I see that it must be time for my annual flu shot.

[MineralMan]

As soon as they're available, the anti-vax threads start up on DU. So, I use those threads as a reminder to stop in for my shot. Let's see: How do those threads go?

Type 1 - "I have never had a flu shot and have never had the flu." Lucky you. The flu sucks. Good luck to you.

Type 2 - "All of my friends who got the flu shot got the flu." Short on friends? I know lots of people. Most of them get the flu shot every year. Very few have gotten the flu in any given year. Anecdotal evidence is not actual evidence.

Type 3 - "I got a flu shot last year and got the flu two days later." Get your shot earlier. Really. It takes 10 days to 2 weeks for it to create immunity for the strains it protects against. Don't wait until lots of people have the flu. If you got the flu 2 days after the shot, you had already been exposed and weren't immune yet.

Type 3 - "Big Pharma sucks!" Yeah, in some ways it does. But, immunization is a proven way to reduce the likelihood of getting the illness you're being immunized for. Most health insurance covers the flu shot, whether or not you've met your deductible. It won't cost you a penny. It could keep you from really feeling awful for a week or ten days. I'd pay for that, even if it wasn't covered.

Type 4 - I'm super healthy. I never get sick. I eat only natural food." The influenza virus doesn't care. The flu is highly contagious, and if you don't have immunity, you're likely to get sick from it. You might not, but, then again...if you do get it, it's going to really suck to have it.

There are more types, but I need to go get my lunch. Next week, I'll drop into the Minute Clinic and get my high-dose vaccination. I'm 71, and that's what they recommend. I don't have time for the flu, either. It's a huge waste of time to get the flu, and takes only about 10 minutes to get the shot. You make your choices. I'll make mine.

[Orrex]

1. Jenny McCarthy and Jill Stein told me that vaccines are bad.

True fact.



k/r

[MineralMan]

2. Remind me never to go to Jill Stein, M.D.

She doesn't sound like a very good doctor, if that's her advice.

[tymorial]

5. The fact that Jill Stein is an MD makes her statements on vaccines

all the more outrageous.

[MineralMan]

17. Not all physicians are good physicians.

Sad, but true.

Then again, not all presidential candidates are actually fit to be President, either. That's also sad, but true.

[tymorial]

64. I have some colleagues who I wouldnt trust to wrap an ankle sprain

Let alone act as my personal physician. I am routinely amazed at the laziness and lack of knowledge of physicians I have encountered.

[tymorial]

3. "The influenza virus doesn't care"

That might be my favorite response to anti-vax nonsense that I have read in a long time.

Your post was aces. Thank you

[MineralMan]

4. Thanks!

[Warpy]

6. They've got a new wrinkle this year

(ahem)

A flu shot high in your arm can cripple you for life! Well no, not really, but a badly given shot to the deltoid can hurt and prevent you from sleeping on that side for a couple of weeks. I don't like the site, myself, but pharmacists are trained only to use the deltoid and are prevented in some states from using other sites.

I'm about your vintage and usually get the shot. The last flu I had was 10 years ago and nearly managed to kill me. If I can prevent it, you bet I'm going to, even risking a painful deltoid muscle to do it.

[Orrex]

9. In addition, a new crapumentary has been belched forth by the anti-vax crowd

I won't give its name here, but it's popped up repeatedly on my FB page.

[MineralMan]

11. The Nurse Practitioner at the clinic I go to is very skilled

I think she can find my deltoid muscle again this year.

[Warpy]

15. I'd really rather have it in my rump

It's a bigger muscle, better circulation (so the contents of the syringe are absorbed faster), and there's rarely any residual pain at all, even from a tetanus booster.

[MineralMan]

16. Yeah, but I don't want to put anyone through the pain

of looking at my wrinkly old butt. I like the NP at the clinic I go to. She doesn't need to see that...

[Horse with no Name]

70. unfortunately I had a really bad shot

and got a SIRVA (Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration). It hurt like hell for weeks and still aches almost a year later. BUT. I also had H1N1 flu and almost died. I will accept the small risk of the SIRVA again any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I've had over 50 shots in the last 30 or so years. Those are not bad odds.

