Late last year the Ontario Nurses Association started a campaign against health care facilities forcing them to get the flu shot. This is a problem on several levels. First, the flu shot is a proactive attempt by their employer to improve the health of Ontarians. Second, even if you don’t believe that, not all nurses are against getting the shot so the ad campaign is the result of a union executive deciding to represent itself rather than all of its members. (I know this because I know nurses who are furious about this campaign.) Third, there are factual errors in the commercials.
Full disclosure: I am pro-flu-shot. I get it every year. Whether you do or my brother does or my husband does is really none of my concern except that in my view it increases the likelihood that the flu will be around me if they do not. H1N1 is the dominant flu strain this season and it is in the shot. Is the vaccine perfect? Of course not. But with a 60% effectiveness rate it’s more than likely that it will decrease my chance of getting the flu. I can’t remember the last time I had the flu. An H1N1 outbreak in Alberta this week has led to line-ups at vaccine clinics. Why are people suddenly interested? Some say, to protect their children. And that’s one reason I started getting it – to protect those around me who have compromised immune systems.
There’s a growing anti-vaccine movement that was partly fueled by ignorant rants based on false information by actress Jenny McCarthy. She believes vaccines caused her son’s autism. The doctor upon whose opinions she based her claims has been discredited.
And this anti-vaccine perspective now includes those that battled polio and other diseases that saved millions of lives. It’s nuts. People seem to be looking for perfection instead of better odds and they simply won’t find it. If I had a daughter the right age she would definitely be getting the HPV vaccine and if it’s approved for boys, I will be recommending that little Ryker gets it when he’s old enough.
The language is rough but Penn and Teller explain the rational perspective about vaccines in this video from their show, Bullshit. They explain it best.
As I recall, the last time you had the flu was in 2009/2010 and it was the H1N1 strain based on all the symptoms you described. So, this year, having previously had the H1N1 flu, your immune system has a store of anti-bodies already on hand and when you add the flu shot, these anti-bodies will wake up and stand on guard for you.
I haven’t had a flu shot in decades, not because I’m anti-flu shot, I’m just anti-medications when I don’t feel I require them. This stems from spending my very early childhood into my early twenties constantly on medications to try and control my migraines and since coming off all these meds I’ve been resistant to taking medications. Now that doesn’t mean I won’t use them or get a shot when and if I believe its the right thing to do.
I have this debate with myself each and every year, Do I or Don’t I, and so far its been not to proceed.
And I respect that decision.
I do get the flu shot but rarely do I go on the band wagon telling others…I will now. On January 1st 2014, a coworker of mine lost his beloved wife to H1N1. She was a healthy 47 year old who did not get the flu shot as she did once many years ago and got sick.
By the time she walked into a clinic on New Year’s eve, she had pneumonia and her body was fighting an infection that was too far gone. She was rushed to the hopsital from the clinic where she then had a cardiac arrest and her family watched as her beautiful young body started to shut down one organ at a time. So very sad.
That’s just awful. We do all sorts of things to reduce the chances of getting sick knowing they’re not guarantees. This is just another one.
I used to carefully consider or even believe in a lot of what Dr. Mercola says, until I read a story this past Christmas from a very reputable source about the fact that USA babies are bleeding to death internally because a tiny shot they used to get routinely at birth, is being refused partly due to some information he disseminated. Otherwise healthy North American babies are dying because people who feel like everything is a conspiracy (and in this world, so much IS being done without our knowledge, to our detriment) have decided it’s best to play Russian roulette with their children’s health. Yes, there is so much we don’t know, but we know an awful lot more than we used to. And when a disease that was almost eradicated (polio) is making a return, we need to stop and just smarten the hell up. At least that’s my opinion. Thanks for the forum.