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Subscribe to RSSIn 2011 the flu season was mild but U.S. health officials say it's unclear what this year will bring and are urging people to get vaccinated. The flu shot isn't for everyone, but is important for people who are six months and older, pregnant women and those with high-risk conditions. NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.
Just about everyone is supposed to get a flu shot every year, and two groups are particular no-brainers -- pregnant women and health care workers. But new numbers released on Thursday show that fewer than half of pregnant women got vaccinated last year and just two-thirds of health care workers did.
Although they’ve been pushing flu vaccination hard for more than a decade, public health officials admit they are still finding it a hard sell. But it’s not necessarily resistance. It just may not yet be easy enough to get the vaccine. And recent mild flu seasons haven’t helped.
About 128 million people, or about 42 percent of the U.S. population, got immunized against influenza last year. Because flu viruses constantly mutate and evolve, people must get vaccinated with a fresh formula every year to be fully protected. This year’s vaccine protects against the three most common circulating strains.
The best vaccination rates are among babies aged up to 2, with nearly 75 percent vaccinated. That’s because babies make regular visits to pediatricians, and vaccinations are a routine part of those visits. And more than 63 percent of 2- to 4-year-olds were vaccinated last year. But just 29 percent of 18- to 49-year-olds had a flu shot.
Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to flu. Not only do they get sicker, because pregnancy suppresses the immune system, but the infection can lead to losing their babies. The vaccine also protects a woman’s newborn, who cannot get the vaccine until age six months.
“Influenza is five times more likely to cause severe illness in pregnant women than women who are not pregnant,” said Dr. Laura Riley of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
But a CDC survey released Thursday showed that just 47 percent of pregnant women had a flu vaccine last year. If their doctors both recommended and provided the vaccine, nearly 74 percent of pregnant women got the shot. Just 11 percent of women whose doctor said nothing got immunized.
Even though doctors have been stressing for years that flu vaccines cannot give people the flu, a full quarter of the pregnant women who refused the vaccine said they believed it would infect them. Another 13 percent thought their babies were at risk.
“Pregnant women worry about everything,” Riley said. “We spend a lot of time in this country talking about you can’t eat this, you can’t eat that. It takes us a little while to get the message out about how efficacious (the vaccine) is. We are preventing a very severe disease potentially and we are protecting your baby.” Vaccination does not raise the risk of miscarriages or birth defects.
Don Emmert / AFP - Getty Images file
A mild flu season last year and memories of the H1N1 pandemic that didn't turn out to be as serious as expected have made flu shots a hard sell to the general public.
Flu may be off many people’s radar because the last two years haven’t been especially bad, and because the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic didn’t turn out to be as bad an initially feared.
Yet, 1,300 children died from H1N1 that year and about 100 U.S. children die every year from flu, half of them previously perfectly healthy, CDC says. The CDC estimates that anywhere between 3,000 to 49,000 people a year die from flu in the United States. A lot depends on the strains circulating.
“Flu is unpredictable. Just because we got off easy last season does not mean we will get off easy this season,” Riley said.
The other group that should have 100 percent vaccination is health care workers. The CDC data show that more than 86 percent of physicians are vaccinated, followed by more than three-quarters of nurses. But the numbers plummet to just half of workers in long-term care facilities, where patients are especially vulnerable to flu.
“I believe that the immunization of the health care provider community is both an ethical and professional responsibility,” said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University in Nashville and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “It’s a patient safety issue so that we do not transmit our influenza infection. When an outbreak strikes, we need to be vertical, not horizontal.”
As with the pregnant women, health workers were more likely to get vaccinated if it was easy for them. More than 78 percent of health care workers got immunized if free vaccine was made available for several days at work. And 21 percent of the health workers said getting flu vaccine was now a condition of employment. More employers should consider making it a requirement, said Litjen Tan of the American Medical Association.
This year, 135 million doses of flu vaccine will be available to the U.S. market. People can get vaccinated at pharmacies, at big-box stores, grocery stores, doctor’s offices and often at their places of employment. Most private insurance companies and Medicare pay for the whole cost of the vaccine.
And while the vaccines are not specifically formulated to protect against some new flu strains that a few people have caught from pigs, they may offer some help, health officials said.
So far, the three new variants identified this year -- H3n2v (the little v stands for “variant”), H1N1v and H1N2v -- don’t spread easily from person to person. Almost everyone infected has been close to pigs. One person has died from the new H3N2v virus, but everyone else has recovered. The CDC’s Dr. Daniel Jernigan says people alive in the 1990s have some immunity to the H3N2 version, and the new H1N1v is close to the strain that the current vaccine targets, although the protection is not perfect.