[Warpy]

72. I had a bad blood draw that nailed my brachial nerve

so I feel your pain.

[SCantiGOP]

7. My analysis:

It's hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it is impossible to win an argument with a stupid person.
(Quote stolen from Bill Murray)

I simply refuse to have arguments with those who will not accept science and reason as the framework.

[etherealtruth]

32. Borrowing a word from religion: AMEN n/t

[GulfCoast66]

71. Never argue with an idiot

They drag you down to their level then beat you thru experience.

[sharp_stick]

8. It seems a little early

this year.

[MineralMan]

13. It's September. Most years, the vaccine is available about now.

I sometimes wait until October to get mine, but since people are telling me I shouldn't get it at all, I think I'll go this week.

They're still working on a new type of flu vaccine that may protect against all strains. I hope they figure that one out and it becomes available one of these years. I'd like that.

[sharp_stick]

61. Usually we get to

vaccinate at work in early October. The summer has just flown by this year. The kids are back in school.

[applegrove]

10. The flu shot is made for what they guess are going to be the main flus in the west given a certain

year. Some years they guess wrong and other strains show up. So people get the flu. No reason not to try again the next year. Who really wants the flu anyways?

[MineralMan]

12. Who would want the flu?

Not me. But, maybe all those anti-vaxxers are really hoping to convince people not to get their shot. Maybe they want people to get the flu. I don't know.

Why anyone would try to talk people out of such a thing, I cannot understand.

[mrmpa]

14. Type 5: the 1917-18.........

flu pandemic. I think it was H1N1 virus.

[MineralMan]

18. That seems to be the general opinion of

people who study such things. I don't know. I do know that it sure killed a lot of people. But, we shouldn't forget that the flu kills tens of thousands of people every year. Not directly, but through secondary infections. Frankly, I'd rather not be one of them. So, I take my little stick in the arm. I'm an old fart, with compromised lungs from smoking. I do not need the flu. I've had the flu. It sucks.

[mrmpa]

25. I'm with you......

I had the flu once, never again. I was uninsured & not working. I was sick for about 2-3 months. I developed pneumonia. I remember how it started.

I went for a walk, late December. I stopped at a friend's house, their son had gone hunting and bagged 3 deer. They loaded me down with venison steaks, chops and hot sausage. I went home and made the hot sausage. I wasn't feeling good and laid down on the couch. I was shivering and knew I was feverish. I woke up about 36 hours later with my dog on top of me trying to give me her body heat. I took my temperature and it was 102.9. I had never taken the sausage out of the pan to refrigerate it, I had to throw it away. The best I could do for my dog was to let her out into the courtyard to do her business.

I was like this, with every bone in my body aching for 6 weeks. The neighbor kids stopped by and I let them take my dog for her walks. I was thankful for my neighbors who took care of the dog and made sure I had food and liquids in the house. My brothers also stopped by, but I wouldn't let them in. They also dropped off food and lots of soups. One of them told my parents, that I looked like I had died.

Never again, never again.

[MineralMan]

28. Yup. The flu is nasty.

I haven't had a bad case for many years. I did get it a few years ago, but it was a mild case, probably because I had been vaccinated that year. A mismatch in strains, but I still got some protection.

[SCantiGOP]

47. The only time I know I had a full-blown case

Was in the 80s before everyone got flu shots.
I remember even my teeth and hair hurt. I had to block out any light coming into the room.
It was three days before I got out of bed, a move which promptly sent me back to bed for another 2-3 days.

It's always amusing to be in the elevator with some poor wheezing sniffly slob who says they have the flu. I want to say, No, you don't, you have a bad cold. If you had the flu you wouldn't be standing here.

