ok, this h1n1 bs is getting old....

[MendoDave]

HR handed out h1n1 pamphlets yesterday at our corporate offices   

My point exactly.

[rgramjet]

It is officially the worst flu Ive ever had.  Get the shot or misted.

[mstevens]

I finally got shot yesterday - the hospital got only tiny amounts of vaccine and shot nurses first. Doctors are lower on the totem pole, but apparently that doesn't mean that if there's a "flu emergency" I get to stay home...

My wife's 48, healthy, and not a healthcare worker, so is low-priority. She's a former virologist and definitely planning to get shot when they let her stand in front of the squad. My kid's 14 and supposedly high priority for getting vaccinated, but the pediatricians only have very small amounts of the vaccine so are reserving it for immunocompromised kids.

For those who say they "get sick" in years they've been vaccinated, the point of the annual trivalent vaccine has nothing to do with not "getting sick." It has everything to do with developing immunity against the 3 specific influenza strains in that year's vaccine.

Unless you've had virology studies done to confirm that a) you actually had influenza, not just some other crappy miserable syndrome and b) the strain of virus you had was in that year's vaccine, you have no reason whatsoever to say that the vaccination hasn't worked for you. This would be like saying that wearing a helmet on your bike was useless because you twisted your ankle falling down the stairs. Saying that you've avoided the 'flu despite not having had the vaccination is like claiming that you don't need the helmet because you avoided injuring your ankle on the stairs after not wearing it on the bike.

[NAKID]

For those who say they "get sick" in years they've been vaccinated, the point of the annual trivalent vaccine has nothing to do with not "getting sick." It has everything to do with developing immunity against the 3 specific influenza strains in that year's vaccine.

Unless you've had virology studies done to confirm that a) you actually had influenza, not just some other crappy miserable syndrome and b) the strain of virus you had was in that year's vaccine, you have no reason whatsoever to say that the vaccination hasn't worked for you. This would be like saying that wearing a helmet on your bike was useless because you twisted your ankle falling down the stairs. Saying that you've avoided the 'flu despite not having had the vaccination is like claiming that you don't need the helmet because you avoided injuring your ankle on the stairs after not wearing it on the bike.

+1

I try to explain that to people every year, some people just can't be convinced...

[herm]

guess i have been lucky for 39 years then. no flu or flu shot in that time.

[mstevens]

guess i have been lucky for 39 years then. no flu or flu shot in that time.

Luck would really be the only explanation.

Just curious: how can you possibly know that you've never had an influenza infection? Many cases are essentially indistinguishable from a "cold."

[somegirl]

Luck would really be the only explanation.

Just curious: how can you possibly know that you've never had an influenza infection? Many cases are essentially indistinguishable from a "cold."

Or he's blessed with a really good immune system and seems to take good care of himself.

[herm]

Luck would really be the only explanation.

Just curious: how can you possibly know that you've never had an influenza infection? Many cases are essentially indistinguishable from a "cold."

right you are doc...
i guess all i can say is that i have never been diagnosed with, nor suffered from, the "flu"

[Scotzman]

Well, my wife and son got the vaccine today, so we'll see if there are any major side effects.

It's been a few days and no side effects yet, so I guess everything is good to go.

[TiNi]

guess i have been lucky for 39 years then. no flu or flu shot in that time.

right you are doc...
i guess all i can say is that i have never been diagnosed with, nor suffered from, the "flu"

same here.

i've never had a flu shot, or the "flu" 

[Grampa]

I welcome the flu



I could use a lil time off from work

[TiNi]

I welcome the flu



I could use a lil time off from work

jeeeez.... already? 

how many sick days you have at the new job?

[Grampa]

jeeeez.... already? 

how many sick days you have at the new job?

like 10 minutes   

[rgramjet]

I can send you a couple of scratch and sniffs!

[MendoDave]

Unless you've had virology studies done to confirm that a) you actually had influenza, not just some other crappy miserable syndrome and b) the strain of virus you had was in that year's vaccine, you have no reason whatsoever to say that the vaccination hasn't worked for you. This would be like saying that wearing a helmet on your bike was useless because you twisted your ankle falling down the stairs. Saying that you've avoided the 'flu despite not having had the vaccination is like claiming that you don't need the helmet because you avoided injuring your ankle on the stairs after not wearing it on the bike.

I agree with your B point, It is playing the Odds, and I know that. But I also know that my chances of getting sick after getting a flu shot are 100% instead of just 1 in 3 by not getting it. I have not gone to confirm what it is that is making me sick, but in the 8 times i have had a flu shot, I have been sick 8 times within 2 days or less. That means i'm sick, bad headach, weak, fever, green snot, the works. So I'm just going by experience.