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For as simple and easy are they to get, a flu shot can be a life saver. I had pneumonia last winter, and it darned near killed me. It was NOT caused by the flu. Others were dropping left and right with the flu, but I had a nasty pneumonia instead. If I had the flu on top of the pneumonia, I would not be here today. I now have the pneumonia vaccine under my belt, as well as the shingles vaccine. As a matter of fact, I'm caught up on all my immunizations (I'm nearly 60.) I never want to be as sick as I was, again. It was horrible, and I'm no wuss. It's a no brainer, it's available, and it's worthwhile. Get you flu immunization. Stay well and best wishes to all.
BTW: You shouldn't need to argue with your doctor for getting your vaccines. "Guidelines" recommend 60 for the pneumonia, but you are not required to follow that guideline. The CDC just lowered the recommended age for the Shingles vaccine to 50. That, again, is recommended, not required. If you want the vaccine, tell them. Also, whooping cough is making a come back. Please don't infect our infants because you are too squeamish about getting an inoculation. Whooping cough may just make you sick, but it will kill a baby. Stop it before it starts. Thanks again.
Being a veterinarian, I rarely argue with vaccine protocols. However, with the flu vaccine I do. The sickest I have ever been was the one time (and one time only) that I received a flu vaccination. I would rather have had the actual flu. While I understand the reason why it is a GOOD idea for those folks that could potentially come into contact with the virus or pass it on, such as health care workers, or those more susceptible to showing clinical signs when they get the virus (very young, very old and pregnants), it is NOT a necessary vaccine for healthy adults. My husband (whose immune system should be bronzed, it works so well) was mandated by his job last year and sure enough, he came down with all the clinical signs of the flu. I kept him home and away from others, but didn't go to the doctor. He is getting the vaccine today and if he gets sick this year, we are taking him to the doctor for confirmation so that he won't have to go through it again.
When it comes to vaccines, more is not necessarily better and one size does not fit all. While vaccination protocols are RECOMMENDATIONS, they need to be tailored to each individual patient. I do it with vaccines in my veterinary practice. Why would the human health care team NOT do it for their patients?
Thanks,
My wife is a healthcare professional and has observed for years how after receiving the flu shot her coworkers invariably got sick. Not with the flu, but with other viruses because the body's immune system was weakened dealing with the flu vaccine. Just in the last week an entire floor of peds nurses that got their flu shots have all gotten sick.
No normal immune system is "weakened" from the flu vaccine. Multiple large trials have demonstrated this
I have never taken a flu shot for the reasons stated above. Almost everyone I know who takes the shots always come down with flu like symptoms or worse within 2 weeks of taking the shots. What the hell is that all about? It seems to be more like taking a shot to get sick.
There is too much anecdotal evidence to merely dismiss that you don't get sick from a flu shot(either from a mild case of the flu or some other sickness). The doctors and experts can shout until they are blue in the face and people will still not get the shot because of this. I'm one of them, because I also got really sick from the time I had one of these shots.
There is good reason it is a low seller!
Does the Vaccine Matter?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/22/AR2005102200042.html
"A Shot of Fear: Flu Death Risk Often Exaggerated; So Is Benefit of Vaccine"
http://www.bmj.com/content/333/7574/912
Influenza vaccination: policy versus evidence
typical slanted sources from robert
You only read the materials that support your preconceived notions
@eric-2573068........and you know this because.....???
Why are so many people medically misinformed? There are so many untrue or misleading statements or individual observations here that I suspect there's a convention of health tin-foil hat wearers. Individual anecdotes do not medical research make...
Flu shots help prevent flu. They do not protect against the common cold, which is commonly mistaken or called "flu." Flu shots do NOT cause the flu, but they cannot protect you if you've already been exposed or are exposed during the first couple weeks after you get the vaccination. But since the vaccination is not perfect, some people will come down with the flu anyway, but not from the shot itself.
Influenza variants mutate a bit over the years and previous shots or episodes of the flu will not offer much protection against new strains. Young children, the elderly, those with asthma or other health issues often benefit the most from flu vaccinations, but to reduce flu community-wide, all eligible people should get the shot every year in early fall. I've already had mine and only had a mildly sore upper arm for a couple days -- much better than getting or transmitting the flu.
If you can't get it free with your insurance or Medicare, your local public health clinic often offers free flu vaccines. But even spending $30 to help prevent an illness that can knock you off your feet for a week is money well spent. You getting immunized can also reduce the chance that others around you catch the virus from you. Vitamins treat nutritional deficiencies: they do NOT prevent viruses like the flu.
