Flu Shots are out!

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that the Flu Shots are out! I think this is the earliest I remember seeing them out.
There is a new Flu Shot for people 65 and older that is 4 times stronger, to help them build better immunity and instead of it being put into the muscle, it looks like it is put under the skin. I find this interesting, but don't know anything more than that.
For me I have been blessed by CVS minute clinic as they seem to have them before my doctor, and I don't have to run around tring to find the right place to go or the right time. Last year the Minute Clinic didn't take my insurance, so she had the pharmacist give it too me as a way to get around the red tape. So I can't say enough about that. I have only gone to it for my flu shots.

I would love to know how many of you plan on getting your flu shot this year!

One thing I remind people, is that it not only helps to protect us, but also the ones we love that might become deathly ill if they should get the flu. I have one such member in my family, so I make sure I get mine.

SleepingBearDoNtWake wrote: I would love to know how many of you plan on getting your flu shot this year!

I'm getting mine. Every extra year of retirement is a bonus.
Us "old people" can't be too careful....

I'll be getting it. Got mine last year in November and it set off a flare-up with my psoriasis...but I still think it's worth taking. I have lung and heart disease, amongst other health issues, and I'm not taking chances. Came down with a virus in the beginning of June and got pneumonia and almost died. I don't remember anything of the month of June and very little of the month of July.
Sooooooooooo....taking my pneumonia vaccine and every year's flu vaccine is a no-brainer for me.
I've read so much of the negative stuff about the vaccines...and it just doesn't matter. I know how one bout with the flu could kill me...so...it really doesn't compute, pour moi.

After having pneumonia twice because I was "too busy" to get a shot, I will definitely get mine.

I always get my flu shot. My insurance provides them for free every year in Oct.

My wife and I both got ours from our Family Doctor this week. I joined the Military when I was 18 and got into the habit of having one each year. It sure keeps the flu away.

Definitely will get the shot.

Let me throw out my regular reminder that pneumonia shots are cheap and last a long time.

They're not 100%, in part because there are dozens of different germs that can cause pneumonia, but they improve you odds.

I'm probably going to get a singles vaccine as well. Not cheap, but shingles are no fun.

I'm getting it. I had the flu once and I don't want to go through that again!

I will be getting mine, they come to my work and distribute it. (paid through ins.) Pius I am a diabetic and was told i should get one because of that.

Now how come I'm going to be the lone dissenter in this august crowd? I've never had the flu shot, and I can't recall ever having the flu in my 54 years, despite having school aged kids at home.

A cold, yes. Bronchitis, yes. The flu? No.

One of my pet peeves is when, every Fall it seems, the talking heads on TV report breathlessly and uncritically that the CDC is predicting this year (again!) an especially virulent form of the flu virus.
OHMYG_D we're all going to die!!! Or words to that effect. And the killer flu never seems to happen. SARS, the swine flu and avian flu, to name three recent predicted pandemics, never happened.

I've heard them cry "wolf" so many times, I've become suspicious that the predictions have more to do with justifying increased funding than with the science of epidemiology.

Grump, grump-grump . . .

SleepingBearDoNtWake wrote:I would love to know how many of you plan on getting your flu shot this year!

I will not for several reasons.

I do not believe the flu is a major threat to my health this year.

There isn't time to test the safety of flu vaccines properly before large scale administration.

I don't believe the long-term effects of vaccination have been adequately studied. While the immediate risks are fairly small, I don't think the risk presented by the flu itself justifies the poorly understood long-term risks of regular vaccination. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

When the WHO removed virulence and mortality from the criteria for a pandemic in 2009, thus making the typical flu of any year technically a pandemic and creating an unwarranted panic, I lost all confidence in their recommendations regarding vaccines. My confidence in the people making and promoting vaccines in general has suffered by association. And I try to avoid injecting things made by people I do not trust.

Natural exposure to flu strains stimulates the Th1 response, producing lasting immunity. Vaccines stimulate the Th2 immune response. This produces temporary immunity, but unfortunately, it also blocks the Th1 response. While getting the flu occasionally allows the body to build immunity to a wide variety of viruses over time, getting a flu shot every year does not. Thus the regularly vaccinated immune system remains naive and more vulnerable if a flu shot is missed, or the shot does not include a recurring strain.

My doctor advised against it.

One of my pet peeves is when, every Fall it seems, the talking heads on TV report breathlessly and uncritically that the CDC is predicting this year (again!) an especially virulent form of the flu virus.
OHMYG_D we're all going to die!!! Or words to that effect. And the killer flu never seems to happen. SARS, the swine flu and avian flu, to name three recent predicted pandemics, never happened.

My neighbour died the other year from the flu. A really nice old guy. One day I was chatting with him and a couple of days later he was gone. You realize that the reason some of those epidemics don't happen is because of something called "herd immunity"

Definately WILL NOT be getting the flu shot. I don't want the flu. Every time I've gotten the flu shot I've gotten the flu, likewise I've never gotten the flu in a year I didn't get the shot.

Conclusion: Flu shot gives you the flu.

BlackSpinner wrote: You realize that the reason some of those epidemics don't happen is because of something called "herd immunity"

I've herd of that. The old, the infirm and the young are usually at most risk. Like Otter, one of my concerns is having stuff injected in me, if I don't fall into one of the aforementioned categories. Maybe someday. Maybe not.

No, probably not.