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Hi Mark - I was a little surprised by your message. My husband can't take shots with live "attenuated" viruses. Because he has MS and is thought to be immunocompromised. Took a look - and the only flu "med/shot" in this category is "FluMist". All of the others seem to involve "dead viruses":
Will clarify/make sure with doctor/pharmacy that administers flu shots.
Otherwise - I agree with you 100%. Robyn
Hi Robyn, let me also say hello.
I need to be more careful with what I say. The nasal spray contains live attenuated virus. The vaccine contains dead virus.
I was responding to Jo, who is actually against all vaccination. She seemed to be suggesting her co-worker's wife got the flu from the vaccine. This is a common misconception that exists among some people. My point would be that you can't get flu from either a dead virus or a live attenuated (weakened) one.
I'm 62, no more flu shots. I took it two years ago, because the pediatrician who cares for my grandkids insisted that anyone the newborn was exposed to have a flu shot and whopping cough shot. A few months later I got sicker than I have ever been in my life, first bronchitis and then 4 days on the couch with the flu. I haven't been sick since. No flu shot last year and no flu, so I'm done with flu shots.
Wife isn't too happy about it though. She tries to take good care of her health and still suffers with allergies and other maladies, gets her flu shot, allergy shots etc. I visit the DR. once a year, and take no medication except a little blue pill. I think she actually gets mad at me some times.
same here, got the flu shot last year, both of us got the flu 10 days later, really really sick, the shot last year missed the mark. Not sure if it is worth it after how sick we were last time
I need to be more careful with what I say. The nasal spray contains live attenuated virus. The vaccine contains dead virus.
I was responding to Jo, who is actually against all vaccination. She seemed to be suggesting her co-worker's wife got the flu from the vaccine. This is a common misconception that exists among some people. My point would be that you can't get flu from either a dead virus or a live attenuated (weakened) one.
Don't worry - when it comes to medical stuff that might affect us personally - I look it up .
One can possibly get a disease from a vaccine if you're dealing with a live or attenuated virus and are an immunocompromised individual. It is very uncertain whether people with MS - like my husband - are actually immunocompromised. With other people - like those with AIDs and other conditions - it is probable. I don't think people who may be or are immunocompromised should take a chance.
But - for the vast majority of us who are "normal" - there is no reason not to take advantage of vaccinations that might spare us from serious diseases and their complications. We went to SE Asia for the first time last year. And got Hep A vaccinations (recommended as essential and we didn't think twice about getting the 2 shots necessary to be immunized). I have also gotten numerous DPT booster shots. Because I'm a gardener and often cut myself when gardening. No way I want to get tetanus. Although the D in the DPT shot - diptheria - is almost extinct now - my late mother almost died from it when she was a child. People who eschew vaccines often don't know or don't remember the diseases they were designed to eradicate. I am old enough to have been a "polio pioneer" (got the original vaccination). I had class mates who got polio. None of the diseases that contemporary vaccines were developed to eradicate were any fun at all. Robyn
Many of the responses on this thread are disappointing, to say the least.
But I guess it is the fault of our country for not doing a better job at teaching basic statistics, and that anecdotes and personal experiences don't = science.
For those who like statistics, this is much easier to read that the CDC website's rambling about the flu. It's courtesy of WebMD.
Flu Statistics: What Are Your Odds of Getting the Flu?
How many people get the flu each year? How much does the flu cost us? How well does the flu vaccine work?
Here's a rundown of some important flu statistics, based on the best available data.
Percentage of the U.S. population that will get the flu, on average, each year: between 5% and 20%.
In other words, 80% to 95% of the U.S. population will not get the flu. Sure you can attribute some of this to vaccinations. Let's put this in perspective thanks again to WebMD.
The flu vaccine's effectiveness may vary depending on age, health, and immune status and how well scientists identity circulating viruses. In 2014-15, vaccine effectiveness was under 20%.
The CDC reminds us that this year's vaccine will be more effective. I believe that's what they said last year.
I got that pnemovax one (that's the 1-time vaccine against pneumonia, right?) but my dr. doesn't really recommend the flu vaccine unless one has other health problems or bad lungs, etc. She says the percent of those it helps is very low (I believe she said 16% or something) and the percent of times they actually get the vaccine right according to which bug is actually around is low also. She says many many people get a slight sickness from the shot. I had a family member sick one whole winter after receiving the flu shot...and he never tried it again.
That said, I seem to get either the flu or just a case of bronchitis every winter and it's not pleasant. I'm bucking the tide not getting the shot I guess.
Flu shots only protect against the strains included in the vaccine or sometimes closely related strains. Last year's vaccine did not contain the most common strain, so it could not protect against it. It did a better job preventing the strains actually in the vaccine. This year's vaccine is predicted to be more effective, but there is no way to know for sure until the season is well underway. In well matched years the effectiveness is about 65%, and well matched years are more common than poorly matched ones. That is why the best strategy is to take the vaccine early.
For most people the only side effect is a sore arm, but some may have mild flu like symptoms that just mean the vaccine has revved up the immune system. That is not a flu infection, which cannot be caused by the dead virus in the shot or the modified live virus in the nasal vaccine. The virus in the nasal vaccine cannot live in the lungs.
Anyone who gets full blown flu after the vaccine either was either already infected when he took the vaccine and the vaccine did not work or he got a strain not included in the vaccine. Your family member who was "sick one whole winter" was not sick because he took the vaccine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by augiedogie
I'm 62, no more flu shots. I took it two years ago, because the pediatrician who cares for my grandkids insisted that anyone the newborn was exposed to have a flu shot and whopping cough shot. A few months later I got sicker than I have ever been in my life, first bronchitis and then 4 days on the couch with the flu. I haven't been sick since. No flu shot last year and no flu, so I'm done with flu shots.