And unlike the fear-mongers here, I AM medically trained in public health and keep up to date with all the latest research regarding vaccinations. I am a strong advocate of vaccinations and do not make a cent from promoting them.
allen,
Its actually pretty simple. I read his sources, and there is no independent research cited in any of them. simply unsubstantiated opinion
ugh! apparently you DON'T read my sources because Tom Jefferson is on of the top influenza researchers in the world.
What particularly did you have a problem with? And what as a cardiologist gives you expertise into this criticisism. Are you just hardcore anti anything that challenges your ego and your profession? I'd like to know? Because some of your posts are ludicrous for a real profressional cardiologist with no expertise in immunology and vaccine side effects.
Ugh! Its still opinion, no matter whos it is!! And still, if you insist on deciding by expert opinion, then you STILL lose because the vast majority of infectious disease experts advocate vaccination, along with the CDC and WHO. Now what?
That its opinion without any supporting facts
a) Im a board certified internist who has a B.S. in microbiology. The better question is what gives YOU any expertise??? Sitting on your a$$ behind a keyboard hardly counts...
No, just anything that challenges reason and established scienitific fact, as well as the leading experts of our world. But thats all, really...
ALL of your posts are ludicrous, so theres that...
Hahaha...coming from the guy with a professional degree in internet posting and likely a GED, if that...
Again it's arrogant posts like this that make one challenge if you're a real doctor. Tom Jefferson says the data doesn't support. And he's right. It's not an opinion. You have a lack of data and reasoning when it comes to flu vaccination policy.
i did absolutely nothing different than you... But this is typical robert. You lack all necessary debate skill and basic intelligence, which forces you to use personal attacks, the only tool you and petulant children have to offer....which makes me question if you really graduated high school
and everyone else disagrees
Most would say no
You have a lack of reasoning when it comes to basic english. You cannot understand the difference between opinion and fact
I suggest you go back and try to finish high school. It may be easier the second time around...
Ok Mr. "I have data and you don't".
Please give past 10 or 20 years of flu vaccine uptake that corresponds with decrease and increase of influenza deaths.
You don't want to do that because it want look very scientific of you. But you can keep up your dogmatic view of flu policy if you like. Post this data and you can shut me up FOREVER. That is all it will take. But you can't! Sorry, but you've been lied to.
Conversation with Dr. Eric in 1930.
Dr. Eric cigarrettes could be harmful to people. They may be damaging to the lungs and heart.
Dr. Eric: "Well that's just your opinion! You're just ignorant and uneducated. Who are you to question a doctor. There is no scientific data to support that. Most medical doctors agree with you. In fact they smoke themselves. That proves you are wrong!"
Conversation with Dr. Eric in 2012
Do you have evidence that influenza vaccine saves lives. Perhaps data of vaccine uptake with corresponding influenza death rates?
Dr. Eric:{sound of crickets}
Dr. Eric ?
Dr. Eric: Well every medical doctor and public health official disagrees with you!
Hmmm! Well, Ok then.
There is voluminous data regarding the immunogenicity and decrease of influenza cases following vaccination. Im not doing your homework for you
Makes no sense, is not relevant, and does not advance your argument in any way, so will be rightfully ignored, as the rest of your inane post.
this post is so laughably stupid and off topic that you and your crickets go have fun together.
If you feel like talking about the flu, vaccination, or your ignorance of how an NNT is calculated and statins, Im more than happy to.
Write when you grow up
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050211
NOW STFU FOREVER!!!!
I'm asking you for this for you to prove your point. It's not homework. It should be what you base your opinion on.
But I expected you to save face. You are a prideful man.
I once had a newsvine debate with a medical doctor who was sincere. I believe he guenuinely wanted to help people and wanted to understand where I was coming from. I actually learned alot because he provided links that supported what he believed. I in turn provided questions and links to support my position.
You on the other rhand just want to be right and assert your arrogance. I don't even think you give a Sh%^ about the patients you serve. But that's my opion. I think you need some serious self reflection of why you even wanted to be a medical doctor in the first place. Was it the money? Social status? Your license to look down on the rest of society that disagrees with your politics?
But like a said, all you have to do is provide the appropriate data on influenza vaccine uptake and corresponding influenza deaths.
I'm am confident that you won't (because the evidence doesn't reflect your beliefs). And I am confident I know more about this particular subject than you no matter how pompously you say otherwise because of your title. If you have the evidence then you can shut me up. Forever. It's really the simplest request you've been given.
HAHAH...the proof is right above your idiotic and worthless post.
Next time try reading before running your mouth off
You can call me whatever name you want, but you are only proving my point that you are a simple, spiteful individual with no capacity for intelligent thought
So by all means, continue to prove my point. I thoroughly enjoy it
Try again, Doctor.
