Free flu shot, anyone?

[BuzzardsWife]

i get one every year..the one year i didnt i got severely sick..mine are always free which is a good incentive to get one too

[GGG]

I like chiro but you have to look around Calgary to find a good one who isn't all Release the Engery in your spine to prevent disease.

If you can find one that works with Physio and Massage practictioners in the same office and refer paitients to eachother I think that you can get effective treatment. I find chiro works very effectively but I went to 3 different ones before I found a non-hippy mystic that I would let touch me.

[Bagor]

Interesting. Hope they fast track the peer review.

TORONTO - An unpublished Canadian study that suggests seasonal flu shots raise a person's risk of catching swine flu is causing a lot of concern internationally, a senior official of the World Health Organization said Thursday.
Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, who heads the WHO's vaccine research initiative, said there's a keen interest, internationally, to go through the data in the study and see whether the research is correct or flawed.
"There's really intense international discussions on that," Kieny told The Canadian Press in an interview.
"Because now that it's out, everybody feels that we must go to the bottom of it and see what's real there."
She noted in a news conference that Canadian officials are trying to put together an expert panel to assess the data.
Drawn from a series of studies from British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, the findings appear to suggest that people who got a seasonal flu shot last year are about twice as likely to catch swine flu as people who didn't.
A scientific paper has been submitted to a journal and the lead authors - Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and Dr. Gaston De Serres of Laval University - are constrained about what they can say about the work. Journals bar would-be authors from discussing their results before they are published.
Skowronski, who at first declined to speak after news of the findings hit the media Wednesday, said it's important that the work gets the expert scrutiny the journal peer-review system provides.
"Good scientists know that methods can influence results," she said from Vancouver.
"For me, it's very important that we respect the peer-review process as good scientists. Because the implications ... are important. And if there are methodologic flaws, we need to be assured that every stone was turned over to make sure what we're reporting is valid."

http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/cp-art...entid=21891242

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Interesting. Hope they fast track the peer review.

http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/cp-art...entid=21891242

Hopefully there is at least some review before the seasonal vaccination becomes available. There doesn't really seem to be a plausible mechanism for a previous flu vaccine making someone more susceptible to H1N1 (based on the current knowledge of immunology), and statistically significant results can be obtained in a study by random chance, but a 2x difference seems large. The result could be methodology related, or due to people who are more likely to get influenza also being more likely to get vaccinated, but it's all speculation without seeing the actual paper. I certainly wouldn't panic over the media spin on preliminary, unreviewed results (lots of times before results like this have been found to be false alarms after careful review), especially since the study authors themselves haven't said anything, but will be keeping an eye on this all the same.

Edit - apparently health agencies in several other countries (including the US and Australia) have done similar studies and not found this result, and there is a lot of skepticism about the study. There's also been a lot of criticism of the journal for holding back the results rather than letting the scientific community look at the study, given the potential importance.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Hopefully there is at least some review before the seasonal vaccination becomes available.

Agreed, you would hope that there would be a significant critical review before implementing the findings into policy. You would hope ...

Ontario jumping the gun a bit here IMO. I've never ever heard of a health policy changed over an unpublished article.

Ontario says it is changing its approach to seasonal flu vaccine administration this year in part because of unpublished data that suggest the seasonal shot might raise the risk of catching swine flu.
Dr. Arlene King, the province's chief medical officer of health, says people 65 and older, who aren't at great risk of catching swine flu, will be offered seasonal flu vaccine in October.
But the seasonal flu won't be offered to younger people in Canada's most populous province until after they are first offered the vaccine for swine flu, which is likely to happen in November.
King says the unpublished study was clearly a factor in the decision to change the sequence of the vaccination program.
That study, based on research ongoing in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, suggests that people who have received seasonal flu shots last year may be at greater risk of catching H1N1 flu this year.
While the study is still being peer-reviewed in an unnamed journal, King said it had a direct influence on the policy for this year's flu vaccination program in Ontario.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...924?hub=Health

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

Try your family doctor. Also Alberta Health runs flu shot clinics throughout the flu season. Check the Alberta Health for dates.

Pretend I am a healthy young male which has never visited the doctor at any point of my time in Calgary - ie no family doctor.

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Pretend I am a healthy young male which has never visited the doctor at any point of my time in Calgary - ie no family doctor.

Shoppers Drug Mart runs flu shot clinics.

[Dentoman]

Was just wondering if anybody had any idea how long the wait is at Brentwood? Thinking about taking the family tomorrow afternoon but don't want to stand around for too long. Thanks in advance.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Yes, because natural health products are much worse for you then what's in your flu shot! Besides the flu virus itself we have these quality ingredients:

1. What’s in the regular flu shot?

Egg proteins: including avian contaminant viruses

Gelatin: known to cause allergic reactions and anaphylaxis are usually associated with sensitivity to egg or gelatin

Polysorbate 80 (Tween80™): can cause severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis

Formaldehyde: known carcinogen

Triton X100: a strong detergent

Sucrose: table sugar

Resin: known to cause allergic reactions

Gentamycin: an antibiotic

Thimerosal: mercury is still in multidose vials

You go ahead and get your shot of detergent, Formaldehyde, and mercury just to try and avoid a flu virus that if you come into contact with you will contract anyhow because nothing in any scientific study has shown that the flu shot prevents getting the flu and even if it did the odds that it will be one of those three it supposedly protects against is like winning the lottery.

