Thinking About … Flu Shots

Joe Guns

The influenza virus does not kill you (unless you have a compromised immune system)! Rather it is the complications of the flu that are the dangers (advanced pneumonia). And there is no guarantee that the flu shot will protect you against the strain of the flu that year (since the flu is a virus that changes it’s genetic make up rather easily and there are thousands of different types of flu viruses) the vaccine makers can only guess on which one it will be for that year and they implement their plan MONTHS before it’s the flu season so it might not even be for the same virus!nnAlso, what about the use of known neurotoxins still used in the Flu shot?? I’d rather take a day or two to lay in bed than to risk permanent damage to my nervous system (since it is the master control system of every organ, tissue, muscle, cell, system in my body)!nnThanks for your time! Don’t get a flu shot!

George

One of the decent things that the government does for my investment.

Kirsten

having had the flu, as opposed to a bad cold, i can tell you that Dave Barry had it dead on “i know that air is made of molecules because i could feel each one bouncing off my eyeballs”.u00a0 after that? flu shot every year! and i am TERRIFIED of needles….nof course i am also a primary caretaker for a person with asthma and other medical problems, so they need to be protected from flu and pneumonia because they are very high risk.

Elisa

Thanks for this title. I am now spending my Friday “dancing in my head”!

Bstout85

What? Give you the GD pig virus (H1N1 for those of you that believe in the nonsense) in the yearly flu shot without even asking your permission to administer it? I can’t decide whats worse! Treating my daughter like a whore by demanding (I am a republican, but I refuse to drink theu00a0Perry KoolAid on this one)u00a0she get the HPV vaccine to avoid contracting a condition ( over 90% percent of cases reportedu00a0were communicated sexuallyu00a0to females with multiple sexualu00a0partners within a given year) that is communicated mainly throught sexual promiscuity, or telling me I need to be inocculated against a strain of the flu designed by the government, and “accidently” released?!?!? Thanks U.S. government, but no thanks. I only need one vaccination this year, and that one is from bullshit!

Chris@TTP

Nice! u00a0Stoked someone got the reference. u00a0Thanks for rolling with us.

yankeepizzabaker

Yeah, I lean to the “right” myself…..but gave up Kool Aidu00a0 after the “Reverand Jim Jones” developed his Kool Aid cocktail thatu00a0enjoyed some short term popularity with followers.u00a0 Now, there are some in Washington that I wish would develope a taste for that crap.u00a0 Flu shots….. to each his own…..I get them becauseu00a0 I believe that some protection is better than no protection……….just like au00a0sturdy condom isu00a0safer than one with a hole in it.u00a0 “Joe Guns” may be right, I don’t know, but the flu that I have had in years past was a hell of a sight worse than “two days in bed.”u00a0 BTW, Chris….I hope you were bull shitting with the comment of “shit canning TP.”u00a0 If you do that, then I willu00a0have no place to go where I can blame Obama for every damn bit of evil in this world…………and he is the cause of it…….Really, he is!!!u00a0 To listen to his rhetoric, he single handedly took out Bin Laden and now Qaddafi.

Pooty

A flu shot is touted as a vehicle to enhance your immune system.u00a0 I feel that if we eat properly, exercise moderately, and take vitamin supplements… wash our hands, don’t expose yourself to sick people, you most likely won’t get the flu. Even without the shot.nnThere are many theories that there a lot of dangerous ingredients in the vaccine… don’t we get enough already without deliberately injecting them?nnWe, as a nation lack common sense.

Crazy

I’m leaning toward getting a flu shot this year. I have never had one.nu00a0I have always thought they were bullshit since the first big swine flu scare 30 some odd yrs ago.u00a0 nHell I haven’t even had a tetanus shot in over 40 yrs.nnBut I got the flu a year and a halfu00a0 ago and HOLY SHIT that thing seriously kicked my ass!u00a0 We have all had a flu, even had a bad flu but this one was the worst ever. I’m no wuss, I have gone to work sick more times then not but this kept me in bed for 4 days.u00a0 In 35 yrs I had onlyu00a0 calledu00a0 in sick to work 3 times, not including that flu.nnu00a0Will I ever get sick like that again? I don’t know but I sure as hell hope not.

