I’ve written again and again about the importance and benefits of getting a flu vaccine. Unfortunately, ignorance and idiocy abounds.
Over the last two weeks, I’ve seen dozens of people drag themselves in to the office or the clinic with high fevers, muscle aches, cough, and looking like absolute hell. Some have been admitted to the hospital. I’ve sent flu tests on some of them, and lots of them are coming back positive. It’s flu time, baby!
If you’ve never had the flu, you can’t possibly appreciate how awful it is. Aside from the mortality statistics, there are days of lost work and misery. These folks feel horrible.
It’s not too late for your shot. In most states, flu is still sporatic. Don’t fall victim to a preventable disease.
And when someone starts preaching (yes, it’s a religion) about the dangers of flu shots, just walk away. You can’t reason with them, and they have no idea what they are talking about.
I have yet to interact with a single anti-vaxer who gives actual data in their argument. Just wait and watch the idiotic comments roll in.
Fact (Not opinion)
The flu vaccine has and can FAIL.
No doctor, including PalMD can empirically state that the current influenza vaccine currently being distributed can and will cover the strain that is currently prevalent in their region.
Now PalMd please continue with your ideology
I procrastinated on getting the flu shot last year and got the flu instead, for the first time since adolescence. Two weeks of misery followed by a secondary bronchitis that required two courses of antibiotics. I got the shot nice and early this year. (And, yes, Chuck, the vaccine can fail. So can your seatbelt. Is that a reason to not wear a seatbelt when you drive?)
If you read the link above, you would see that I never made the hyperbolic statement you accuse me of.
Pal MD,
I never said that you DID make that statement. I merely pointed out the empirical evidence that ANY doctor saying the vaccine WILL work is stating OPINION, not FACT.
Dianne,
If seatbelts are so safe, why aren’t they on motorcycles? Seatbelts are not the sole source of safety and relying on only one source of protection is risky. When you safely drive to any destination, do you contribute your safe arrival to the seatbelt? If you are not sick this flu season, will you contribute that to the vaccine?
Oh–my–god.
I really have to stop feeding the troll. You are obviously a complete nihilist. Each sentence you utter contains a false analogy or other logical fallacy.
I will keep putting out troll-bait, but perhaps not hand feed it anymore.
I will freely admit if I have misinterpreted your statement, and I am not aware if I have. I was only clarifying my previous statement. Please feel free to point out any false analogy or other logical fallacy as I currently do not see these issues.
Hee hee. This is funny. Thanks for the laughs, Pal.
Oh, I just CANNOT resist:
When you safely drive to any destination, do you contribute your safe arrival to the seatbelt?
No, but I do credit it with my safety after I was rear-ended by a an SUV that got struck by someone doing 55 MPH. Interesting analogy though. However:
If you are not sick this flu season, will you contribute that to the vaccine?
If I am exposed to the strain of the flu virus for which I was vaccinated, you can bet you a$$ I’ll attribute that to the vaccine. But since I have no way of knowing which strain I might be exposed to, I’ll bet with the odds that I’m better protected with the vaccine.
Every year that I have been vaccinated with a flu shot I have not suffered from the flu. My personal experience does not a scientific study make, but I trust my scientifically trained, well-educated Doctor to make appropriate recommendations for me, and when he tells me to get a flu shot, by god I get one.
Side note, as a motorcycle rider, I’m incredibly glad they don’t have seatbelts, because seatbelts would interfere with safe handling in an emergency situation. Plus I don’t imagine the would actually do much.
Seat belts prevent people from being killed by being thrown from a car. If you are hit on a motorcycle with seatbelt on, you will be thrown with the motorcycle, which probably won’t contribute to your overall good health or good looks. Motorcycles are dangerous with or without restraints. They’re cool, though.
[...] homeopathy4health @ 10:11 pm Tags: epidemic, flu, flu epidemic, gelsemium, homeopathy, vaccination It’s that time of year again… « WhiteCoat Underground : ‘Over the last two weeks, I’ve seen dozens of people drag themselves in to the office or [...]
Irishsof,
The seatbelts on the motorcycle was a rhetorical question I freely admit that. I rear-ended a SUV after hitting an ice patch, my air bag did not deploy, and no one was injured. My car was totaled. The police officer was scratching his head for a while trying to figure that one out. I contribute my well being to the body and design of my car.
The last two flu seasons that my family members were vaccinated with a flu shot, someone was diagnosed with influenza. My family’s experiences are also not a scientific study. My family’s health hasn’t been better in the eight years since we stopped vaccinating except for when my vaccinated son got chicken-pox.
Hmmm…shoulda gotten him the chicken pox vaccine.
Motorcycles are dangerous with or without restraints. They’re cool, though.
Bah. Bicycles are cooler. And safer, if you ride them in the Netherlands.
PalMD is only playing the odds to his best advantage. I take the flu shot too.
Dr. Tom Bibey drtombibey.wordpress.com
Homeoapathetic4health doesn’t allow comments, but really believes that homeoapathetic remedies work.
Isn’t that silly.
My own immune system is compromised, and a flu jab will make no difference to me really, so I rely on herd immunity.
Yes…so it should really piss us off when others put you at risk.
Anybody notice that our “flu skeptic” hasn’t acutally provided any data, just as Dr. Pal predicted?
Oh, everyone but Chuck? Okay, carry on.
They’ve made it easier than ever to get a flu shot in Colorado this year. (I assume it’s a state thing.) You used to have to go to a doctor or to a store when they were having flu shots (some particular hours on particular days), but these days, almost all of the store pharmacies simply have the vaccine, and anytime they are open, the pharmacist will come out and shoot you up.
I know that preventing the flu is well worth the hassle of showing up somewhere during a flu shot clinic, but this new system is really helpful for lazy people like me. I might not have gotten mine this year without it.
(I didn’t hear about what I’m guessing is a new law or regulation anywhere, but I never saw supermarket pharmacies have constant flu shot availability before, so I’m assuming something changed.)
It seems fairly new. It was a bit of a problem for my office for a couple of years, as the companies that make the vaccines sold them all to the big stores and shorted us, so that we couldn’t get shots to all of our high-risk patients. But as long as the supply is sufficient, standard vaccines should be as available as possible.
Just clarification again, but
“vaccinated son got chicken-pox”
We gave up on influenza vaccines in 1999 after multiple members of my family were diagnosed with influenza after being vaccinated in two consecutive flu seasons.
I naïvely had a weak moment in 2003 and allowed my son to get the chicken-pox vaccine.
He was diagnosed with chicken-pox in 2007.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Fool me three times, I got what I deserved.
That was also the last major sickness in the house and everyones health has been doing nothing but getting better every year.
“We gave up on influenza vaccines in 1999 after multiple members of my family were diagnosed with influenza after being vaccinated in two consecutive flu seasons.”
Two seasons? That’s it? and you’re completely writing off vaccines because of that? That’s hardly a good sample size for considering the effectiveness of the flu vaccine. Your family members’ episode is certainly statistically possible.
You also conspicuously left out how many years you’ve been vaccinated but never contracted the flu.
Here in Canada, the flu shot is covered by sweet, sweet universal health care, so you’d have to be an idiot not to get your shot! This being my third (and busiest) year in university, I missed my shot, and paid for it for a week. Won’t make that mistake again!
Prior to 1999 I was hit or miss with the flu vaccine. I have probably gotten the vaccine maybe 4 or 5 times in my life.
Both my children have had 100% failure of the influenza vaccine and paid for it for YEARS. We will not make that mistake again.