I did the math on Thimerosal, in this post, and

The maximum concentration of thimerosal will result in .5 micrograms of mercury to be injected. Converted it means that 0.0005 milligrams of mercury are injected.

.001 is twice 0.0005. That is, the dose of mercury that the Sask government deems safe for consumption in a single liter of water is twice the amount of mercury that is in the maximum dose contained in a single injection.

I don't know about anyone else, but that seems pretty safe to me.

I do understand that it is not scientific and could be totally wrong, but it makes sense to me.

[Thor]

I'm so glad we have all these non scientists telling us their 'feeling's and Internet research is worth ignoring the massive success of vaccinations.

[wooohooo]

I have 4 Uncle's all doctors, one specifically in this type of research. They all got their flu shots, so that should speak volumes in itself.

[Thor]

Those afraid of vaccinations could just read this:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=2211

To hear his enemies talk, you might think Paul Offit is the most hated man in America. A pediatrician in Philadelphia, he is the coinventor of a rotavirus vaccine that could save tens of thousands of lives every year. Yet environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slams Offit as a “biostitute” who whores for the pharmaceutical industry. Actor Jim Carrey calls him a profiteer and distills the doctor’s attitude toward childhood vaccination down to this chilling mantra: “Grab ‘em and stab ‘em.” Recently, Carrey and his girlfriend, Jenny McCarthy, went on CNN’s Larry King Live and singled out Offit’s vaccine, RotaTeq, as one of many unnecessary vaccines, all administered, they said, for just one reason: “Greed.”

[Methanolic]

What does Donald Rumsfeld say we should do?.....

[mykalberta]

To each his own.

I have been here for 5 years, and have never had a flu shot, since I left high school I have had shots only 3 times.

1 - meningitis shot at UofA - that really helped
2 - when we went to europe/greece/turkey - not sure if it was a flu shot but it wasnt free.
3 - free flu shot 2 years before I moved down here because the girl I was dating was a nursing student who was feeding me the flu shot line.

I wont get it this year, I might get the H1N1 - havent decided yet.

[Ashartus]

I'm planning on getting the seasonal vaccine this week, more to protect high-risk individuals I regularly come into contact with than myself. I also intend to get the H1N1 vaccine once it is available to people who aren't in high risk groups. I've done a lot of research into this (and have a background in medical science, so I like to think I can tell the good research from the bad - and there is a lot of misinformation floating around on the internet). When you look at the data on H1N1, particularly considering we haven't even really started the flu season, vs. the data on vaccination risks (less than 1 in 1,000,000 frequency of serious effects from flu vaccines, if that) it's pretty much a no-brainer to me to get the H1N1 vaccine. Incidentally, the H1N1 vaccine was just approved today, and could roll out as early as next week for high-risk groups.

[Methanolic]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

the H1N1 vaccine was just approved today, and could roll out as early as next week for high-risk groups.

CHQR Newsroom
10/21/2009

Alberta will begin rolling out the H1N1 vaccine October 26th, which is Monday.
The announcement was made just hours after Health Canada announced approval of the vaccine.
Provincial Health Minister Ron Leipert says the goal is to provide the vaccine to as many people as possible.
H1N1 is expected to be the most prevalent strain of the influenza virus this year.

[drewboy12]

say you have asthma... free every year!

[Mark]

So arguing against the flu shot is fear mongering here. Isn't arguing for the flu shot equally fear mongering? I just wish people could be more open-minded when having a discussion and actually respect other views instead of just being all "I'm right and you suck cause you think differently." But I guess that is our Albertan way.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Mark

So arguing against the flu shot is fear mongering here. Isn't arguing for the flu shot equally fear mongering? I just wish people could be more open-minded when having a discussion and actually respect other views instead of just being all "I'm right and you suck cause you think differently." But I guess that is our Albertan way.

When comes to matters that can be evaluated using the scientific method (like this issue) I consider myself to be open-minded to the facts. Someones way of thinking is irrelevant. If your way of thinking involves faulty reasoning, poor or no evidence, pre-scientific medicine or magic, then you are not supported by the facts. We all live in the same world and the same rules apply to everyone regardless of the way you think.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Mark

So arguing against the flu shot is fear mongering here. Isn't arguing for the flu shot equally fear mongering? I just wish people could be more open-minded when having a discussion and actually respect other views instead of just being all "I'm right and you suck cause you think differently." But I guess that is our Albertan way.

Well, come up with some evidence that hasn't been discredited and then it will be worth debating.