[Hortensis]

50. My worst was the Hongkong flu of 1968,

very like yours. What I remember most were very bad muscle aches, but the fever must have been very high. Haven't had hallucinations since. I didn't get out of bed for 3 days even though I had no one to take care of me. These days I'd wonder if I could die and crawl if needed for help, but back then I assumed I could wait out anything.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

52. I got that same strain. December of 1968, I was in college

and I got that bug about a week before the Christmas break, along with a lot of my classmates. I was in a dorm and vaguely remember crawling on my hands and knees to the bathroom because I was too dizzy from the fever to stand up. I thought I was going to have to get better in order to die. There were about 3 days that I don't remember much about. Since I was only 20 I bounced back pretty fast but I doubt I'd recover so quickly (if at all) now. I've been getting flu shots since they became available; I do NOT want to go through something like that again.

[Hortensis]

60. Oh, yes. That brings back memories! I've read that flu

tended to kill older people, btw, so we really wouldn't want to get it today. Not like the shocking varieties that target young people.

Speaking of those, we caught a major break with the 2007 or 2009? pandemic flu. That mutation spread like wildfire and did hit the young more, but it turned out not to be nearly as virulent as experts feared. I noticed that year, though, I hadn't read anything about it lately, googled and discovered a massive censorship blackout of the flu in all media. Only technical posts full of numbers and terms lay people couldn't follow were allowed, presumably to avoid "panic" if it was the big one, i.e., people making decisions to take care of themselves. That was a wakeup that they were really scared of and preparing for impending massive societal breakdown if it turned out to be the big one.

My husband had always resisted shots, and it was only after that that I started insisting we get them each year, and keeping more food stocks in the pantry. In a way it's a shame that the various flus have tended to be milder than 1968 because people just aren't concerned. Not even the ones I had told about the current censorship, most not even particularly curious.

I realized from those discussions, and others, that even most hard-core, government-hating conservatives really secretly believe in their bones that the government will always be there just as it always has been and will always be able to take care of them. Our own kids do.

[Bohunk68]

74. There was a flu that went around in the late 50's maybe 1960.

I was in high school, and my while family came down with it. I was the only one who could manage to do anything at all and the rest of the household depended on me to get through it. I do believe they called it the Hong Kong flue and the one in the late 60's was a version of it. Knocked out a lot of people in the country. Long before flu shots. I'll turn 73 soon and have foregone the shots for the last three years. Before that, as soon as my Medicare kicked in, I began getting the flu shots. Would, within a couple of days come down with it. The last three years I have not taken it and have not come down with the flu. My lifestyle and habits have been the same. Not changed at all. So whatever, that is what my personal, yes, I know, anecdotal, evidence is. I will go with my personal anecdotal facts and live to be 94.

[neeksgeek]

76. I had a case like that

Quote: "If you had the flu you wouldn't be standing here."

It was my first semester of university, finals week. I got sick the day of my American literature exam. Wrote the exam with a bag of cough drops on my desk. I can blame the B+ I got on that flu; I couldn't skip it though. Wonder how many of my classmates picked it up from me? I went home coughing my lungs out and stayed that way for three weeks. Worst Christmas break ever.

Every year I get some kind of cold, usually passes in a few days. But this was awful! My ribs hurt from coughing so much. I was better by the time school started up in January. Yay.

So yea I'm getting a flu shot.

[Francis Booth]

51. I got the flu 24 years ago.

I remember the date because my son was three at the time. I had gone to bed achey, but woke up feeling like I was going to burst into flames, so I stumbled onto my back deck and lay down in the snow with nothing on but my tidy Whiteys.

My little boy woke up, came to the door and said, "daddy, are you going to die?" I think I said, "yes son, daddy is dying" because he started crying and ran to wake up my wife.

Long story short, I lived, but – never again! It felt like every bone in my body had been worked over with a ball peen hammer. Even my earlobes hurt. I think I was flat out on my back for a good 10 days. I was throwing up stuff that I'd eaten in my childhood, that's how deep i was digging.

Fuck the flu.

[smirkymonkey]

91. Wow, glad you pulled through that!

It sounds particularly nasty. Take care of yourself this year!

