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Did You Get A Flu Shot?
So, I was talking to a mom friend of mine who was coming down with a cold. I asked her if she had her flu shot this season. She said, “No. I don’t get flu shots. I’m a little skeptical of them.” Skeptical? She explained that she never got them as a child and thought that they really weren’t that effective. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I asked her if her kids get them. Nope.
Are there a lot of flue shot skeptics out there that I haven’t met yet? Having been raised by a mother who was a nurse, yearly flu shots were mandatory. My family got their flu shots this season. My sons’ school even offered free vaccines. Now, I know that there has been some controversy regarding this year’s flu shot strain.Even if this year’s shot is less effective than in years past, is it wise to skip it? Are there justifiable and informed reasons to not get the flu shot every year?
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LOL: “Originally placed at the bottom of Grafton Street in Dublin, this statue is known colloquially as “The Tart With The Cart” or “The Trollop With The Scallop(s)”, . The statue portrays Molly as a busty young woman in seventeenth-century dress. Her low-cut dress and large breasts were justified on the grounds that as “women breastfed publicly in Molly’s time, breasts were popped out all over the place.””
Love the Irish!
“may have” over the entire population blah, blah, blah…
Show me the double-blind studies proving patients who use fever-reducing drugs have suppressed their immune response. [Which, btw, I suspect is an almost impossible, if not unethical experiment to run, let alone repeat] Until then, I just don’t believe it.
Also, not treating your fever will definitely not resolve your case of meningitis or pneumonia. You didn’t limit your recommendation to flu.
You’ve given us examples of speculative science. People should proceed cautiously using their own best judgment. Not everything “natural” is good for your or your kids’ survival.
What evidence? The last news article I saw said this year’s flu shot version was only 20% effective.
Even so, it still doesn’t negate my other three reasons. I don’t give a rat’s rear end if it’s 100% effective . . .
I posted what’s out there above. Scroll up. The scientists don’t have any doubt. The doctors are often clueless (also posted above), but even there the evidence is quite clear about the effects on severe infections. Of course they still pursue lots of treatments that have no evidence of efficacy.
“When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?” — John Maynard Keynes
I’m 52, and have never had a flu shot. My mother was a nurse, but maybe flu shots weren’t a regular part of child health care back in the 60s and 70s. As a result, I tend to regard flu shots as being for more vulnerable populations, the very old, sickly, etc. I tend not to get sick, and can’t remember the last time I had the flu. I’m not against them, mind you, but I simply haven’t needed them.
I don’t know. Vaccinations for the really serious stuff as a child is crucial, but unless you are immunocompromised or exposed to flu in an institutional or health care setting, I’m not so sure. Anecdotally, the only time I have ever come down with a serious, knock-down case of the flu was the year my company offered free flu shots. Took down my whole family with me. Empathy for you Peter et al on your illness and condolences for the loss of your mother-in-law. A beautiful woman and a lovely piece you posted on her life.
So you are striving to be slightly less outlandish than the government?
I just wanted to say, I have no scientific evidence for this, it’s simply an intuition, but one of the reasons I get a flu shot every year (starting about 7 years ago) despite never having it my entire life, is that when I’m 80+ I’ll have enough immunity from a wide variety of strains that it might offer me protection against some mutation in the future that’s similar to a strand today.
Some people are going to have more exposure than others. I believe I have a lot less exposure to germs now that my step-sister and her husband no longer work with me. They’ve got three kids and because they always catch germs from other kids, one or the other of their parents was often sick, then everyone at work would eventually get sick. I think if you have no kids and aren’t around people with kids, you’re less likely to be exposed.
A quick google turned this up. I welcome feedback from anyone who knows more detail, especially about whether this is true for other viruses (such as influenza strains).
To call out a few choice words there “after you have … [a] virus … [it] remains in your body … always .. dormant … [until you get old and/or] your immune system … weaken[s], allowing the virus to resurface”
via http://www.shinglesinfo.com/shinglesinfo/what-is-shingles.jsp
As far as I know, this is unique to herpes viruses. I wouldn’t be surprised at other classes having this phenomenon, but not the flu.
Last summer I read The Great Influenza and swore I would get vaccinated from then on.
So far I haven’t gotten around to it.
Karen, I think you oughta retitle this “One Flu Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”
Nope, just trying to lead a horse to water.
Are you a doctor? What exactly is your expertise?