opposed to the more usual flu epidemic mortality rate of 0.1%.[25][29] Another unusual feature of this pandemic was that it mostly killed young adults, with 99% of pandemic influenza deaths occurring in people under 65, and more than half in young adults 20 to 40 years old.[34] This is unusual since influenza is normally most deadly to the very young (under age 2) and the very old (over age 70). The total mortality of the 1918–1919 pandemic is not known, but it is estimated that up to 1% of the world's population was killed. As many as 25 million may have been killed in the first 25 weeks; in contrast, HIV/AIDS has killed 25 million in its first 25 years.[25]


Flu killed A LOT of people before there were vaccinations.

kirstyjosephine

I'm just going to link this article (written by a scientist for laypeople): http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/vaccination-myths-busted-by-science-cheat-sheet-on-immunisation/

Enjoy. :bigsmile:

staps065

My body responds poorly to flu shots-- it's worse than any flu I've ever had. I have a strong immune system, and I don't spend much time around children or the elderly, so I don't see the point of getting the shot and having to be home with flu-like symptoms for two weeks.

If that is true then you probably don't have a very strong immune system! Just saying! The vaccine is a dead virus and your body will build antibodies.. So if receiving the vaccine makes you very sick, then either your system was already weakened because you were exposed to something or you have a weak immune system and certainly need the vaccine ahead of the season. There are no guarantees but you will be better protected from the predicted strains if you are vaccinated EARLY!. The season is upon us and vaccinations should have been done in September, October at the latest. December - February are the worst months....

Of course, these are just my opinions..... I agree with the one poster: especially important to vaccinate the very young, very old, infirm and those with chronic respiratory illnesses. The Flu does kill and is much more than an inconvenience for thousands of people each year worldwide....

(Climbs off of my soapbox and goes on with my day! ) :bigsmile: