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Flu Shot

RymRym
edited October 2007 in Everything Else
Ahhh, flu shot.  The one real benefit of working for a hospital is that I get free flu shots every year. ^_^
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Comments

  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve

    Ahhh, flu shot.  The one real benefit of working for a hospital is that I get free flu shots every year. ^_^

    I thought the free enema bags brought you in?
  • bunnikunbunnikun
    I hate shots. =/
  • AndrewAndrew
    I've never gotten a flu shot and baring any flu of 1918 proportions, I doubt I ever will.
  • AprecheApreche
    I've never gotten a flu shot and baring any flu of 1918 proportions, I doubt I ever will.
    Same.
  • VigaViga
    I've never gotten a flu shot and baring any flu of 1918 proportions, I doubt I ever will.
    Same.
    Ditto.
  • RymRym
    I've gotten one every year for as long as they've been available to me.  Never had a side effect, and never had a flu. ^_^
  • AprecheApreche

    I've gotten one every year for as long as they've been available to me. Never had a side effect, and never had a flu. ^_^

    I have also never had the influenza.
  • RymRym
    I have also never had the influenza.
    Clinical evidence, however, shows that the flu shot decreases your chance of getting influenze significantly when the proper strains are chosen.  It costs nothing, doesn't hurt, has zero side effects in the vast majority of healthy people, and works.  There's no reason not to get it in that case.
  • AprecheApreche
    Clinical evidence, however, shows that the flu shot decreases your chance of getting influenze significantly when the proper strains are chosen. It costs nothing, doesn't hurt, has zero side effects in the vast majority of healthy people, and works. There's no reason not to get it in that case.
    It doesn't cost nothing.
  • GreatTeacherMacRossGreatTeacherMacRoss
    I have also never had the influenza.

    Clinical evidence, however, shows that the flu shot decreases your chance of getting influenze significantly when the proper strains are chosen.  It costs nothing, doesn't hurt, has zero side effects in the vast majority of healthy people, and works.  There's no reason not to get it in that case.

    And my experience has shown me that, back in 5th and 6th grade, half of my school vanished for a week after paniced parents forced kids to get flu shots. All those kids, without exception, got ill within a week and were gone for about a week. I have never had a flu shot and I have never missed anything on account of influenza.
  • ......
    edited October 2007
    Clinical evidence, however, shows that the flu shot decreases your chance of getting influenze significantly when the proper strains are chosen. It costs nothing, doesn't hurt, has zero side effects in the vast majority of healthy people, and works. There's no reason not to get it in that case.
    It doesn't cost nothing.
    Aye, it only costs nothing in Rym's case I assume.
    Post edited by ... on
  • RochelleRochelle
    Most local drug stores sell the shots for around $20. Some insurances cover the flu shot, however, most do not. Here at the VA, we offer free shots to all veterans and charge their family members either $10 or $20. Employees get them for free and it's required for the clinic staff to get them because they see the patients. I plan on getting a flu shot. I've gotten one each year since I've been working with the VA and haven't gotten the flu. Only thing that I don't like about the flu shot is the pain in my arm I get after receiving one.
  • RymRym
    Aye, it only costs nothing in Rym's case
    Or if you have health insurance worth a damn.
  • zombie a gogozombie a gogo
    I got one once at work and I think I got sick every other week that winter.
  • RymRym
    edited October 2007
    I got one once at work and I think I got sick every other week that winter.
    Most winter illnesses are colds and not flus.  The flu shot has nothing to do with them at all, and has no effect whatsoever.  All the flu shot does is prevent a less common but more serious infection of influenza.  The common perception that flu shots cause colds or minor sickness is largely a myth propagated by Lewis Black's comedy, which is not, in most cases, valid medical advice.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited October 2007
    My employer gives them for free - therefore I get one. The virus in the flu shot is dead. Therefore, the risk of side effects is slim to none. (Note: the nasal vaccine has a weakened virus.)