My god, did you even read the study or did you just read the authors conclusions and just throw you hands up signaling a touchdown without understanding what actually just happened.
Sorry doctor. There's a flag on the play. Your touchdown has been called back for lack of evidience, data and scientific rigor.
listing potential problems with the study does not invalidate the study
you have no response for the data as follows:
fter UIIP introduction, influenza-associated mortality decreased more in Ontario (relative rate [RR] = 0.26) than in other provinces (RR = 0.43) (ratio of RRs = 0.61, p = 0.002). Similar differences between Ontario and other provinces were observed for influenza-associated hospitalizations (RR = 0.25 versus 0.44, ratio of RRs = 0.58, p < 0.001), ED use (RR = 0.31 versus 0.69, ratio of RRs = 0.45, p < 0.001), and doctors' office visits (RR = 0.21 versus 0.52, ratio of RRs = 0.41, p < 0.001)
Now, you are breaking your own rule of shutting up....
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0008382
"Systemic autoimmunity appears to be the inevitable consequence of over-stimulating the host's immune ‘system’ by repeated immunization with antigen, to the levels that surpass system's self-organized criticality."
Hello adjuvants!
my god,
that small exception you cited only applies to the elderly in the study--the rest of the patients had a decrease in mortality
Did YOU even read the study????? Or can you read might be a more appropriate question....
the study you posted deals with autoimmune disease...why did you post it????
I don't know why I waste time talking to people with zero scientific literacy....
potential problems lead to large potential error which leads to erroneous conclusion.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21880755/
Annual vaccination against influenza virus hampers development of virus-specific CD8⁺ T cell immunity in children.
read: if children get seasonal flu vaccine then they were more at risk of getting swine flu.
no robert,
respond to my study. You have pointed out the results do not hold for elderly individuals. Please address the rest of the patients in the study, which are the majority.
Then you can move on. But im not going to let you wriggle out so easily. Soon you'll have to face the truth, and cant simply run away when you find evidence that runs contrary to your preconceived notions
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_04.pdf
page 18 lines j9-j11.
See something odd here? How about the CDC being deceptive. ONly 494 deaths from influenza that year. Must've been a really good year for vaccinations. LOL.
Hard to create a vaccine scare machine with only 494 deaths. Gotta include all of those pnuemonia deaths to crank up the fear machine so doctors will buy into the lie.
no robert,
respond to my study. You have pointed out the results do not hold for elderly individuals. Please address the rest of the patients in the study, which are the majority.
Then you can move on. But im not going to let you wriggle out so easily. Soon you'll have to face the truth, and cant simply run away when you find evidence that runs contrary to your preconceived notions
http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001269/vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adults
Vaccines to prevent influenza in healthy adults
Authors' conclusions:
Influenza vaccines have a modest effect in reducing influenza symptoms and working days lost. There is no evidence that they affect complications, such as pneumonia, or transmission.
WARNING:
This review includes 15 out of 36 trials funded by industry (four had no funding declaration). An earlier systematic review of 274 influenza vaccine studies published up to 2007 found industry funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies independently from methodological quality and size. Studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to the vaccines. The review showed that reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin but there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies. The content and conclusions of this review should be interpreted in light of this finding.
Me: it should also be noted that healthy people don't generally die from flu. It is the immune compromised and the frail elderly.
Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers who work with the elderly
http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD005187/influenza-vaccination-for-healthcare-workers-who-work-with-the-elderly
read: vaccination as an independent variable doesn't protect elderly from health care workers.
http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001753/vaccines-for-preventing-influenza-in-people-with-cystic-fibrosis
"There is no evidence to show if regular influenza vaccinebenefits people with cystic fibrosis."
Here's one for the age group that accounts for 90% of influenza deaths!
Vaccines for preventing seasonal influenza and its complications in people aged 65 or older
http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD004876/vaccines-for-preventing-seasonal-influenza-and-its-complications-in-people-aged-65-or-older
We included 75 studies. Overall we identified 100 data sets. We identified one RCT assessing efficacy and effectiveness. Although this seemed to show an effect against influenza symptoms it was underpowered to detect any effect on complications
The results are mostly based on non-experimental (observational) studies, which are at greater risk of bias, as not many good quality trials were available. Trivalent inactivated vaccines are the most commonly used influenza vaccines. Due to the poor quality of the available evidence, any conclusions regarding the effects of influenza vaccines for people aged 65 years or older cannot be drawn.
Authors' conclusions:
The available evidence is of poor quality and provides no guidance regarding the safety, efficacy or effectiveness of influenza vaccines for people aged 65 years or older. To resolve the uncertainty, an adequately powered publicly-funded randomised, placebo-controlled trial run over several seasons should be undertaken.