Norm Eather

My Dr talked me into getting theu00a0flu shot last year and Iu00a0ended up with the worst dose of flu EVER!. All my Dr said was “It would have been much worse if you didn’t get the shot”. It goes without saying that I will NEVER get a flu shot again!.u00a0 Norm (in Australia).n

Anonymous

I don’t miss getting flu shots.u00a0 In the Army, they made us get annual flu shots (it was the Army, we had no choice in the matter… I would joke about the shots being mind control drugs).u00a0 Every time, I wound up going to sick call with headaches and a general, overall crappy feeling that lasted a week.u00a0 Now that I am a civilian, I will never get another flu shot again.u00a0 I can wash my hands and avoid sick people well enough on my own.

Dispel the Myths

Wow,nOknThere is so much wrong in this statement that it scares me.nFirst and foremost THE FLU CAN AND WILL KILL YOU COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEM OR NOT. u00a0Perhaps you will take a look back in history, say from 1918-1920 and look at the 50-100 Million HEALTHY YOUNG ADULTS WITH NO PRIOR SIGNIFICANT MEDICAL HISTORY THAT DIED OF SPANISH FLU. u00a0In fact, those with weakened immune systems had a BETTER chance of surviving the H1N1 flu (2006 CDC). u00a0 u00a0That was a bad flu year by any and all standards, but the plain ‘ole flu still kills 500,000 people a year (1999 WHO), and 40,000 Americans per year (2008, CDC). u00a0Not some trifle by any means.nnYou are correct in stating that the mix of strains is developed in theu00a0proceedingu00a0months. u00a0But while you imply that some evil corrupt pharmaceutical agent sits and throws darts at a board to randomly decide which strains go into a given year flu shot, the reality is that massive amounts of epidemiological data are analysedu00a0continuouslyu00a0to make au00a0reasonableu00a0prediction of strain type resulting in over 80% effectiveness in preventingu00a0hospitalization (2008, New York Times).nnAs for youru00a0purportedu00a0neurotoxin? u00a0It doesn’t exist in any way shape or form. u00a0No ingredient in the modern flu vaccine has ever been linked with neuro toxicity. u00a0In fact, if it is, doctors are mandatory reporters to the FDA, who then pull the thing off the shelves. u00a0But despite clinical trials of over 10 Million people (to put it into perspective the average drug released has clinical trials involving maybe 10,000 ppl) there has been no link of any side effect that is not allergic or flu-like in nature.u00a0nnu00a0But, I bet when you say neurotoxin your thinking of Thimersal–which you would have listed if you could have pronounced it–which does, OH MY GOD, have MERCURY in it. u00a0And by in it, I mean bound to the chemical structure. u00a0In a stable bond. u00a0That doesn’t release the mercury. u00a0But Jenny McCarthy kills more brain cells then lobotomiesnIt’s kinda like the difference between organic arsenic and inorganic arsenic. u00a0One is found ubiquitously in nature and is completely harmless. u00a0The other will kill you in seconds (well, usually a bit longer, but it is doseu00a0dependent). u00a0Thimersal has organic mercury, which is harmless. u00a0And it while never linked to neurotoxicity despite widespread use and reporting, anti-vaccine punks made such au00a0racket about mercury that it was withdrawn. u00a0It was never used in the flu vaccine anyway, as it would be anu00a0inappropriate chemical given the nature of the flu vaccine. u00a0nnMaybe look something up before you try to discourage public health efforts. u00a0Or do some science so you understand what you’re talking about. u00a0But what do I know, I just have a medical degree.u00a0u00a0u00a0

yankeepizzabaker

Same in the Navy…..and that damn green/yellow concoction that had very little taste (they always told us it was lemonade)……probably did have saltpeter in it.u00a0 In basic it was about all you had to drink.u00a0 About 15 years ago, I read somewhere that it was the precursor to Gatorade.u00a0 I don’t think so….I went through basic in 1968.