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I had the Asian flu when I was 18 and it was nasty and I'm 80. All the years since I think I may have had two flu shots during my 40's but none since. I am not a fan of those "shots in the dark"... I keep my immune system strong with some great antioxidants and that's it for me.
My husband gets both flu and pneumonia. I get neither as I think in my life I have had one or the other 3 times. However, we both plan on getting the new 2 part shingles vaccines after a friend had the painful experience of having the interior type. It will cost us over $300 for both of us for the shots but will be worth it. Our friend said it was the sickest he has ever been.
I have a friend who is still suffering the effects of shingles. The last time I got the flu shot I got really sick. Have gotten the pneumonia shot, with no side effects. Really don't want pneumonia. Wonder why the shingles shot is so expensive? Is it covered by insurance?
Some day, hopefully there may be a vaccination against cancer. Now that would be a major breakthrough.
So, over 40% of Americans refuse to get a flu shot.
I am one of those 40%. Why? Who knows what is in that shot? Also, it appears that it is just a mildly educated wild guess about what the next flu strain might be and that they usually gets it wrong.
No doubt this is a big winner for pharmaceutical companies, just like erectile dysfunction pills, opiods for the masses and statins (supposedly for high cholesterol). But that does not inspire me at all.
The 2 sickest time in my life were when I got flu shots so, no more for me.
I have a friend who is still suffering the effects of shingles. The last time I got the flu shot I got really sick. Have gotten the pneumonia shot, with no side effects. Really don't want pneumonia. Wonder why the shingles shot is so expensive? Is it covered by insurance?
Some day, hopefully there may be a vaccination against cancer. Now that would be a major breakthrough.
My Shingles shot at the pharm was largely (or all) covered after the fact. I think I paid for it and then submitted it to Tufts.
Give a call to your insurance company - chances are it is covered if you have a decent plan (we had middle of the road, not top...and it was covered)...
Anecdote is very interesting in the age of science. Remember, most people get their flu shots during flu season - and, depending on the year, the shot could be only 40% effective. Also, "really sick" is relative - studies show that you may only have gotten 3/4 as sick as you would have without the shot.
Anything is possible (like winning the lottery - I know someone who won 500K TWICE), but also many things are improbable.
I tend to go with the science because I truly do not believe that "I know better". Lots of examples - the entire PSA and Prostate exam thing is not not suggested by docs. This is because if you take 30 million males and do those tests and the follow-ups...and you take another 30 million and don't do anything, the mortality is the same. In fact, the later have better quality of life (they didn't get operations!)....
However, if you talk to individuals who caught their prostate cancer, they will wax poetic about how everyone should check and intervene.
This is different from the flu in that the results are approx. the same either way - of course, the former costs much more (which is one reason why the USA health care costs are so high)...
With the Flu there is a proven difference - a VAST difference.
We all end up in the same place eventually - but I wouldn't want to be responsible for others getting very sick or dying if I can help it. That's really the main issue "public health".
You are clueless if you think that's why we have high medical costs or a rise in infant death. Just sayin. It doesn't help your argument, and it certainly might harm it.
I'll add, you might want to be cautious taking a suggestion. They also suggested all these people addicted to pain meds take those. And what doc doesn't throw a suggestion for Advil even though it's not such a great idea to do so cuz you could kill yourself. You have to be a bit more careful in a "for-profit" healthcare system.
Good point. Maybe we can join the (rest of the) civilized world and have socialized medicine. Reimburse all of our doctors that paid out extortion to become doctors and move on from there.
I can't imagine the joy of improving someone's health. Maybe it's like being a successful teacher. But we jiggered it all up.
Imagine if we didn't have a medicinal profit motive. Opioid's wouldn't be crammed down your throat, but when you needed pain relieve they'd be available.
We wouldn't have had the decades of cannabis prohibition and would be so much further along in understanding the endocannabinoid system. Look it up. Somehow you landed on the Internet, so do a websearch.
LMAO, I don't really care what you think. I'm responding to what you post.
