Flu Shots

[pierhogunn]

there is a video on you-tube, funny as heck, by some canadian guy showing how to make a home-made flu vaccine.

warning, while viewing this video, do not drink anything that you don't want to clean off your monitor and out of your keyboard

I also highly recommend SNL angry-dog

Dan

[DUD]

I can't take the Flu shot, and My wife won't take it even tho the bank gives them free. I

had Guillion Barre in 1976 and they said I can't take the shot. Doctor told Me last Year

that shot was different now and I could take it. It's My body and I don't won't to get into

that shape again. Bill

[ragswl4]

My Doctor advises me to get the shot every year. I am one of the high risk folks (2 heart attacks and cardio vascular disease). Since I started getting the shots 4 years ago I have not had a cold or flu. I used to get either or both a couple of times a year.

[MilDoc]

Actually, the flu virus circulates year round. The reason for epidemic levels in the winter (Oct - March in the USA) is the same as for all cold viruses - people staying indoors more, around other people = more exposure.

And, an emphatic no, you can not get the flu from the shot vaccine. It's a killed virus. No chance to give you "the flu." The nasal spray FluMist is an "attenuated" flu virus, less likely to cause the flu, and bioengineered so that it dies at body temperature if by chance you inhale it into the lungs. It does have a "small" chance of giving you the flu but not as bad as getting it from others.

So, why do people insist the flu shot gives them the flu? Two reasons:

1. You were already exposed to the flu. You will feel the illness in 2-5 days. Get the shot on day 2, get sick day 3 - the shot gave you the flu! Wrong.

2. You are already incubating another respiratory virus when you get the shot, then get sick, but not "the flu."

Yes, the vaccine is changed every year to cover the "most likely" strain of virus that will circulate, and they don't always get it right. But, in most cases, even if the vaccine is not an exact match. the flu you get will be less severe than getting the flu.

Anyone who has had the true flu knows how miserable it is. Headache, fever, cough, sore throat, often severe body aches. You will be sick, "bad sick," for usually 7 days or more.

I get the shot every October. And if you have any risk factors (age > 50 especially, heart disease, chronic bronchitis or COPD, asthma, smoker, diabetes, and a lot more), you should too.

[rja]

The only years when I got a bad case of the flu were the years I did not get a flu shot. The last time, 1993, I got a bad case of the flu which went to pneumonia and I spent 5 days in the hospital with bags of antibiotic being pumped into my arm three times a day. Not fun. I get the flu shot every year.