Do You Take Flu Shots?

minimus

I never have. I seldom get the "flu" and if I do, it usually happens after everyone else has gotten it.

I know of many people who regularly get the flu shot and they seem to always still get sick.

james_woods

I don't take them either.

I have always suspected that they don't really work, and might just be a vast commercial exercise at our expense.

I usually don't get the flu either.

sooner7nc

Yes. I work in a hospital and have to take it unless I want to wear a mask everywhere.

Gayle

I got them for free through work since '96 and now each year since retirement for a few years now. No flu in all that time.

james_woods

Speaking of the flu - how do you tell if you have the flu versus just having a regular bad cold (for which there is no vaccine or cure)?

minimus

Great point. Nothing worse than the doc telling you that you just need to rest and take over the counter meds.

wha happened?

We haven't to date but we are re-thinking it after the terrible bout we had this year. 3 weeks with what was one of the worst illnesses I've ever encountered.

I have not skipped a flu shot for twelve years. Back then, I had a debilitating flu that destroyed a muscle in my shoulder. My sister said, "Yes, flu can do that. You are lucky it was not a heart muscle." My eyes got big as saucers, "Flu can do that?" Ever since, I've had a hate-on for the flu and I will prevent it at any cost.

My sick days are about half of that of my peers that don't bother with the shot.

One of the best arguments for the flu shot comes from an incident in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, where one nursing home most of the staff had the flu shot, and the other, most did not. When the flu hit that year, the staff for the nursing home that did not take the shot were hit hard. That administration made a rule, "If you can stand, you come to work." My sister remembers visiting that home during the crisis and patients were helping nurses get down the hall. The nursing home where most of the staff took the flu shot were barely affected.

Darnit, I can't find the article now, but vaccination is one of those things that is most effective when the collective joins in. The virus can be halted in its tracks or even eradicated if entire communities collaborate. This is not where individualism does us any favors.

One of the ironies of the flu shot is that it is most effective for healthy people. People with impaired immune systems are more likely to get sick from the shot itself, and also would benefit most from immunization.

jgnat

james_woods, you might very well be a carrier. >:0

james_woods

The thing is - the flu vaccine (yes, I scientifically understand that it does work for the specific strains that it is made for) - is really a sort of biological lottery. Provided, of course, that you have a healthy immune system that it can activate.

They make the vaccine for the primary six or so strains of the past two or three years.

Every year, (or almost every year) a new flu type mutates into being - therefore the shot is usually not able to prevent the primary threat.

I guess it is better than nothing, but I have just never found it to be personally all that effective.

Do You Take Flu Shots?

Share this