# I'll take a shot



## LDUBS (Oct 5, 2017)

Saw this reminder on another forum. Time to get your flu shots. If you are of a certain age, there are the pneumonia and shingles vaccines too. 

Got mine about a week ago.


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## lovedr79 (Oct 5, 2017)

got mine about 2-3 weeks ago. hopefully i wont get the flu this year. even though i just got over what seemed like the walking flu.


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## Crazyboat (Oct 5, 2017)

I'm one of those that have issues with all these "Vaccines". The one for shingles only lasts 3 years, you have to guess what 3 year period your going to need it, you can't get a 2nd one.

Flu shots work on only 1 strain of the flu and they count them as 30 something % effective, so why give yourself the flu with the shot?

It's up to you but stay informed, what chemicals and heavy metals are in these shots?


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## LDUBS (Oct 5, 2017)

I'm far from an expert. I know that as I got older the flu was much more severe and lasted a lot longer. At this stage, I follow the advice of my Doc. 

I'm pretty impressed with my current set of health care professionals even if some of them do look like they could be in high school. LOL


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## BigTerp (Oct 6, 2017)

Crazyboat said:


> I'm one of those that have issues with all these "Vaccines". The one for shingles only lasts 3 years, you have to guess what 3 year period your going to need it, you can't get a 2nd one.
> 
> Flu shots work on only 1 strain of the flu and they count them as 30 something % effective, so why give yourself the flu with the shot?
> 
> It's up to you but stay informed, what chemicals and heavy metals are in these shots?



Can't speak on the shingles vaccine, but the flu vaccine does not work on only 1 strain of the flu. It works on either 3 or 4 strains depending on what version of the vaccination you get. And last years flu vaccination was nearly 60% effective, the year before 63% effective. And you absolutely CANNOT get the flu from the flu vaccination. It is made from an inactivated form of the virus, so it cannot give you the flu.

I agree, everyone should be informed of what they personally do to their own bodies. But, make sure the information being received is accurate!!


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## lovedr79 (Oct 6, 2017)

this year the flu vaccine is good for 4 strains. probably the 4 wrong ones.....


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## lckstckn2smknbrls (Oct 6, 2017)

Not for me.
I have a friend that got the flu shot and had a very bad reaction to it. It caused her partial paralysis and numbness that took well over a year to clear up.


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## Crazyboat (Oct 6, 2017)

BigTerp said:


> Crazyboat said:
> 
> 
> > I'm one of those that have issues with all these "Vaccines". The one for shingles only lasts 3 years, you have to guess what 3 year period your going to need it, you can't get a 2nd one.
> ...




https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/vaccination/effectiveness-studies.htm

https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/health/flu-shot-effective-cdc-study/index.html

I don't see anyone claiming they are 63% effective, not even close, and some years in the teens % wise. With that 63% ain't all that great.


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## BigTerp (Oct 9, 2017)

lovedr79 said:


> this year the flu vaccine is good for 4 strains. probably the 4 wrong ones.....



I believe they are going from the option of having the trivalent (3 strains) and quadrivalent (4 strains) to just having a quadrivalent vaccine. Agreed that they don't always get it right. It's somewhat of a guessing game as to which strains are going to flourish from season to season. This is why the effectiveness varies from year to year.


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## Jim (Oct 9, 2017)

I pass every year, and I don't let my kids take it either.


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## BigTerp (Oct 9, 2017)

Crazyboat said:


> https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/vaccination/effectiveness-studies.htm
> 
> https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/health/flu-shot-effective-cdc-study/index.html
> 
> I don't see anyone claiming they are 63% effective, not even close, and some years in the teens % wise. With that 63% ain't all that great.



Fair enough. Although some studies do indeed show that are 60+% effective some years. It just depends on which study you look at and how they are using the data. However, I do agree that they are not always that effective, and sometimes way worse. But that's part of the problem with trying to determine which strains to vaccinate against each year. Either way, if you're young, old, or compromised in any other way where contracting influenza can land you in the hospital or worse, any decent % chance of a vaccine preventing that is well worth the minimal risks, IMO. 