[Hekate]

42. The Flu Pandemic killed some 20 million people worldwide. Most were young, healthy, prime of life...

One of my college friends was Serbo-Croatian. Her family story was that her grandparents' village was effectively wiped out, and the young man who would become her grandpa said to the young woman who would become her grandma, "How about we go to America?" and on that note they left.

[yeoman6987]

19. I did notice anti flu shot retoric the last few days

I get mine annually. I don't take medical advice from unanimous internet users no matter the website. Great OP!!!!!

[MineralMan]

20. That's wise.

Why anyone would listen to amateurs about medical matters is beyond me. For me, the only advice I would give is, "Talk to a medical professional about that."

I will, though, debunk ignorance or bad medical advice when I see it.

[yeoman6987]

22. Outstanding!!!!!

[Codeine]

24. Good advice for someone your age,

watever age that may be depending on your argumentative circumstances or personal whim. . .

[ismnotwasm]

21. I "get" to take care of flu victims every year--in fact we are already seeing them

For a healthcare worker in a big hospital, every year is a "bad flu year"

Occasionally, they are already immunosuppressed--which leads to horrible complications. I have zero patience for anti-vaxxers.

[MineralMan]

23. Zero patience is the right response to anti-vaxxers.

Yuck! Thanks for helping to care for people!

[enough]

26. You missed one. Type 5. The superior DNA argument. "My very very old parent has NEVER

had a flu shot and has NEVER had the flu, and neither have I."

[MineralMan]

29. Yup, there's that one, too.

Thanks!

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

27. I've never had a flu shot, and

I'd been thanking my lucky stars that I hadn't had the flu in about 20 years. Until a month, or so, ago when I got it bad. Out of nowhere, it seemed. I won't provide the gory, nasty details, but for a few days I truly wished I'd just die and get it over with.

I never want to got through that again, and I will soon be getting my first flu shot ever. Thanks for the reminder!

[MineralMan]

30. Flu sucks!

[Vinca]

31. I used to be a Type 1 until I got the flu one year.

I honestly thought I was going to die. My temp went so high I hallucinated.

[mrmpa]

33. When I was a kid, my mom's Union............

the Postal Worker's had a free flu shot clinic for their members and their families. Mom put us 4 kids and my Dad on the bus & we went to the church where it was held. One year (1971) we got the last bus out of town, because the Pirates had just won the World Series and Downtown Pittsburgh was a celebratory area. Dad didn't go with us he stayed home to watch the game. He went to the doctor's office later in the month to get his shot. Cost my folks $5 for that shot. Mom wouldn't shut up about how dad could have had the free shot.

[Siwsan]

34. I guess I'm a lucky Type 1

Never had the flu. The last time I had a flu shot was when I was in the Navy. I think this was before they switched formulations because I do remember a number of people getting very ill, and the shots were given to us Thanksgiving week. So a number of people were also very upset. The next year they switched the dates we were given the shots.

I do think that some people just have a built in flu immunity that may, or may not, be genetic. During the big 'Spanish Flu' epidemic, my Grandfather used to travel around with his priest, helping him give last rites to flu victims. He didn't get the flu and neither did my Grandmother, or any of their young children, via cross contamination.

But I never discourage anyone for getting flu shots. From what I hear, suffering from the flu is a pretty awful experience.

[lillypaddle]

35. Especially important

for children and us older folks - but really for everyone.

[uppityperson]

36. Type 6, 7, 8....

Type 6 - They only guess about what type flu will come around and sometimes are wrong.
That is true, but often they are right. An influenza vaccine will not protect you against all strains but will protect against many common ones.

Type 7 - I never get the flu but just achy for a couple days and then that bad bronchial cough that lasts for 3 weeks.
That is influenza. Sounds like a mild case, but yes. You had it. Hear those people going cough cough cough? That's the aftermath of the flu.

Type 8 - I got the flu shot last year and had stomach flu, vomitting and diarhhea several times last winter. The flu shot doesn't work on me.
Gastroenteritis is a totally different virus, like norovirus, or else you had food poisoning from unsafe food preparation/storage.