The study has major potential flaws.
But sorry the majority(the healthy) account for a minority of influenza deaths. And ,in this healthy group, a recent study has downgraded the stated effectiveness at 60% effectiveness. Previously they boasted 90% effectiveness. Even if the vaccine were 100% effective for this group it wouldn't budge the deaths very much because it only accounts for <10% maybe even less than 2%.
Targeting the majority of influenza deaths has been a failed strategy. The very old and sick simply do not respond to the vaccine. One last grasp has been the invention of super high dose influenza to combat this fact of low response.
The new strategy has been to target the healthy, in particular little children and their mothers, in order to protect the elderly.
This has ethical issues attached to it. You can't give medication to one group to affect another group.
Like what?
And please address my study. Let me remind you of your statement:
I don't have to refute every other study on the planet. I have done what you asked, now you are backing out. At least have some integrity, man
I did. See above.
again see above. Done!
Flu vaccines are one of the worst vaccines there are. It's a guessing game.
All of those flaws are also present in the studies YOU posted...I guess it only applies when you want it to
see above
admitting that bad and inadequate studies are done on influenza doesn't help your case.
Again from the well repected cochrane review that I posted just above.
http://gaia-health.com/gaia-blog/2012-09-27/how-the-flu-vaccine-causes-narcolepsy/
How the Flu Vaccine Causes Narcolepsy
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/mar2912narco.html
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/mar2912narco.html" target="_blank">
Studies confirm H1N1 vaccine-narcolepsy link in Finnish kids
Mar 29, 2012 (CIDRAP News) – Two studies yesterday confirmed the link between narcolepsy in Finnish children and the adjuvanted 2009 H1N1 pandemic vaccine Pandemrix and offered new details.
The two reports, published yesterday in Public Library of Science (PLoS) One, follow a September 2011 final report by Finnish officials confirming the link between narcolepsy and the AS03 adjuvanted vaccine that the country used exclusively during the pandemic. One explored Finland's narcolepsy incidence over the past several years, and another probed all narcolepsy cases reported in 2009 and 2010.
Please quote where i said they were bad or inadeuate. You are just plain lying now. And its stupid, because the proof is in black and white
IN summary, there is no such thing as a perfect study. You copy and paste flaws from the study's authors that are no different than the flaws present in any study, including the ones you post, but somehow they invalidate only the studies which counter your viewpoint, and do not affect your own
Hypocritical and self-decieving
Are you finished? I have more if you like.
well, seeing as how you have no answer for my post above i guess Im done until you do. Not holding my breath though
better luck next time...it would be good to learn how to read a study instead of just copying and pasting the author's discussion portion, though
I have shown plenty of reasoning and rationale for those (who are the majority) who skip the influenza vaccine.
I have also shown that some beliefs of those who vaccinate are not backed by evidence. If you choose to vaccinate, do so by your own faith. Because that's what this vaccine is. It's faith based!
I hope Eric isn't one of my doctors - I suspect he spent more time in a petty argument on a news article than he does with a single one of his patients.
I think you two should have just gotten out a measuring tape and gotten it over with.
My 2 kids got their flu shots Friday of last week, this week 1 has the flu.
I bet just like last year they both will get the flu. How much the shot help
is questionable.
It sounds like they were exposed before the shot kicked in. Sorry to hear that they are not well. Hope all turns out well.
How often do kids even get this?
Is it the flu or a cold? There is a difference.
I think it depends on whether or not the classmates bring it to class. My daughter was sick for a week with the flu a few years ago, and so were most of her classmates. Since then, she has gotten a flu shot and hasn't gotten sick.
A week is a long time to miss school.
It takes about two weeks for the vaccine to become effective...
It takes 28 days for the body to build actual immunity. Vaccines, when given in a single dose, are only 82% effective, at best, in producing the immunity necessary to fight an invasion of the flu strains of which the vaccine contains. If you encounter a strain, that is not in the vaccine, there could be some benefit to mount a defense against it by having the vaccine. The H1N1 vaccine produced some antibodies that would offer some immunity to the Spanish Flu of 1917! FYI
It doesn't start working right away. During that time frame (about two weeks) you're still susceptible to catching it.
My friends 85 year old mother got a flu shot yesterday, within 6 hours she was in the ER. She was so sick she was admitted, they can find nothing on all the expensive test they have run. The only thing different, the flu shot. Was it the shot or would have this happened any way, I don't know. The doctors firmly stand behind the idea that the flu shot does not cause illness or any other bad reaction in people unless they are alergic to eggs and dismissed the idea.
Doctors should be aware that reactions happen. They are listed on the insert and in the VAERs database. Vaccine Court conceded my case and settled with me. The court admitted all my health issues were caused by the flu shot.
