Are you getting a flu shot this year?

[DandyDon]

It's interesing to note that 85% of the respondents here are or would get a flu shot if we could. True, my poll was not scientific in the only negative choice I offered was "Afraid of needles," yet it still seems like more would than in last year's discusion. We have a shortage, therefore demand is increased. :11:

My local county clinic claims that there will be enough for anyone, which I doubt, as I think the surplus they expect will be redirected to needier senior citizens. I'm old, but not that old.

I am too old for the live virus mist, but - no one here seems to be interested in it. It could just maybe give a person a case of flu, but that's doubtful, and - that's the worst. It's not as expensive as last year. No takers...?

I wonder how many senior citizens we'll lose to panic even before the flu season arrives? I'd like to see the remote locations that usually offer shots discontinue these practices and all supplies centralized with clinics for better inventory control, issuing appointmets by phone or email only.

Here's one report.... http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20041018162609990019

Seniors Urged to Relax Over Flu Vaccine

TAMPA, Fla. (Oct. 18) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Monday that enough flu vaccine will be available for most people who need it and told seniors to stop standing in long lines to get a shot.


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''We want people to relax,'' Thompson said at a news conference. ''The flu season is not here.''

Seniors around the country have been standing in lines at shopping plazas to get flu shot since news of a shortage surfaced this month. British regulators shut down shipments from Chiron Corp., which had made millions of flu shots earmarked for the U.S. market. The shutdown cut the U.S. supply of flu shots almost in half.

Thompson said the flu vaccine supply will be reallocated to parts of the country where it is needed most. Most at risk for severe complications from the flu are seniors and young children.

''We are looking all over the regions to find out where there is a shortage, and we will redeploy the resources to make sure the seniors get the vaccine first,'' he said. He noted that 91 percent of flu deaths last year were people 65 or older.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on ABC's ''Good Morning America'' that only a few cases of flu have been reported this season, and that 20 million doses would soon be available for seniors.

''We are reassuring people that vaccine is on the way,'' she said.

Thompson advised people to first seek the shot from their doctor or a clinic. If that fails, they should contact the CDC in Atlanta, he said.

The number of vaccine manufacturers must be increased to avoid future shortages, Thompson said. For that to happen, Congress must remove liability for vaccine makers and the government must commit to buying millions of doses every year so the producers are assured of a ''ready market,'' he said.

Vaccines - particularly flu vaccine which is good only for the year it is made - seldom are profitable. Most years, a few million doses go unsold and are thrown away.

Thompson was in Tampa to announce that his agency had joined a lawsuit by the state of Florida against a Fort Lauderdale company accused of trying to sell flu vaccine at inflated prices. The state of Kansas has also sued.

ASAP Meds Inc., which does business as Meds-Stat, has denied price-gouging accusations and said it will fight the lawsuits.

Thompson said there are still 20 million doses for seniors and 4 million doses for children that are being shipped out at a rate of about 3 million per week.

 

[cavedivergurl]

Well, I'll play devil's advocate here for a minute.
True, you get a "cold" from a virus. You are more susceptible to becoming sick from this virus if your immune system is somehow weakened or stressed out. (for example, a hormone found in the blood during stressful times, cortisol, will suppress your immune cells and cause you to become more vulnerable). You stress yourself out if you become very cold. If you happen to be in the vicinity of a virus at the time you are cold, you may be less likely to be able to fend it off. So wear your mittens or you'll catch your death!

And about antibiotics: True, they will not kill a virus. They are prescribed to a person with a viral respiratory infection because of secondary bacterial infections. These infections are opportunistic, again, due to your immune system being compromised because you have that pesky virus. These infections are quite common, and I daresay likely to happen. I am not saying that antibiotics are not over prescribed by some folks, but I am saying that they are not without value when a person has a virus.

The time it takes for the cortisol to cause a change in your immune system is too great for a momentary increase due to being cold for a few minutes to have an effect. So no getting chilled will not affect your immune system to the point of making you more susceptable to a virus.