[demigoddess]

37. I've never had the flu , but I get the shot.

I believe in vaccines. As a military brat and wife, I have had many vaccines that some of you may not have had. Cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, typhus, typhoid, polio and a couple of others. Healthy as a horse for most of my life.

[sorefeet]

38. I got it three years ago BAD

I'm getting too old to go thru that shit again. It's way too easy to prevent rather than take a chance of actually dying from the crap. I sit here with a broken hand after wrestling with an 800 pound log, a flu shot ain't shit. I still got more logs to wrestle, don't have time for the damned flu.

[ananda]

39. I like to get mine later in the fall ..

.. thinking that it will last through the winter.

[mnhtnbb]

45. Yes. See my post # 44

[Granny M]

40. I was getting the flu every 1 or 2 years.

I got sicker every time. I got one really bad bout, even with steroids and antibiotics, I just couldn't clear my lungs. My GP sent me to the hospital under the care of a respiratory consultant. She said I had post viral asthma, prescribed another round of steroids and 2 inhalers. And a flu shot. She said I should get this vaccination every year, as my flu bouts were heading in a bad direction. So, I followed advice and haven't had the flu or asthma again in 16 years. I have had one or two colds, but rarely.

[PasadenaTrudy]

41. Getting mine next week! nt

[C Moon]

43. I get one every year. I don't recall the last time I had a full-fledged flu.

Don't miss it at all.

[mnhtnbb]

44. Timing of WHEN to get your flu shot is something to consider

so says my primary care doc.

He generally recommends holding off until the end of October in order to have best resistance to height of the flu season--usually around December through first couple of months of new year--here in NC. Some of this is probably related to climate where you are and how much time you spend inside in recirculated air.

If you are going to be traveling--exposed to recirculated air on planes or be in close contact with crowds--then make sure you have the shot early enough to generate antibodies before you travel--at least a couple of weeks prior to travel.

And of course all of this is predicated on accurate prediction of what strain of flu is expected to be prevalent this year and whether the flu shot you get works against that strain.

[hbhall]

46. Uncle Benedetto

Before my mother died, we went on a tour of the local cemetery's so that I would know where the relatives are. We went to several , and they were all there; my grandparents, my aunts and my uncles. But the one that struck me the most was great Uncle Benedetto, all alone in his grave in a single , small solitary cemetery that but for our collective respect for the dead, would go unattended and unnoticed by most people driving by too fast. And the years struck me, born 1900, died 1918. My grandfather, Giuseppe Zegarelli , had worked and saved to bring his younger brother to America. And soon after his arrival in America, he died in the great flu pandemic of 1918, following World War 1. Just 18 years old.

Get a flu shot.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

54. A couple of young great-aunts/uncles of mine died in that epidemic.

The 1918 flu, an H1N1 strain, was unusual in that it killed more young people(teenagers and young adults) than elderly people, infants or people who were already sick. That virus kills through a cytokine storm, which is an overreaction of the body's immune system. The strong immune reactions of younger people actually made the disease worse - their own immune systems turned against them.

[Lars39]

57. I only exist today because both of my maternal grandparents' first spouse died of pneumonia

from the 1918 flu.

[Liberal In Texas]

48. I'm a believer.

Get mine every year. Can't remember the last time I had the flu.

Good post MineralMan.

[tammywammy]

49. I get the flu shot every year

They bring in a bunch of people at work to give them. Do it every year. Not only do I not want the flu, I don't want to spread it on to others. They use statistical modeling to determine what strains to use in the vaccine. Some years they miss, but even then you'll end up with a milder flu than without the shot.

[Gothmog]

53. It is time for my annual flu shot

[RKP5637]

55. Thanks for the reminder to get ours!!! n/t

[HockeyMom]

56. 3 years younger than you

I would say None of the Above. I had the flu just about every year in childhood through my teens. It started to be less frequent in my young adulthood. When I reached Middle Age, I just did not get it again, definitely was exposed to others with flu right in my face. I have never had a flu shot.