Read the insert. As far as pregnant women taking the shot, the insert clearly states, category C vaccine, has not been tested for safety or efficacy in pregnant women. May cause fetal damage or reproduction problems.
Yep - I've heard enought first hand anecdotal stories from friends and family over the years re: getting sick immediately following the flu shot. I've never had the flu, so I think I'll chance it again this year and skip the vaccination.
The CDC recommend that children who have not had the flu shot in prior seasons, receive two doses. I am unsure of the age limit. This will further boost their antibodies (white blood cells) to help fend off the flu strains that are currently affecting us. Ask anyone who gets the flu shot yearly if they have come down with the flu, last year or the year before, most if not all will state, No. So will get a slight fever or ache in the arm from the vaccination, but a dose of tylenol will ease that. Protect yourself and protect others.
The sickest I have ever been with the flu was the years I was required to get a flu shot for the job I was in. If I do get the flu now it is mild if I even get sick. I know the shot works for some people but I will not be getting one any time soon.
There seem to be a lot of stories like these. Most healthy people do not get the flu anyway. I remember getting it once when I was a kid.
A lot of people get the sniffles and say they have the flu. I don't know how many times I've heard that. A little runny nose and sneeze is classified as the "flu."
I'm in the same category of those who get sicker from taking the shot than otherwise.
The only time I have ever had the flu is when I was 16 directly after the shot along with my mom and dad, they got sick too.... Never again.
I remember just a few years ago the recommendation was that only the elderly and young needed the shot, and was said to only reduce the severity of the flu...not prevent it. Complications like pneumonia that cause death were dealt with separately.
An MD I know said when H1N1 appeared, the CDC changed the recommendation to include everyone because of worries of a pandemic...but they never changed it back afterwards.
Bypass the flu shot and take 1000 of Vitamin D. I work in a major medical area on the East Coast and the majority of the physicians I work with will not get the flu shot. That speaks volumes.
Remind me not to visit any of those doctors!
There is no qualifiable study linking Vitamin D to viral illness prevention, anywhere, and anyone who believes the very tentative corellary studies obviously isn't a very good study.
Not in my Pharmacy ! We've already given 100 this year. Only started 1 month ago.- Jon Lee Rph
The annual flu shot is a hard sell because most won't fork over the $30 or so major pharmacies are charging if not covered by their insurance (assuming they have insurance). It's that simple.
My insurance doesn't cover it.
It's resistance for us. We're a healthy family. I'll take the risk. I know so many people who got the flu after getting a flu shot. I don't know anyone who has gotten it otherwise.
Yes, no vaccine is 100% effective in preventing a disease. The flu shot only protects against a few strains that researchers suspect will make up the majority of cases for that year; the shot doesn't protect against strains that aren't in it! The vaccine does, however, drastically reduce the chances of you catching those strains of flu... your family happens to be one of the unlucky few who caught a different one.
But in getting vaccinnated, you're not only helping protect yourself, but everyone else you come in contact with (including those who may have other health problems that increases the chance of complication). Look up "herd immunity" some time.
Herd immunity is a ficticious term created off a theory that if you vaccinate 85% of of the population the other 15% will be protected. This theory was blown away by populations that were 100% vaccinated, 92% vaccinated 87% vaccinated and outbreaks still occurred. Please do your homework before you spout out misinformation. This is the reason why the medical community is pushing for a 90% vaccination rate based on a flawed theory that has been proven completely wrong. Educate before you vaccinate and you will change your way of thinking and truly live a healthier vaccine free life as I have. Vitamin D3 at blood levels of 70 nanograms/milliliter works far better than a flu shot with a efficacy rate of 1.5-6% along with 25mcg of thimerosal (mercury) aluminum and many other chemicals.
In the last 14 years (since I turned 18) I have gotten a Flu shot once. It just so happens that the only time I have gotten flu like symptoms during that time was about a week after I got my flu shot. I am probably going to get one this year as well. The only reason why I got the first one is because I had a family member who had no immune system due to chemo (I stayed away from them while sick for sure) and the same is true this year. Otherwise I would not think of going through it again.
it is normal and expected to get 'flu-LIKE symptoms'. that is part of the process as your body is reacting to the presence of the flu-markers and developing antibodies. they tell you when you get the shot that you might have mild symptoms- it doesn't mean that you have the flu
For 22 years I was in the Navy and was REQUIRED to get a Flu shot, every year I was forced and did againest my will,EVERY YEAR I GOT SICK, I got out of the Navy, got a civilian job, and one year got a flu shot somehow thinking I would react differently, I GOT SICK!, I WILL NEVER Knowingly get that shot again, and by the way Lawyers and Medics PRACTICE because they will NEVER get it RIGHT!
