Flu shots!

[Torgo]

Flu shot time is coming around again up at my work place and around the country.  The place I work for gets a clinic to come to our building to give shots and I only have to pay a 5 dollars copay with the particular HMO that I have (Southern Health).

There are some people that I work with that are absolutely scared of getting flu shots as they believe that they'll actually get the flu by getting the shot.

Do you all get your flu shot each year or do you choose not to? If not, why?   

[raj]

Nope.  I've known too many people who got the flu despite having the shot.

[horseshoe crab]

Never even crossed my mind to get one. Maybe because I like living on the edge. Also I don't have health insurance. Also flu shots are just another way for the reptiloid cabal at the earth's core to control your brain.

[Raffine]

The flu shot lady was in our office today, as a matter of fact. And, no, I didn't join the queu to get pricked.

I used to get one regularly until I figured out having the flu was the perfect guilt-free excuse for laying around the house for a week or so in dirty sweat pants to catch up on movies and old tv shows. 

[Joe the Destroyer]

I'm supposed to get one tomorrow.  We'll see how that turns out.

[Shadow]

I've noticed that during the years I have gotten flu shots through work, I get sick more often, whereas during years I skipped on the shot I have not gotten ill as much. So I opt to forego them.

[Trevor]

I've never had a flu shot ever and the reason for it is that a doctor told me that they inject you with flu germs to counteract the other germs, that is why you get sick anyway.

Our department has flu shots for free, I never go and hardly ever get sick, while those who go for their jabs get sick and are off work for a while.

[frank]

I think the flu shots work like any other immunization, and this term might be misleading. Basically your organism gets exposed to a very small dosis of some specific virus. The immune system starts raising antibodies against this specific virus. In doing so, the contributing cells sort of "save the construction plan of the specific type of antibody to their harddrive" - sort of hard to explain in english. As this is technically an infection, immunocompromised people might suffer some influenza symptoms afterwards. However, the cells can react faster and more effictive to any new "invasion" of this virus. In very strong infections, symptoms might well still occur, but usually not as strong and as long as without a shot.

Summary: The doctor makes you sick - but just a little - so you get used to it.

No comments on the reasonability of this. I just wanted to post something including the words: invasion, infection, dosis and virus.

[RCMerchant]

Never even crossed my mind to get one. Maybe because I like living on the edge. Also I don't have health insurance. Also flu shots are just another way for the reptiloid cabal at the earth's core to control your brain.

My feelings exactly!!!! 

[Khaz]

I am one of those annoying people that others hate when it comes to sickness. I get sick and within a day or so feel completely fine, but those who came in contact with me during those 2 days get some form of bubonic plauge. I get the sniffles, and the wife and kids (except for my daughter who is my clone) are reduced to quivering blobs of mucus generating meatbags. EXCEPT the one time I got the flu shot. The one time I got the shot I was sick as hel, and 4 out of the 5 people in my office wound up in the hospital hooked up to I.V.s 'cause they got some evil form of stomach flu. So now I just avoid the shot.

[Dennis]

I get a flu shot every year, the only bad thing for me is the shot itself, I hate needles. I don't get sick so I assume the shots have been effective. There is one thing about this flu shot business that annoys me to no end, the HMO I belong to will not pay for the shot if I get it from my "primary care physician" (family doctor for the last 20 years) but if she refers me to a pulmonary specialist who charges about 5 times what she does for an office visit, he is a specialist after all, then they will pay for the shot. The charge for the shot is the same at both places, the copay for me is the same, the only difference is in the charge for the office visit and the HMO pays that, and for the paper work, copies of which are faxed and mailed to everyone involved in this bit of stupidity. I honestly believe the HMO does this because most people do what I do, which is pay the $21 to their doctor for the shot rather than go through all this red tape so in the long run they get out of paying for almost all the shots.

[AndyC]

I have to say no as well. I hardly ever get sick, and when I do, it's usually mild and brief. I got a flu shot back when the local health department started with the free travelling clinics, and I got sicker that winter than I've been in years - twice. It took a couple of years to get back to the old pattern.

I also noticed that the public health department and the Ministry of Health were always pushing the shots and presenting a very one-sided case. They were, and still are, quick to stomp all over any suggestion that the shot might be ineffective and perhaps bad for some people. Not saying they're out to deceive, but I get the image of a pushy salesman drawing attention to the good and away from the bad.

You have to also consider that the flu vaccine is not like the ones for polio or measles that can give you immunity to a specific bug. New flu strains are coming along all the time, which is why we get the flu more than once. The flu vaccine can never be more than an educated guess. Personally, if I'm going to mess with my immune system, I'd like better odds.

Want to beat the flu? Wash your hands. Carry a bottle of sanitizer. Eat properly and get regular sleep. And if you do happen to get sick, for cripe sakes, stay home. We seem to believe getting our own work done is more important than protecting the health of all the other employees. Even on the weekend, people today can't seem to interrupt their daily lives for a couple of days to wrap up in a quilt, lay on the couch and watch some movies with some hot soup. It's an excuse to goof off. Use it. Everybody will be better off.

Can you tell I've been writing editorials for years? 

[trekgeezer]

The only flu shot I've ever had was back in the 70's when I was in the Navy. The made us take the vaccine for Swine Flu. They made sure that we got it by setting up in the pay line. You had to get the shot to get paid.

I don't know how many people were saved by getting the shot, but in the end more people died from the vaccine than from the swine flu.


I haven't had the flu in 27 years.

[Torgo]

There was one year that I missed my flu shot and I ended up getting the flu that following late winter.

I've never gotten the flu as long as I've gotten my flu shot.

[dean]

Meh, tomorrow is going to be the first 30degrees celcius day of our new summer season.

Needless to say, cold weather and flu shots are a matter of the past for me [this season at least]

And no, I don't get em.  I'm a trooper.    [this means that if I ever got anything serious I probably wouldn't get it checked until it's too late but oh well.]