Regarding antibiotics: your line of reasoning is flawed. The reason antibiotics are prescribed when you have a virus is due to pressure and expectations. A person goes in to his/her doctor's office with a complaint and they expect to be given a prescription (antibiotic). The patient thinks that if they don't get a prescription (antibiotic) then the doctor hasn't done his/her job. The doctor therefore feels pressure to give the patient something for fear that they will just go down the street to the next doctor who will give them a prescription (antibiotic) and so they never return to their clinic again.
The patient then goes and gets the antibiotic filled and takes a few days worth then feels better. Mind you they would have felt better in a few days anyway because they just had a virus. When they feel better they stop taking the antibiotic.
Now here is where the problem occurs. Because they didn't take the whole prescription any nasty little bacteria that happened to be in their system are now resistant to the antibiotic that they took.
This is where staph and other bacteria that are resistant to all known antibiotics come from.
So the next time you have a cold and go running to the doctor screaming for some antibiotics think about the consequences.
Just drink plenty of fluids, eat some chicken soup :11ztongue and in about 10 days you will be fine.

 

[letterboy]

You realize that this is totally impossible. A life virus cannot be caught from a dead virust vaccine, or - did you get a live virus innoculation of some sort?

There are other risks to the shots, though, and there are anti-flu treatments. I did that 2 years ago when I'd failed to get the shot, got sick and had a Cozumel trip approaching. :11:

sorry it took me a while to get back here dandydon i have not a clue as to what kinda shot they gave me i was in basic training fo rthe army they lined us up and went down the line, so i have no idea what they gave me. . . you know i have been having htis twitch ever since than hmmmm. . .


anywho scuba safe,
John

 

[Zoe83]

No i wont be getting one. my workmate's husband is a nurse and says it makes some people sick and there is still a chance you can get a bad flu..he says it doesnt make a lot of difference. so i opted for no needle! i havent had a flu in a year and a half, never had a needle for it, the way i see it, if its gona happen, it will..i will have to get at least 4 various shots before immigrating to america tho

 

[Kayla]

I work in a doctors office, and we didn't even get enough for everyone that works there... so the ones that really needed it, got it... and that left me out. I've gotten it for a few years now though, and I really wish that there was enough supply for me to get one this year.

From another side of things... our clinic is averaging about 250 calls a day of people looking for flu shots. Is there no end to this insanity? :06:

 

[Buccaneer]

Personally, it seems to me that there hasn't been so many people want ing the shot until suddenly they learned there is a shortage and now everyone feels they gotta have it. I'm not referring to posters on the board, but rather the masses in genral. Maybe it's just me, but I don't even know anyone who has gotten the flu shot in the past, but I sure have suddenly met alot of people wishing they could get it now that there is a shortage.

 

[SueMermaid]

Regarding antibiotics: your line of reasoning is flawed.

I respectfully disagree. Your reason is certainly correct, also, however.

 

[DandyDon]

Still wondering why no one seems to want the weakened live virust?:viking:

 

[RonFrank]

I noticed there is not a *no* catagory

Our entire family did get the flu last year.... however I know PLENTY of people who DID get the shot, and still got a very bad case of the flu.

ALOT of people got the flu last year, and based on my very scientific research (I asked people), most that did also got a flu shot..

As there is a huge shortage I doubt anyone in our family will get a shot.

Ron

 

[Ishie]

Hmm..
I don't think I have a She-ra immune system or anything, but I usually don't get the shot (I've gotten them twice when I had a spare minute, the line was short, and they were ten bucks), and I just don't get that sick. Maybe my winter allergies keep me used to feeling miserable. Occasionally, I'll get a bug of some sort that'll raise my temp for a few days (usually not by much; 98.6 is feverish for me), I'll feel like hell, may miss a day or two of work, and then I'm fine. My course of treatment is generally to avoid human contact, whine, and keep fluids in. I generally avoid antibiotics completely except on the rare occasion I have an ear infection, and even then, I have to be essentially unable to walk in a straight line before I finally succumb. I hate the stuff. The nastiest bugs have kept me in bed for a week with one or two days of a 100+ fever, but even that is rare. Maybe I haven't had that true 'hit by truck influenza'? So far the sickest I've been in ten years came from eating alfredo that had turned.

Ishie