The article funded by:
Three pharmaceutical giants—Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, and GlaxoSmithKline
Can anyone explain why, if I have never had the flu (I'm almost 60), I should get a flu shot? It seems to me that my immune system can fight the flu virus just fine, even the many variants. A shot would just be a painful waste of vaccine.
I wish there was an explanation. I'm only 27, been Ten years since I've received a flu shot, and coincidentally, Ten years since I've had the flu.
Flu shots not only protect you, but everyone you come into contact with. Clearly you've been lucky, but your immune system can only effectively fight the strains you know; a strain you don't know could easily knock you flat. It's not a guarantee - it's weighing the odds in your favor.
The flu changes every year, so you don't have immunity to newer versions.
2. Sorry...but you're getting older, and as you age your immune system weakens.
3. What's the harm?
It seems to me that 100% of people that have the flu have received a flu shot. Not scientific but just my observation. Maybe I'm the lucky one but just strikes me as odd.
Actually, if you'll check your facts the flu shot is counter indicated in elderly people. By the time you have lived that many years you have most likely been exposed to all forms of the flu and have developed an immunity. I confronted my mother's doctor with this when he was pushing the flu and he actually admitted I was correct. This is about money. The flu vaccine is a multi-million dollar business.
I'm a medical student. That's false. You are lying or have a terrible doctor.
1. Unless they've had the flu all of those times they haven't actually been exposed and don't have antibodies against the disease.
2. Immunity wears off over time
3. The CDC recommends the vaccine specifically for those 65 and older.
4. Again...your doctor makes almost no money off these flu vaccines. Explaining them to people is actually a big drain on time!!! Drug companies make squat as well. Money is not a factor in this case.
Same here GP - I'm in my late 30s, never had the flu, never had the flu shot. I was pregnant last year and my doctor never once pushed it on me, and me and my son are just fine. Husband has never had the shot, or the flu either.
And for those saying the drug company makes squat on vaccines - I truly doubt that as fact. Money is indeed a factor.
Quoting the famous Alfred E. Neuman, "What, me worry?" Never had a flu shot never will. Never had the flu. Rarely get colds. Saw a sign on our local CVS pharmacy: "Get your flue shot here." Thought maybe I might try that. But I was afraid smoke would pour out my ears. I did send an e-mail to CVS corporate asking about this. Guess they contacted the local store and it was corrected fast.
Terreri31, can I buy those rocks?
No one really cares if you get the shot or not, I for one will not feel any of you pain if you get sick.
The fact is the flu shot is a dead or almost dead virus. It's that almost part is what varies and gets people sick. Once you introduce the flu to a healthy environment it can grow and flourish into the regular flu. I don't need to be sick so I stay away from the shot - but introducing the flu via the shot to all around me sure does increase my chances of getting it.
Um, no. There is not a single thing you just said that is accurate. The flu shot they distribute is completely dead; you cannot catch the flu from it. If you contracted the flu after getting the shot, it was likely because you were exposed to the virus (possibly at the place where you got the shot!) in the two-week period where you weren't yet immune, or caught a strain of the flu that wasn't contained in the shot. There are many types of flu. But getting the shot ALWAYS decreases your chances of contracting it - it just doesn't decrease them to 0.
I feel there are many misinformed people so as a medical student I'm going to give a flu vaccine 101 lesson.
You can't get the flu from the flu vaccine. There is no viral DNA in the vaccine and thus no means for it to replicate. You CAN get a mild reaction to the vaccine as your immune system encounters it, but this is rare not a big problem.
The vaccine itself is a shell with what are called "antigens" on the outside. Antigens are small proteins/sugars etc. that occur on every human, bacteral, viral and fungal cell, as well as toxins and dust. They are recognized by the immune system as foreign and cause you to build up a defense against them for the future. This takes about 10 days. Should you encounter the real virus after this, your immune system will recognize these antigens and kill it before it can spread.
As for the evil drug companies making money...that is true in almost every case but this haha. Vaccines have almost no profit margin, and would be sold at a loss if not purchased in massive bulk. Also, taking the flu vaccine and staying healthy is probably the easiest way to save money (stay out of the hospital and/or at work) that exists.
zking,
good info! what residency do you think you'll go into?
I get sick with the flu every time I get a flu shot. Those little buggers in the flu shot were suppose to have died. They told me i was exposed to the flu prior. I really think that is not a truthful statement. I think those buggers became alive once they entered my body. I am 76 and no one will be able to convince me to have a flu shot again. I wonder where the statistics are to prove I am right.
I've never had a flu so bad that I couldn't work around it and get through it naturally after a day or two.
