Flu Shot - For or Against
- Thread starter Ladskater
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2003
Ladskater said:
Oy! Okay, I'm back to panic mode.
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2003
Yes to flu shots, I have had pneumonia 5 times. I have also gotten the pneumonia vaccine and haven't had pneumonia since.
As far as flu epidemics are concerned, I was 11 when the Asian flu struck in 1957. It struck in late September into the first half of October. I remember I was in bed when the radio announced that the Russians launched Sputnik.
The intresting thing was there was no panic. They didn't close schools in those days and I remember that the absentee rate hit an astounding 65% during the first week of October. When I went back to school, the first few days I was one of 7 students out of a class of 28. Everyone else was out with the flu. By Halloween the who;e thing was a nasty memory. I think the media can go a little overboard at times. Yes, it is scary, and unfortunately some people die, however, this is not a page out of Stephan King's book "The Stand".
As far as flu epidemics are concerned, I was 11 when the Asian flu struck in 1957. It struck in late September into the first half of October. I remember I was in bed when the radio announced that the Russians launched Sputnik.
The intresting thing was there was no panic. They didn't close schools in those days and I remember that the absentee rate hit an astounding 65% during the first week of October. When I went back to school, the first few days I was one of 7 students out of a class of 28. Everyone else was out with the flu. By Halloween the who;e thing was a nasty memory. I think the media can go a little overboard at times. Yes, it is scary, and unfortunately some people die, however, this is not a page out of Stephan King's book "The Stand".
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2003
At the moment I say no to the flu shot for myself.
I am studying epidemiology and public health at the moment and that gives me some very good insights into who exactly is at risk from various diseases as we have a lot of case studies going on.
I am young with a healthy immune system that functions very well so I do not see the need to dose myself with a vaccine that is a scientists best guess at what strain may be around. I keep healthy, eat and sleep well and exercise.
The immunity a person gains from being exposed to something by natural methods is far better than what they gain from a vaccine, particularly one that may or may not be effective. I went to a big school, I have a big family, I was constantly around people, sick or otherwise and exposed to every kind of virus going and I can hand on heart say I have had the flu twice in my life. Once during my final exams in school when I was stressed and hadn't been looking after myself as well as I should have, and once last christmas where I had picked it up in the plane flying home and again I was stressed and not eating properly at the time.
That said I would I would recomend it to young children in school etc who are more likely to be exposed to larger amounts of the virus, or to the older people where the danger is not flu itself but the cardiac and respiratory complications that develop as a result of the flu.
To be honest peace of mind is one of the reasons a lot of people get vaccinated against various things because they think that they are safe then. I would recommend these type of people to get vaccinated because peace of mind is an important thing and a happy person is less likely to be sick than a stressed person so while the vaccine itself may do no good the security it brings to people does. For example I got the meningitis vaccine when I was in Uni to keep my mum happy even though there were no cases of meningitis in my uni and I wasn't considered a high risk student because I lived off campus and not in halls of residence or student flats. I never did get meningitis, I never even got sick from the day I got the vaccine to the day I left uni but it kept my mum happy.
I am studying epidemiology and public health at the moment and that gives me some very good insights into who exactly is at risk from various diseases as we have a lot of case studies going on.
I am young with a healthy immune system that functions very well so I do not see the need to dose myself with a vaccine that is a scientists best guess at what strain may be around. I keep healthy, eat and sleep well and exercise.
The immunity a person gains from being exposed to something by natural methods is far better than what they gain from a vaccine, particularly one that may or may not be effective. I went to a big school, I have a big family, I was constantly around people, sick or otherwise and exposed to every kind of virus going and I can hand on heart say I have had the flu twice in my life. Once during my final exams in school when I was stressed and hadn't been looking after myself as well as I should have, and once last christmas where I had picked it up in the plane flying home and again I was stressed and not eating properly at the time.
That said I would I would recomend it to young children in school etc who are more likely to be exposed to larger amounts of the virus, or to the older people where the danger is not flu itself but the cardiac and respiratory complications that develop as a result of the flu.
To be honest peace of mind is one of the reasons a lot of people get vaccinated against various things because they think that they are safe then. I would recommend these type of people to get vaccinated because peace of mind is an important thing and a happy person is less likely to be sick than a stressed person so while the vaccine itself may do no good the security it brings to people does. For example I got the meningitis vaccine when I was in Uni to keep my mum happy even though there were no cases of meningitis in my uni and I wasn't considered a high risk student because I lived off campus and not in halls of residence or student flats. I never did get meningitis, I never even got sick from the day I got the vaccine to the day I left uni but it kept my mum happy.