Since you are my age, you must have lived during those earlier flu epidemics and pandemics in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Did you get the flu in those earlier years? Get flu shots then? Science has said that during the 2009 Flu Pandemic it was not the elderly who were catching that because they had immunity from the 1957 Pandemic which was the same strain. It didn't "mutate" in 50 years? CDC has said that. The same reason why older adults weren't dying during the 1918 Pandemic. There was the same strain Pandemic 20 years previously, and older adults had that and got immunity. They say that the flu "mutates" every year. Mutates does not mean totally change. If it did, would be a totally new, never seen before strain of influenza.

BTW, I would bet that you yourself had measles, mumps, "German Measles", Chicken Pox at your age since there were no vaccines for them back then. Have you ever been around others with those diseases in your youth or young adulthood? Did you catch them, again? Ever think it might be the same with the flu for those who had every one of those flu strains in their youth?

So for my Senior self I will say, been there, done that with the flu. Just don't get it ANY MORE. Get your flu shot if that is what you choose. I will pass and not demand anyone else get their's just to protect elderly me.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

58. The reason young people were dying of the flu in 1918

and a few other epidemics was not because older people had become immune from having been sick previously. It was because that particular strain, H1N1, kills through a cytokine storm, which is an overreaction of the body's immune system. The strong immune reactions of young adults actually made the disease worse for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm You don't develop immunities to the flu they way you do with mumps or measles because the flu virus mutates enough to prevent that from happening. Nobody is making you get a flu shot if you don't want one, but if you think you're immune from "the flu" because you've had it before, I'm afraid you're mistaken. You might have some immunity to the strain you got, but not the next one. I got it in 1968 and it was bad enough that I will not take the chance of getting anything like that again.

[madinmaryland]

59. Interestingly, my wife (and her mother) are unable to take a flu shot. They are allergic to the

the ingredients of the shot. Apparently it is made of egg products which she is allergic to.

[LittleGirl]

73. me too. n/t

[tymorial]

86. You rely on the rest of us to keep you safe

Those of us with two brain cells are happy to do it. Herd immunity is seriously being harmed by anti-vaxx nonsense.

[madinmaryland]

89. Huh? WTF are you talking about? In no way did I or my wife or her mother buy into the anti-vax

nonsense. Her FUCKING doctor told her to never take it due to her allergy to the egg products used in the flu vaccine. For her it is a choice of getting the flu or having a life threatening reaction to the vaccine.

She, myself, and our daughter have had ALL of the government required immunizations.

I'm glad your two brain cells told you to get your immunizations.

[tymorial]

90. You clearly misunderstood my comment.

I wasn't insulting you. I stated that people like you (unable to obtain a vaccine or vaccines in general) rely on others who are able. I was attacking the damage done by anti-vax conspiracy theory not you.

I was defending you and stating that the rest of us have an obligation to keep people like you safe.

[MurrayDelph]

62. I love "one size fits all" medical advice

Every time I have had a flu shot, I have had a negative reaction. I am also allergic to some antibiotics that the pharmacy said "but no one is allergic to." Lucky me.

That does not mean that I am anti-vaccine. I have had my anti-Measles, my DPT, and Shingles vaccines. I am only anti flu vaccine [u] for me.

To not acknowledge that there are some who cannot tolerate the vaccine is to promote to same intolerance as The Anti-Vaxers, the so-called Christian Right, militant Vegans, militant atheists, sms everyone else who gets angry when people don't live by their rules.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

63. I don't think anyone is claiming everybody always should get the shot, regardless.

There will be some people who are allergic to it or for some reason don't react well to it. Those people obviously should not have it. The point is that there are a lot of unscientific reasons for objecting to it, and people who could benefit from it aren't getting it because of inaccurate information. Anyone who seems to have had a bad reaction to the vaccine probably should consult with a doctor to find out more about the reaction and weigh the risks. However, to say that most people, especially older people, probably should get the vaccine for their own safety as long as they don't react adversely is not intolerant. It's sensible.

[astral]

85. if you have an adverse reaction it could ruin your and your family's life.

I am horrified at the rabid one-sided viewpoint people have here. The medical system does not respond when a flu shot reaction occurs. They just deny it is a flu shot reaction and refuse to provide the appropriate treatment, and go ahead and tear me apart limb from limb for saying so. The nightmare and the heartbreak will never be over for me.