Wife isn't too happy about it though. She tries to take good care of her health and still suffers with allergies and other maladies, gets her flu shot, allergy shots etc. I visit the DR. once a year, and take no medication except a little blue pill. I think she actually gets mad at me some times.
The flu vaccine did not protect you, but it did not cause you to get sick, and it may have reduced two weeks on the couch to four days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jo48
Last Christmas my husband's coworker's wife, not only got the flu WITH getting the flu shot, but she was also hospitalized with pneumonia and had those pneumonia vaccinations too. Guess not only the flu shot didn't work for her, but those pneumonia vaccinations didn't either. Her husband did not catch either from her, nor anyone else at the Office Holiday Party being around her. It's not one size fits all; vaccinated or otherwise.
Last year's vaccine was not well matched. The likelihood is that your husband's coworker's wife got the most common strain, which was not included in the vaccine. The pneumonia vaccine protects against certain strains of pneumococcus, again the most common ones, not all of them. Other families of bacteria can cause pneumonia, too.
Not everyone who is exposed to a given infectious disease will catch it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Windwalker2
My Mom is 94 and has never had a flu shot. I doubt she will choose to get it now. I don't remember her ever having what might have been the flu.
Vaccines can have their own side effects, some long term.
The most common side effect from vaccines is a sore arm. For every vaccine we have the risk of the disease is greater than the risk of the vaccine. Long term complications from vaccines are so rare as to be almost uncountable.
If your Mom is in a nursing home, taking the vaccine is strongly recommended because of the risk of spreading flu to other residents if she should catch it. If residents in a nursing home start getting sick, they have to be quarantined and often visitors are not allowed in the building. Employees should be vaccinated, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Normashirley
It was 1974 the one and only time I got a flu shot. I was so sick from it, I missed 4-1/2 days of work and had to crawl on my hands and knees to the bathroom.
I am now 68, have never had the flu, before or after that 1974 flu shot and don't ever plan to get another shot.
Sounds like you were already incubating the flu when you got the shot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by borninsac
Nothing is free; there's no free lunch. That "free" shot you're talking about is paid by you and me either directly or indirectly either by higher health insurance premiums or taxes and a mega-vaccination industry is getting rich delivering a lukewarm effective protection against the perils of getting sick once in a while. They won't be satisfied until they have a vaccination for everything under the sun that they convince the masses is necessary for their health and welfare while laughing all the way to the bank. They're working on whopping couch and measles now and who knows what will be next.
I realize some don't directly pay their own health insurance and maybe income taxes for that matter but those of us who do think about this stuff differently than those who do not.
And don't rely totally on the CDC website as being an absolute truth. It's a resource of knowledge among many sources to consider.
The reason insurance companies cover flu shots with no copay (even before the ACA) is because they know that the costs of treating flu in their insureds will greatly exceed the costs of providing the vaccine.
Spare us the meme that drug companies are getting rich from vaccines. They are not. They would make more money on drugs used to treat people hospitalized with flu than they would on the vaccine, and that is true of all vaccine preventable diseases. A vaccine that is not cost effective would be difficult to get passed by the FDA.
For some the flu is not a trivial disease that causes you to get "sick every once in a while." Many are hospitalized with it and some die from it.
Do you have knowledge of any information on the CDC site that is not true? If so, please do share it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BestintheWest
same here, got the flu shot last year, both of us got the flu 10 days later, really really sick, the shot last year missed the mark. Not sure if it is worth it after how sick we were last time
This year's vaccine is predicted to match the circulating flu strains better. The odds of avoiding another episode like you had last year are better if you take the vaccine.
Life is a series of choices from our earliest years. What is nice about a forum like this is it enables you ponder the consequences of others choices from years ago to the present. Helps you to put your own history of choices in a perspective.
I guess this is our regularly-scheduled "let's all pat ourselves on the back for getting our flu shots" thread. Any dissenting opinion is squashed like a steam roller.
I would like to remind my fellow seniors that freedom is more precious than any shot, for anything. If the media and the medical establishment has convinced you that the flu is too dangerous to risk, and that they have the perfect preventative, and that you are doing your kids and grandkids a disservice by not getting one, then score a point for Big Pharma. They are leading up to making this stuff mandatory, and you all sit there like willing ducks in a row, parroting what the talking heads on TV are saying.
If my kids ever suggested that I get a flu shot "for the good of the grandchildren", I would tell them to mind their own business. I got the flu once, in 1995 (when I was 48), and got over it just fine. I haven't had so much as a sniffle in over a decade. My grandparents, parents, and other family members lived during times when there wasn't a shot for everything including hangnails. They lived into their 80s and 90s without getting the flu or anything else contagious. OMG how did they do it!
I once thought that it was the banksters and politicians who were responsible for the declining freedom in this country. I was wrong. Her people themselves are willingly relinquishing it.
Many of the responses on this thread are disappointing, to say the least.
But I guess it is the fault of our country for not doing a better job at teaching basic statistics, and that anecdotes and personal experiences don't = science.
In some cases, though, today's anecdotal evidence is tomorrow's science. Just off the top of my head, I remember how decades ago, I used to cure a UTI with cranberry juice (not just prevent, totally cure, rapidly and with zero side effects). The "science" at the time said that was just an old wive's tale and utter nonsense--until someone got a grant to actually do a study and what do you know--cranberry juice has now been scientifically proven to be effective against UTIs.
I always think you have to look for the money whenever "science" is involved, and that includes the current unrelenting pressure from the medical establishment to get the flu vaccine.
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