Get your G-D Flu Vaccine

[worth]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. They called in today saying they had the symptoms, so it's nice that they didn't show up.

[Flabbibulin]

ahhh, I see- well, it still amazes me how many people show up sick. I understand some people have a limited number of paid sick days. Too bad most people use those when they're just pretending to be sick.

[Knut]

There is also a pretty contagious pink going around right now. Watch out for people with burst blood vessels on the white part of the eye who have pink eye. That is the very contagious one.

[Bmuzyka]

Some workplaces make it so confusing for workers.
"Oh, here's a memo saying not to come in if you are sick, but we are also going to reduce your amount of sick days by 50%"

[Ducay]

Everyone should be getting this vaccine. It might have been mentioned a dozen times already, but its worth restating. I know you're "strong and the flu wont kill me, so why get it", but its not about you, its about everyone as a whole.
You might not get very bad symptoms and survive a-ok 100%, but then you might just give it to your old grandmother, or someone at work who has a young child, or someone much more vulnerable to complications or worse. If you don't get it, you run a much lower risk of passing it on.

Sure the vaccine covers limited strains and might not prevent sickness in all cases, but if we can stop it jumping to one or two dozen people that might not fare so well, isn't it worth it?

[Flabbibulin]

Honestly not making this up- woman I was referring to earlier passed out and they had to call an ambulance. she was fine but they took her in as a precaution.

Stay the hell in bed people.

edit- sounds like she was having severe chest pain... didn't pass out. From what I've heard, this flu attacks the respiratory system quite drastically.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Everyone should be getting this vaccine. It might have been mentioned a dozen times already, but its worth restating. I know you're "strong and the flu wont kill me, so why get it", but its not about you, its about everyone as a whole.
You might not get very bad symptoms and survive a-ok 100%, but then you might just give it to your old grandmother, or someone at work who has a young child, or someone much more vulnerable to complications or worse. If you don't get it, you run a much lower risk of passing it on.

Sure the vaccine covers limited strains and might not prevent sickness in all cases, but if we can stop it jumping to one or two dozen people that might not fare so well, isn't it worth it?

OMG, thank you. Thank you so much for saying this. I really cannot tell you how much it is appreciated. People think we're weird because we're avoiding a lot of contact with the 'outside' world right now, but this flu could put my daughter in the hospital, for a long time. Her immune system is ####. We get odd looks when we do have to go out, because she will grab a mask and wear it.

The masks are leftover from when she was very ill (in hospital) a couple of years ago and had to be on a PICC line so she could be at home - the home care nurses wore them, as did we, when doing certain parts of care with the PICC line. So they've come in handy a few times, when there have been bad outbreaks of flu and gastroenteritis.

Don't care about the odd looks though. We are careful because it can be so much more serious for her. So thanks for saying what you have - so many people just don't get it, and we know we can't depend on 'herd immunity' so we take as many precautions as possible.

[FlamesAddiction]

Doctors are saying that this year's vaccine is only 45% effective:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/...ctiveness.html

It was estimated that it would be 59% effective before the season began.

Still better than nothing and I see no reason to not get it, but it just goes to show you that you can't rely on it.

[Mike Vernon]

Can anyone tell me for sure what they are injecting you with? Ive had the flu shot twice and after both times I got very sick the next day (flu). I have no idea what is really in the needle and I know the intentions of big Pharm is to make money.

[SportsJunky]

^I think it's 'dead' flu virus. I was watching a doctor talking about it last night and he said there is no way you can get the flu from the vaccination.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

^I think it's 'dead' flu virus. I was watching a doctor talking about it last night and he said there is no way you can get the flu from the vaccination.

No, but you can get some immune system responses which are symptoms that people describe as "flu-like". Quite often when a foreign substance is introduced into the body, your immune system can react and cause symptoms.

I know the H1N1 vaccine had synthetic immune system boosters. Since the vaccine supply was limited, the amount of vaccine was decreased and supplemented with boosters (adjuvant). There are some reports that say the reaction to adjuvant can be bad in some people. Of course, there are reports that counter that as well.

I always maintain that people have a right to be suspicious, especially when a vaccine is rushed. I personally wouldn't be the 1st in line, but am pro-vaccine most of the time.

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by Mike Vernon

Can anyone tell me for sure what they are injecting you with? Ive had the flu shot twice and after both times I got very sick the next day (flu). I have no idea what is really in the needle and I know the intentions of big Pharm is to make money.

Any idea if you have an allergy (even mild one) to eggs? I understand that could play a factor.

All I know is the number of qualified experts that support the flu shot, and its science, greatly outnumber the experts that are opposed to it. Good enough for me. I'm not sure why so many people are inclined to believe that someone is always out to get them- there are more than enough legitimate ways to generate large sums of money in this world without always resorting to some behind the doors conspiracy.

[Mike Vernon]

Originally Posted by fotze

You would think they would make more money if it actually worked instead of purposefully making you sick.

Really?

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Mike Vernon

Really?

Yes. How would they make money by making you sick? If it works well, and a health authority can see the benefits, they will use your vaccine again. If it makes people sick, they wouldn't

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Yes. How would they make money by making you sick? If it works well, and a health authority can see the benefits, they will use your vaccine again. If it makes people sick, they wouldn't

I think the theory is that the same companies that make vaccines have interests in other companies that make drugs to treat the symptoms. Not saying I believe it, but that's what's out there.

I do firmly believe there are temporary unintended side-effects for some people though. I've experienced them, but it is way better than having the flu. The flushot I had this year gave me no side-effects however.

[vtec260]

Originally Posted by Mike Vernon

Can anyone tell me for sure what they are injecting you with? Ive had the flu shot twice and after both times I got very sick the next day (flu). I have no idea what is really in the needle and I know the intentions of big Pharm is to make money.

It takes about a week for flu virus to inoculate in your body (ie. you become unknown carrier for that time). I am guessing that by sixth day, you had flu shot(dead, inactive virus) and by 7th day, you became sick as flu virus became active. Instinctively, you would associate flu shot causing the flu, but it is just a coincidence. Wash hands frequently or use alcohol based hand sanitizers and avoid rubbing eyes, touching nose or mouth unless clean.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by vtec260

It takes about a week for flu virus to inoculate in your body (ie. you become unknown carrier for that time). I am guessing that by sixth day, you had flu shot(dead, inactive virus) and by 7th day, you became sick as flu virus became active. Instinctively, you would associate flu shot causing the flu, but it is just a coincidence. Wash hands frequently or use alcohol based hand sanitizers and avoid rubbing eyes, touching nose or mouth unless clean.

Plus, I think the vaccine takes 10-14 days to kick in.

[firebug]

A pretty good (but lengthy) post on flu vaccines and their value by Mark Crislip.

One flu into the ####oos nest.

"I have discussed flu vaccination multiple times in the blog. The question is not IF influenza vaccination works. It does. It is the magnitude of the effect and in what populations it is effective that is the question. The preponderance of information suggests the for most of the endpoints above, the influenza vaccine has beneficial effects. It’s not a great vaccine but better than nothing."

[Knut]

To put a different way. If 100,000 Calgarians get the Flu Vaccine and it works in 45,000 of them that means there many out in public that may have usually been sick, but are not. That decreases the chance of those that did not have the vaccine from getting the flu.

[Flabbibulin]

Bump for this reminder. Anyone had the flu yet this season? First year in a while I didn't get a vaccine and I'm paying for it now.