'as long as they don't react adversely'

what if they give you another flu shot while you are being hospitalized for the first one but they have no record of the shot because it happened at a convenient public health center and the person was so close to death the doctor told them when they first met them in the emergency room that they are probably going to die THAT DAY. They did not die at that time but the rest of the store will be saved for real life. Lets just say their health was ruined and life became a living hell.

How many horror stories are there in REAL LIFE that the medical care providers never report? How many doctors and nursed allow themselves or their families to have a flu shot? That is nobody's business due to HIPAA laws. And it's people's right not to share their personal medical information, I am just saying that is how it is.

Call me an 'anti-vaxxer.' Call me whatever you want.

[awoke_in_2003]

65. Been getting it the last few times

once or twice a year I feel one trying to come on, but it only lasts a couple hours and doesn't get bad.

[GeorgeGist]

66. Thank you for critically thinking.

It's a shame that there's no vaccine against willful ignorance.

[MineralMan]

84. There is. Education and Factual Information.

Unfortunately, too many people fail to take those shots, as well, when they are offered. More's the pity.

[greatauntoftriplets]

67. My paternal grandfather died of the "Spanish Flu" in 1918.

I get the shot.

[reACTIONary]

68. K&R - get mine at work every year....

.... we have several days during which we conduct mass inoculations .

[roamer65]

69. Too bad they didn't have a vaccine for the norovirus.

Flu really doesn't hit me that bad, but I try to get the shot anyway.

When that damn "winter vomiting bug" comes around...UGH...misery.

People often mistake norovirus for influenza, btw.

[FailureToCommunicate]

75. Good reminder, thanks! And don't forget a shingles vaccination. My neighbor got that recently and

he had all sorts of complications beyond the awful initial stuff. His wife was exasperated with him for not having gotten the shot when he should have, especially since he was a doctor and should have known better!

[Lil Missy]

77. I get pneumonia 3 times a year. I wouldn't miss a flu shot - I get sick too easily and too often.

So that's one less thing to worry about.

[Chemisse]

78. I am a no-flu-shot hybrid.

I rarely get even so much as a cold and haven't had the flu in 20 years, plus I'm a bit of a baby about shots.

I think I had H1N1 when it was going around, but I just felt a little under the weather for a couple of days and didn't miss work at all.

I guess I have a really robust immune system. I tell my husband that it's my superpower!

[dembotoz]

79. anthrax breakout in siberia as permafrost melts and infected dead animals exposed

they also anticipate that smallpox and the dreaded spanish flu could also be reintroduced via this problem

my best friend is on vaca in siberia....not my first choice either...long story.....
What is good is that siberia is huge and she is not going anywhere near this area.....


the future might not be happy for the anti vaxers

[MineralMan]

80. Interesting. Apparently anthrax spores are very hardy.

I got an experimental anthrax vaccination while in the USAF. We also got a vaccination against the plague. That one was no fun at all, and most of us felt pretty ill for a couple of days.

No choice for us. We just lined up and got zapped in both arms at the same time. Ugh. My USAF vaccination record is on a shelf above my desk. I look at it once in a while.

[dembotoz]

83. who need syfi channel when reality writes its own horror films

was going to say the real life stories are in the newspapers but alas the milw journal underwent another ownership change and i guess a good newspaper is what other cities now get

[lupinella]

81. Thank you

for this!
Science > magic, & it's a good reminder for those of us that forget things!

[MineralMan]

82. Thanks for your reply.

Most DUers know this, of course.

[spooky3]

87. Type 9

"The studies are flawed and do not show that the flu vaccines can be effective."

[rustysgurl]

88. The ONLY year I didnt get my flu shot ...

I spent 6 days in ICU with Type A flu and damn near died. I'm asthmatic and came this close to full blown pneumonia. I was sick for weeks afterward at home, and it took almost a year to feel like myself again.

Needless to say, I get the damned shot EVERY year now.