Have you had your flu shot?

[TsPoet]

IMHO a healthy person who doesn't work in a hospital, with kids, or with the elderly, probably shouldn't bother to get a shot. If you are over ~55, have an illness, or under ~12, you should get a flu shot.
As someone else pointed out, it has a lot to do with personal preference and availability of the shots. I have not heard about a shortage this year. In past years, when there have been shortages, then I think they should have refused to give them to people in the above category.
I get one every year, I’m 41 and one of the healthiest people I know, except for the pesky type 1 diabetes I've had since the age of 12.
I don't react to the shots at all. If I reacted the way some on this list do, I still wouldn't get the shot. The flu is a bummer, but I don't think it's going to kill me.
I also get them free through work. I know the employees would have a fit if they weren't offered, but since the working population is mostly young, mostly healthy, I've always wondered way they give them out to everyone. I also saw that the Target near me is offering them for $7 this year, so cost isn't too much of an issue.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have a healthy dose of suspicion about any drugs and medications foisted upon us public. I used to get flu shots and never noticed any difference in the amount of flus I got or didn't get. Haven't had them for several years in a row and still no noticeable difference in the illnesses I do or don't get. Flu shots only protect from the strains of current flus they are formulated for each year- they offer no protection from the majority of flus going around at any given time, and certainly don't protect from colds at all.
The heck with them- flu shots carry their own set of risks, and I'll just say no.

[Kano]

Haven't done it yet this year -- I plan to. When there are shortages, I leave them for the more at-risk folk and dread the possibilities. I haven't been good at taking the care of myself I should to prevent stuff. I haven't been good at changing that "habit" over the years, and I never want that crap again, so I get a flu shot when there are enough around. 13 years ago, it knocked me out for an entire winter due all the secondary infections that developed that I couldn't clear up on my own. To this day, I live with repercussions of that winter's illness.

Karen in Boise

[HappyAnika]

I have the same opinion of flu shots as LisaS.H. I've never had a flu shot, and I've never had the flu. However, being 6 months pregnant, my OB highly recommends that I get one (at no cost, either through her or through work). I heard of a study of hospital employees in Denver, those that had a flu shot had the same occurence of getting the flu as those that did not get the shot. (I just heard of this study, from my chiro, didn't see it myself). I'm still on the fence. I realize that I'm now in the imuno compromised category, but I just don't think the benefits of getting a shot to prevent a problem I've never had outweigh the risks.

(I'm a research scientist, no contact with sick, elderly, or children. My contract is up first week of December, and then I will be home until the baby is born. I'm a fanatical hand washer and germ-a-phobe. I do my best to not touch things like door handles, public computers, and gas pumps.)

[Blueberry]

I think I'd talk to another doc. Personally, I would be worried about reacting to the flu shot, since you've not had one and don't know how your body will take it.

Just my (admittedly not in favor of the shot) 2 cents. Good luck whatever you decide and congrats

[sundial]

You would have to chase me down with the flu shot before I get one.

Each year the researchers guesstimate which strain is likely to hit and they make the vaccine accordingly.

I have never had the flu and if I do get it, I'd rather treat the early symptoms.

[grey]

I drinks me Elderberry tea, every day, in the winter. Works like a charm. No sickies.

I admit, I'm one of THOSE. I study herbology. I'm a strict vegetarian. I don't like Big Pharma. And I definitely do not want to be shot with something that contains formaldehyde, mercury and aluminum, among other things.

[salsabike]

Between having read detailed descriptions of the 1918-19 flu pandemic that killed 50-100 million people worldwide, and having a number of close friends in epidemiology whose knowledge and opinions I respect--you bet I get a flu shot. No bad reactions here.

[Tuckervill]

What about being pregnant makes one immuno-compromised? Pregnancy isn't a disease. If you eat right and exercise and rest well, there's no reason to expect to be more likely to get the flu or anything else, I think. The only thing is that some diseases could have dire consequences for the baby, I'm sure.

I think it's kind of harmful to think that pregnancy makes one more susceptible to disease if it's not true. (I don't know for sure if it is.) Not to hijack the thread, but this is an honest question.