The CDC link says Thimerosal is in the flu shot. The link you gave for the ingredients earlier also says it's in the flu vaccine. The second link has multi-links that no longer work so I didn't find much there, and the flu shot is recommended and sometimes mandated for children older than 6 mos. old. every year.
The link I gave you above https://www.webmd.com/children/news/...in-mice#1about Thimerosal causing Autism symptoms in mice was a recent study. Autism has been on the rise and is now almost 1 in 59 in 2018. I would think this is why people still question the safety of it regardless of how long it's been used.
For example, we've used NSAIDs for years and just found out they could be causing heart attacks and strokes. That was enough for a black box warning on Advil. So, I'm not sure why they'd ignore the study on Thimerosal causing Autistic behavior in mice.
It's just disturbing for laymen. If they have studies that do not link Autism to vaccines additives, but they also have some that do, I would like to see more done before I'd use a flu vaccine for a child that contains Thimerosal if I were a parent. I'd also want more studies on the ingredient that replaces the Thimerosal.
"A new study indicates that postnatal exposure to thimerosal, a mercury preservative commonly used in a number of childhood vaccines, can lead to the development of autism-like damage in autoimmune disease susceptible mice. This animal model, the first to show that the administration of low-dose ethylmercury can lead to behavioral and neurological changes in the developing brain, reinforces previous studies showing that a genetic predisposition affects risk in combination with certain environmental triggers. The study was conducted by researchers at the Jerome L. and Dawn Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University."https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/06/040609072439.htm
All that said if the research was done and people were assured, and it was effective routinely, and safe, I don't doubt everyone would get the shot.
Another thing I think would help is if we had a non-profit healthcare system. Americans are used to being cautious because our system in attached to profit, especially profitable is pharma in the U.S. so they're extra leary. Plus the CDC doesn't really have a stellar rep., a lot of doctors aren't happy how they're handling the AFM cases lately for example.
Look at the Opioid epidemic. Listening to your doctor doesn't sound that great either. Studies show that doctors prescribe these pain meds up to 300% more since 1999, even tho the number of people in pain had not increased. Now people are dying all over from them. You hear that and the trust you have in American doctors goes down just a bit each time. There are a lot of things like this, and people lose trust. They end up going with what they feel comfortable with.
There are reasons, it's not just as you put it, some are "smarter" than others. Do you really think the smart ones get the flu vaccine, and the dumb ones don't? That's enough logic for you? lmao, seriously, generalizing like that doesn't help your argument. It's just not that simple.
Doctors recommend those without the flu shot stay away from newborn babies.
Seriously? I'd think they'd recommend anyone with the flu stay away from babies. The flu shot isn't a 100% effective. A kid just died from the flu and was immunized for it.
I would seriously hope people who get the flu vaccine are still cautious and don't act like they are superhuman virus fighter ninjas just because they got the flu vaccine.
The flu shot could be dangerous at its rate of effectiveness if people think they don't still have to follow normal precautions against spreading the flu virus.
In my years of reviewing medical records, I realized that many people will confuse the flu with the common cold or bronchitis. Common scenario: a person goes to the emergency room proclaiming that they have the flu despite having a flu-prevention shot. Most common result: they had a cold or bronchitis.
Plus, it does take two weeks or so for the vaccine to become effective. Some people will obtain a flu shot after being exposed to it, and will complain about how the shot 'gave me the flu', although the symptoms developed before the vaccine is operative (as noted, it is not 100 percent effective anyway).
The CDC reports that around 80,000 people died from influenza during the last flu season:
i am also one of those 40% saying no to flu vaccines. i was forced to get one in 1976 in order to attend school. the problem is i got the flu after getting the vaccine. so never again.
Personally I don't think I have ever gotten the flu. It is possible I am naturally immune.
So until such time as I have anything like the flu, I am not getting the shot.
I have also had some bad reactions to shots. Every time I get the tetanus shot within 24 hours I come down with a horrible fever and illness.
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A kid just died from the flu and was immunized for it. 