    I suspect that if I had to pay for it, I wouldn't get it. I'm not exactly in one of the categories where a shot is recommended.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • RymRym
    I suspect that if I had to pay for it, I wouldn't get it.
    Me either.
  • cosmicenemacosmicenema
    Every place I've worked for offer free flu shots. They find it saves them money because people take less time off.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    They find it saves them money because people take less time off.
    Damn... I fell right into their trap!
  • zombie a gogozombie a gogo
    I'm sure my getting sick so much after the shot was just a fluke, but I've decided against the shot every year since.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    What is scary is the number of people who DIE from the flu every year.
  • bodtchboybodtchboy
    I get sick every year whether I get it or not.

    It's hard to tell whether I get the flu or the cold anymore. If it last a month or 2, I say its the flu.
  • kage_rodkage_rod
    What is scary is the number of people who DIE from the flu every year.
    And how much is that?

    Um, I had to get it when I was younger, but for the last few years I balked... My mother made me because she has a weakened immune system, and she gets it too, but I get sick all the time anyway. . . Longest period of time where I didn't get sick (with strep, flu, mono (TWICE), colds, etc) was when I moved out, October-May last year.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    edited October 2007
    I had one during the Swine Flu scare of the Ford administration. I became well and truly ill. The needle they used was very nasty and big and bitey. I haven't had one since.

    Have you heard about this new superbug staph infection thingee?
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve

    In annual influenza epidemics 5-15% of the population are affected with upper respiratory tract infections. Hospitalization and deaths mainly occur in high-risk groups (elderly, chronically ill). Although difficult to assess, these annual epidemics are thought to result in between three and five million cases of severe illness and between 250 000 and 500 000 deaths every year around the world. Most deaths currently associated with influenza in industrialized countries occur among the elderly over 65 years of age.
    source
  • kage_rodkage_rod
    That's not.. that bad... >>; Call me cold hearted, but old people -> bound to die easier.

    It's kind of like the 9/11 thing, actually. It bothered me that people were all up in arms for this, yet when it comes to, say, the rate of people dieing from AIDS every -day-, they don't give two shits. The amount of people who died in 9/11 was less than those who die from AIDS daily.

    I also am of the mind that, while technically not overpopulated, the world is almost too full of people. It used to be more dramatic when I was younger, and a little more naive ("We're killing all the animals! People should be put into smaller spaces, or forced to cut down on giving birth! China had it right!")... Not saying I'm not still naive. I'm still pretty stupid... so, I just usually don't offer my opinion...
  • StarfoxStarfox
    Joe, did you get one during the Spanish Flu epidemic?
  • VigaViga
    Spanish flu? Swine flu? Is there a huge difference that they can't all be just the flu?
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    edited October 2007
    Joe, did you get one during the Spanish Flu epidemic?
    I don't remember there being one for the Spanish Flu. I was in France for the worst of it. You just had to try to stay very clean, which was a lot harder then than it is now.
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • AndrewAndrew
    edited October 2007
    Spanish flu? Swine flu? Is there a huge difference that they can't all be just the flu?
    The Spanish flu was a pandemic in 1918 which killed almost 100 million people. It was named so because Spain was the only country not involved in WWI and therefore had no media censorship. This caused the majority of the news on the flu to derive from Spain.

    In annual influenza epidemics 5-15% of the population are affected with upper respiratory tract infections. Hospitalization and deaths mainly occur in high-risk groups (elderly, chronically ill). Although difficult to assess, these annual epidemics are thought to result in between three and five million cases of severe illness and between 250 000 and 500 000 deaths every year around the world. Most deaths currently associated with influenza in industrialized countries occur among the elderly over 65 years of age.
    source
    What interesting is that the more virulent strains of the flu cause Cytokine Storms, a reaction in the persons immune system in which a persons own immune system kills them rather than the infection. It is believed that the Spanish flu caused such a Storm and the reason why the Avian flu needs to be watched is because it causes the same reaction. This is why people with strong immune systems would die from the flu and why the Spanish flu caused so many deaths in healthy young adults.
    Post edited by Andrew on
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