Who's getting the H1N1 shot?

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Even the person administering it to me said she thought the danger of the flu was overhyped.

Yeah--and I don't disagree, only in the sense that seasonal flu is also very dangerous (and yes, we should all get the seasonal vaccine too)--and if we're talking global epidemiology, malaria kills over a million people a year, and infects nearly half a billion.

But it just doesn't follow that we shouldn't get the vaccine. If we can eliminate even a small risk of serious illness or death, why wouldn't we do it? If we can help others who are more vulnerable by creating herd immunity to an illness that can be deadly.... why wouldn't we do it?

To me, the worst case scenario is we prevent a few thousand deaths. Who wants to tell me that isn't worth it?

[mikey_the_redneck]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

So.... because you didn't get sick, therefore no-one needs vaccines?

That's some air tight logic right there. Forgive me if I stick with the experts on this one.

Hard to argue with my results isn't it? You know I was talking about the seasonal flu vaccine right?

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

Hard to argue with my results isn't it? You know I was talking about the seasonal flu vaccine right?

But thankfully medicine isn't determined on anecdotes and poor logic.

[Lucifer]

Went and got mine today. Arm is sore now, but bearable, and I kinda have that sicky feeling. Nothing too serious, though.

[Bagor]

Got mine with the kids .... begrudgingly (me) I might add.

TBQH I was hoping we would all get it (the flu, i.e. my wife was symptomatic for a few days) but fair play it was so simple to get it that I took a what the hell approach.

Couple of questions... given that they have on their information sheet saying it may protect me for up to a year, I can only presume that I will be expected to go through all this drama again next year "if" a different strain comes out or will they be a tad less hysteric? What I'm referring to is the data from the southern hemisphere that suggested the whole thing was blown out of proportion from the start.

Question to the people arguing re. the stress on the health care system and ageism (which personally if it was me I would have no problems with).

Would you agree that there is a process (see criteria for admittance) where "elderly" people are not admitted to ICU with respiratory (flu) problems based on criteria of which age is one? Has this inflated the numbers on two different points?
i.e what's the odds of an 80 year old , or even a 70 year old individual presenting himself at hospital with pneumonia from the seasonal flu and in severe respiratory distress getting access to artificial ventialtion?

Has it inflated the numbers of individuals admitted to ICU where they exhibited the same symptons (respiratory distress) in the elderly in seasons past? Furthermore, how many were actual ICU criteria (ventilation) and how many were high dependency? Would you agree that if the same criteria was applied to all ages the numbers might be the same.

I'm just trying to make sense of the numbers. It "appears" to me that the risk/incidence of high infection/ potential of infection is higher but is the overall risk of complications and death from the disease any different from years past but just with a lower age group = increased criteria for ICU admission.

Just a question.

Am I going to be a selfish dog for the rest of my life if I don't get stuck every year? If there were concerns out there that this thing could mutate into a nasty SOB and they want to try and stamp it out now. If they'd say that .. I'd probably buy it. Is that the concern? If so why hasn't it been communicated?

Or, are we living in a world where we're just a bunch of cattle that need to be stuck every year?

The data was there. The data NEVER EVER suggested a true pandemic.

I think my SIL got it right. A capacity building exercise.

Anyways ... my arm is sore.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

But it just doesn't follow that we shouldn't get the vaccine. If we can eliminate even a small risk of serious illness or death, why wouldn't we do it? If we can help others who are more vulnerable by creating herd immunity to an illness that can be deadly.... why wouldn't we do it?

To me, the worst case scenario is we prevent a few thousand deaths. Who wants to tell me that isn't worth it?

But answer me honestly? Has this thing been overhyped or not?

When the most high risk population in any given year is the elderly why hasn't there been the same hype for so called herd immunity?

I get it's infectious. I get it affects younger than average individuals. I don't get the risk that was communicated from the WHO down when there was a season already passed (albiet a smaller but significant % of the globe).

Why isn't there the same risk communicated every year re the seasonal flu and its vulnerability to the elderly popn.?

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Bagor

But answer me honestly? Has this thing been overhyped or not?

When the most high risk population in any given year is the elderly why hasn't there been the same hype for so called herd immunity?

I get it's infectious. I get it affects younger than average individuals. I don't get the risk that was communicated from the WHO down when there was a season already passed (albiet a smaller but significant % of the globe).

Why isn't there the same risk communicated every year re the seasonal flu and its vulnerability to the elderly popn.?

Yes, it's been overhyped - few would disagree (though that doesn't mean it wasn't potentially serious).

There have been calls for herd immunity before - that's the whole reason why seasonal flu shots are offered to the general public and not just the elderly. The elderly are most likely to die, but vaccines also don't work that well for them so health authorities want people around them to be vaccinated. A lot of people just didn't pay attention until a strain hitting younger people pretty hard came along.

I'm not sure I understand your 3rd question - are you asking why WHO still communicated risks after the southern hemisphere flu season? Probably because timing/transmission patterns indicated it would be worse here than there (which it has been so far). It was still relatively bad in the southern hemisphere - medical facilities were relatively strained - but the total deaths weren't any worse than usual.

I think I got your 4th question with the 2nd one.

Responding to your previous post - the data do actually show it is a pandemic, just not a highly lethal one. Even with the plateau, influenza rates are way above normal for this time of year over most of the northern hemisphere, which is by definition a pandemic. There have been some concerns it could mutate into something nastier, but no real evidence of that happening. Whether you're a "selfish dog" if you don't get stuck every year (I'm presuming you mean for seasonal flu vaccine) - I guess that depends on whether you spend time around the elderly or people with compromised immune systems.