Karen

I have the same opinion of flu shots as LisaS.H. I've never had a flu shot, and I've never had the flu. However, being 6 months pregnant, my OB highly recommends that I get one (at no cost, either through her or through work). I heard of a study of hospital employees in Denver, those that had a flu shot had the same occurence of getting the flu as those that did not get the shot. (I just heard of this study, from my chiro, didn't see it myself). I'm still on the fence. I realize that I'm now in the imuno compromised category, but I just don't think the benefits of getting a shot to prevent a problem I've never had outweigh the risks.

(I'm a research scientist, no contact with sick, elderly, or children. My contract is up first week of December, and then I will be home until the baby is born. I'm a fanatical hand washer and germ-a-phobe. I do my best to not touch things like door handles, public computers, and gas pumps.)

[Possegal]

actually, there are immune changes in your body when you become pregnant, it is necessary for the success of the pregnancy otherwise the body will look at the baby as 'foreign' and attack it. you have different immune pathways and the balance between them sort of shifts during pregnancy. it is why many women with MS will see a remission in the disease when they are pregnant, because of the shift in their immune system from detecting pathogens (and in an MS patient the pathogen that is being detected is the myelin on their nerves) to detecting allergens. followed by an increase in flare ups after delivery when the body shifts back toa predominantly T-1 mediated immune response.

now is that 'immune compromised', don't know if that is what it would be called., though pregnancy is decreasing your body's response to pathogens. but here is a journal article that speaks of a 'gentle immune compromise' in pregnancy. though full of science-speak, so it may not be of much help. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no5/02-0660.htm

i'm not a virologist or a neonatologist, so i can't say why pregnant women (and people who come in contact with them) are always on the list a tier above healthy adults, but it could be more due to the impact that the disease would have on the fetus than on an immunity compromising.

[Flybye]

[QUOTE=Tuckervill;256972]What about being pregnant makes one immuno-compromised? Pregnancy isn't a disease. If you eat right and exercise and rest well, there's no reason to expect to be more likely to get the flu or anything else, I think. The only thing is that some diseases could have dire consequences for the baby, I'm sure.

I can attest to the fact that every time I was pregnant, which has been 13 times, just kidding, seeing if you were reading along , which really has been 3 times, I got everything in the land that came along. I was constantly sick. I even wound up with shingles (on my eye and face - ouch) during my last delivery, which is a sign that the immune system is compromised.
My $ .02

[Mr. Bloom]

IMHO a healthy person who doesn't work in a hospital, with kids, or with the elderly, probably shouldn't bother to get a shot.

While I understand your perspective, I'll chime in with a business perspective. My company offers the shots and I always get them.

I think that customers would be very disappointed if they went to the bank and found it closed because all the tellers had the flu

So to me, it's not just about the actual health risk, but a fundamental issue of maintaining business continuity.

[nomummytummy]

So to me, it's not just about the actual health risk, but a fundamental issue of maintaining business continuity.

That is why the chicken pox vaccine was developed initially. Because mothers would need to not be at work looking after kids w chicken pox & if you have 3 or 4 kids that's a lot of weeks when often then get it one after another not all at same time.

Now we are told all the terrible consequences of Chicken pox. It's just a huge beat up to sell more drugs! The risk to business versus the long term consequences of unrequired medications for those we care about. Sorry Mr Silver, but I can't help but wonder if our world has truly gone crazy!!!

[ClockworkOrange]

I had a flu jab last week and then the nurse promptly gave me a pneumonia jab, I was told this lasts for 10 years.

BTW...........jab is a shot in the UK.

I have had a flu jab for the last 5 years or so, never had any side effects. This has been done because of chest infections in recent years. Also, my work involves working closely with youngsters who have been homeless.

I was given the pneumonia jab because of this COPD thing that I appear to have.

Over here in the UK the vaccinations are free, do you have to pay for yours?

Clock

[Blueberry]

It depends on you insurance company here in the US. Mine offers them free if you get them at your workplace or at your doctor's office (but not at a pharmacy clinic). We couldn't get one at a covered location the last time I took one (sold out, but not a general shortage), and I seem to recall the cost was about $30.