I'd rather suffer through even the worst flu than have to face a painful needle and get injected with something that makes you as sick as (or worse than) the flu would anyway.
Have we seriously become so weak as a society that we need injections just for the flu? The frickin' flu? We got the flu all the time when I was a kid. It's nothing a day home from school and a bowl of soup can't cure.
Ever heard of the 1918 flu pandemic? Killed 1/3 of New York.
This is why vaccines exist.
Pretty sure it's common knowledge that bacterial pneumonia was the primary cause of death during this pandemic around 1918.
I got the flu once and I was crawling around on the bathroom floor on all fours. I felt so bad that I didn't care if I lived or died as long at it ended. I have gotten the flu shot every year after that and I have not caught the flu. I doubt a person has had the flu that didn't get really sick and afterwards was weak.
I never minded getting my flu shot until last year -- when instead of my deltoid muscle the pharmacist stuck the needle right into my shoulder joint! Pain is a great deterrent.
Still, I have enough other health problems I'll eventually get the shot anyway, just to reduce the chance of me being miserable that much more.
At Walmart nurses give the flu shots and not the Pharmacist. The nurse also has pneumonia shots, and others available. The Pharmacist has enough to do at WM just filling Rxs.
I feel there are many misinformed people so as a medical student I'm going to give a flu vaccine 101 lesson.
You can't get the flu from the flu vaccine. There is no viral DNA in the vaccine and thus no means for it to replicate. You CAN get a mild reaction to the vaccine as your immune system encounters it, but this is rare not a big problem.
The vaccine itself is a shell with what are called "antigens" on the outside. Antigens are small proteins/sugars etc. that occur on every human, bacteral, viral and fungal cell, as well as toxins and dust. They are recognized by the immune system as foreign and cause you to build up a defense against them for the future. This takes about 10 days. Should you encounter the real virus after this, your immune system will recognize these antigens and kill it before it can spread.
As for the evil drug companies making money...that is true in almost every case but this haha. Vaccines have almost no profit margin, and would be sold at a loss if not purchased in massive bulk. Also, taking the flu vaccine and staying healthy is probably the easiest way to save money (stay out of the hospital and/or at work) that exists.
Drug companies have no liability for damage done by vaccines. They are a huge source of profits which is why there are so many being developed.
Taking the flu vaccine cost me $350,000 in medical bills, 24 days in the hospital, 1 year of physical therapy, 4 years with no feeling in my legs.
This is confirmed by vaccine court and my doctors.
I dont believe you.
I just feel like you are misleading people, when we all should make adult decisions concerning our health and the health of others.
I believe a huge number of people don't accept the flu vaccine because we have learned not to trust known liars. It is good to pick and choose according to one's belief, not what a known liar is telling you.
http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News.aspx (for flu shot facts)
We are giving too many vaccines. Our immune systems are being affected which is why there is an increase in auto-immune diseases. Vaccinations are needed for only a few diseases. Concerning influenza, more times than not, the vaccine given is not the influenza that comes around. The pharmaceutical companies make big bucks with their propaganda. You can't vaccinate your way out of death. My goodness, children receive vaccines for mild childhood diseases like chicken pox which is why shingles is on the rise. But not to worry, Merck has come up with a shingles vaccine. How lucky for us all. I've never had the flu or a flu shot as holds true for most people that I know.
Yet infuenza killed more people in the late 19 teens and early 1920's than were killed in WW1. Possibly as many as 100 million people (including those in China and Russia, where records are nearly non-existant) died. I would rather err on the side of caution. My grandfather, who was born in 1919, was luckier to have survived the Flu than he was to survived as a Medic in WWII in the 81st Infantry division.
No kidding it's a hard sell. It's neither effective nor safe. Vitamin D3 supplementation is the way to stay healthy.
Except when the evil drug companies engineer a vaccine to make you more susceptible to illness so you enter the hospital and almost certainly need their other more expensive drugs.............;-)
I got the flu shot last year and within 3 days I broke out with an itchy rash all over my body. It was all over my face, legs, stomache, everywhere. It looked like a drug-allergy rash. After about a week and realizing that OTC benadryl wasn't working, I had to go see a Dr and he had to prescribe me some steroids to make it go away. I will never get one again after that. I also was just diagnosed with CFS which I'm wondering is contributed to that shot.
No flu shots here. I don't want to go through the risks of any vaccine that could have as low as a 30% efficacy rate (it has been that low in the last 10 years).
An educated guess at which strains will be prevalent is not a good enough reason to put my family's health at risk with a vaccination.
I swear by the flu shot. I have not ever had side effects and I do believe it helps keep me healthy. That and bacon.