[Thor]

National Geographic channel tonight HD, 8pm MTN for those that would be interested:

SWINE FLU: THE SCIENCE OF PANDEMICS
Swine Flu: The Science of Pandemics

[GreenLantern]

So I got the H1N1 shot mostly because I plan to do some traveling here. I feel like total crap right now. Head ache, plugged nose and chills.

I might as well have just got the flu.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

So I got the H1N1 shot mostly because I plan to do some traveling here. I feel like total crap right now. Head ache, plugged nose and chills.

I might as well have just got the flu.

In essence you did. You just got less than you would if you really got the flu. The nurse who shot me said a few people will feel sick but mostly it's just the sore arm (which wasn't substantially worse than any other shot I've had over the past year). Looks like you're one of the lucky ones.

On the seasonal flu shot discussion, they won't give you both at the same time.

[photon]

You can't get the flu (even just a little) from a flu shot.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by photon

You can't get the flu (even just a little) from a flu shot.

No, but you can get "flu-like symptoms", since the symptoms we normally associated with the flu are really just symptoms of an immune response to a foreign body.

After my shot, I also felt pretty crumby the next day. My sore arm lasted about 5 days and is still a little sore. At the worst point, I couldn't lift my arm high enough to wash my hair in the shower.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

No, but you can get "flu-like symptoms", since the symptoms we normally associated with the flu are really just symptoms of an immune response to a foreign body.

After my shot, I also felt pretty crumby the next day. My sore arm lasted about 5 days and is still a little sore. At the worst point, I couldn't lift my arm high enough to wash my hair in the shower.

I had a really sore arm too--worse than a tetanus shot. I was also pretty tired and irritable.

Now that I'm immune, I'm going to go lick a pig.

[photon]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

No, but you can get "flu-like symptoms", since the symptoms we normally associated with the flu are really just symptoms of an immune response to a foreign body.

After my shot, I also felt pretty crumby the next day. My sore arm lasted about 5 days and is still a little sore. At the worst point, I couldn't lift my arm high enough to wash my hair in the shower.

Ah I see what you mean.

Yeah my arm was sore for 4 days and the first couple of days after I wasn't so energetic either.

[Kerplunk]

Got the H1N1 and seasonal on Tuesday. Still a bit sore, but not too bad. Took longer to fill out the paperwork and wait after the shots than getting the shots themselves. No line up at all.

[Sainters7]

Finally got it today. Wasn't even planning on getting it at all, I just got to work ridonkulously early and they had the swine flu clinic set up in the same building so I figured what the hey. Feel fine besides the fact I can't lift my left elbow above my shoulder. I can't wait to be an I Am Legend style zombie by tomorrow.

[Schultzie]

I still haven't got the shot, so I ended up catching H1N1 about two days ago. I'm laid up in bed with a fever, cough, sore throat, headache, and my eyes are also burning like crazy, but it really doesn't seem any worse than the regular flu to me. Hopefully I'll start feeling better in the next couple of days, but if this is as bad as it gets, I don't understand what all the fuss was about.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Schultzie

I still haven't got the shot, so I ended up catching H1N1 about two days ago. I'm laid up in bed with a fever, cough, sore throat, headache, and my eyes are also burning like crazy, but it really doesn't seem any worse than the regular flu to me. Hopefully I'll start feeling better in the next couple of days, but if this is as bad as it gets, I don't understand what all the fuss was about.

Did you even read the thread?

1) No, this flu isn't much worse than the normal flu.
2) The fuss the government made was about just how contagious the virus is and how many people did get and how many people WOULD get it if people were not smart enough to get the vaccine.
3) The press did sensationalize the story and focused on the few deaths, particularly of young people, to sell newspapers and such. This made people think that it was a terribly dangerous flu when in fact severe reactions are very rare and for most people it was equal to or even less than the normal flu.

[Schultzie]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Did you even read the thread?

1) No, this flu isn't much worse than the normal flu.
2) The fuss the government made was about just how contagious the virus is and how many people did get and how many people WOULD get it if people were not smart enough to get the vaccine.
3) The press did sensationalize the story and focused on the few deaths, particularly of young people, to sell newspapers and such. This made people think that it was a terribly dangerous flu when in fact severe reactions are very rare and for most people it was equal to or even less than the normal flu.

Haha. Yeah, I know that. I didn't mean to sound like a broken record, I was just making a general statement. Plus the flu has me feeling like I'm high right now, so my brain probably isn't working as well as it should be.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Did you even read the thread?

1) No, this flu isn't much worse than the normal flu.
2) The fuss the government made was about just how contagious the virus is and how many people did get and how many people WOULD get it if people were not smart enough to get the vaccine.
3) The press did sensationalize the story and focused on the few deaths, particularly of young people, to sell newspapers and such. This made people think that it was a terribly dangerous flu when in fact severe reactions are very rare and for most people it was equal to or even less than the normal flu.

It's statements like the bolded one that rub me the wrong way. I got the vaccine and that was my personal choice. I'm no more smart than someone who, for reasons or their own, decided that they didn't want it. There are varying degrees of risk with both and someone shouldn't be made to feel inferior for opting out of it.

When it comes to vaccines, I'm pro-choice.