Different topic and not the case with the flu vaccine, but somewhat related, but what irritates me is those who do not get vaccinated for communicable diseases, like measles, that put my family at risk. Measles was considered eradicated in the US in 2000 or so. Now due to ant-vaxxers, measles outbreaks are happening across the country. My 10 month old son cannot be vaccinated until he is at least 12 months old. So he is at risk of contracting something like measles from a child who's parents, for whatever reason, declined to get them vaccinated. I'm not necessarily saying vaccines should be mandatory. But certainly something to think about.


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## WiskeyJaR (Oct 9, 2017)

At age 54 I normally do not get immunization shots, just personal reasons [-X . 3 years ago me wife convinced me to get a flu shot, I got so sick spent a couple days in bed, never been that sick before. Have not gotten a shot since then, have not been sick with flu since either.


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## GTS225 (Oct 9, 2017)

Like a few others here, I don't get flu shots either. I figure we're supposed to get the flu once, and build our own anti-bodies the natural way. We did it that way for decades, if not a century, and I distinctly remember mom sending me to neighborhood homes to play with sick kids. Made sure I got through all those childhood illnesses and built my immune system up quite nicely, thank you.



BigTerp said:


> Different topic and not the case with the flu vaccine, but somewhat related, but what irritates me is those who do not get vaccinated for communicable diseases, like measles, that put my family at risk. Measles was considered eradicated in the US in 2000 or so. Now due to ant-vaxxers, measles outbreaks are happening across the country. My 10 month old son cannot be vaccinated until he is at least 12 months old. So he is at risk of contracting something like measles from a child who's parents, for whatever reason, declined to get them vaccinated. I'm not necessarily saying vaccines should be mandatory. But certainly something to think about.



This is mostly due to massive numbers of illegals, and not-so-illegals coming in from countries that don't immunize. Their kids then start school, and mix their carried diseases into society. We have planted the seeds of our own destruction. But I'm edging into political territory, so that's all I'll say on the subject.

Roger


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## KMixson (Oct 10, 2017)

I do get the shot every year, now. Back about 15 years ago before I used to get the shot I ended up with the flu. It like to killed me. My girlfriend insisted that I come to her house so she could take care of me. She carried me over there and ended up with the flu also. It was rough. After that we always get a flu shot. We neither one have had the flu since (knock on my skull). As for the effectiveness of the shot, it is mixed with the anticipation of what strain is going to be active that year. One year after getting the shot we ended up going back to get a booster shot because the first one supposedly missed the expectation of the strain that was going around.


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## gnappi (Oct 11, 2017)

I almost NEVER, EVER get sick. I think that after my son got out of the elementary school time frame of bringing home every cold that blew through his school (darn parents sending sick kids to school rather than take a few days off) I was sick with a cold maybe twice in the last 15+ years or so. 

But with me going on 66 I figured it couldn't hurt and for the first time this year and I researched it as best I can and I got the flu shot and the first of the two pneumonia shots. My previous company was in the maritime business and encouraged us to get every reasonable vaccination so I'm up with Hep A, and B, as well as tetanus.

Crazyboat, that's not entirely correct about one strain being in the vaccine. The WHO tries to "guess" which strain is most prevalent and likely to occur in the northern hemisphere based on the strains found in the southern hemisphere during their flu season and that one is generally the main target, but there are others that offer more protection with up to four strains.

I'm guessing that the southern hemisphere flu season precedes ours and it's a good barometer of what's likely to occur here in our flu season that follows.

As far as effectiveness goes, If I'm 60% less likely to get the flu, I liken that to crossing a busy road where I may be 60% (not a real number just a hypothetical reference) less likely to be hit by a car by crossing at the intersection with the correct light status. I'll take those odds 

Everything I read states that you cannot get sick from the flu shot. I got the typical symptoms, low grade fever was the worst.

So, ask your doctor which flu shot you are getting and how many strains you are getting protection from.


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