Beyond, very minor, muscle soreness at the injection site for a few hours afterwards precisely no adverse effects ever.
Flu Shots
- Thread starter rickwhitelaw
- Start date
I got the shot. I'm training for a marathon. Increasing your milage stresses your immune system and makes you more susceptable to infection. Being sick means not being able to run. I'm glad I got it.
It is more likely that you already had a virus (the flu has a bazillion strains, and usually the vaccine is for the most prominent strain, only) that is coincidentally starting to show symptoms when you get the flu shot, or you are having a psycho-somatic response -a kind of "reverse-placebo" reaction. And in rare cases, it really is a negative reaction to the vaccine itself, for whatever reason.
I've been getting the flu shot every year for 10-15 years and never had an adverse reaction. Not years ago either when I was in the USAF and they made you get it. I don't think I ever got the flu either. Plenty of colds, but sniffles and colds are not the same as flu and the flu shot won't protect you from them. I don't come into contact with many people, but the wife is a HS teacher (she gets the shot, too) and plenty of people at work have kids, so indirectly, that's hundreds. I find it surprizing how many people don't like to take it, but to each their own.
My husband always does... and there's a reason for this. The reason, though, isn't that he's infected and going to die of the flu. When the immune system starts crankin' in response to the vaccine, some of the chemical messages your immune system sends make you feel kind of run down. It's uncomfortable but it's not dangerous. It's not a terribly good reason to avoid the shot - the shot makes you feel sort of crummy for half a day, if at all. You can die of the flu, and kill other people that you infect.
I knew someone here would know the answer! Ta. So presumably the severity/exact response of this varies with the strains included, giving different levels of effect in different years?
Anecdotally? I think it probably has more to do with the person than the flu vaccine. My husband and one of my children always feel crappy after their flu shots. The other kid and I never do. This year they both ran a fever for a few hours.
Where did you get that information of 1000 people dying from the flu shot? I don't think that's true.
you know i saw it on the news, many years ago. i had heard this after never getting the shot and never getting sick. i tried searching the web to back it up. pretty much nothing. one website talks about problems and deaths being under reported from the flu and other vaccines and extrapolates that.
i could very well be wrong. not even i always trust my faulty memory. either way i will not get the flu shot and will be just fine. we get sick from having poor immune systems to begin with, not from a lack of medicine.
"let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food." Hippocrates
i could very well be wrong. not even i always trust my faulty memory. either way i will not get the flu shot and will be just fine. we get sick from having poor immune systems to begin with, not from a lack of medicine.
"let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food." Hippocrates
People may have received the vaccine and died from some unkown cause in the days or weeks following, with the family members then stating that uncle Joe died from the flu shot, but to my knowledge there is no scientific evidence relating death from flu shot to any greater extent than any other injection. Actually the numbers would be LESS than compared to all injections, since severe reactions to antibiotic injections etc. would make the numbers from innocent inoculations like flu vaccine statisticaly insignificant.
The problem I see with this and all vaccines is about trying to get good information, when most information comes from one of two extremes; either vaccines are evil and are going to kill you, or vaccines are amazing and you are stupid not to get everyone ever invented. When really the truth is all vaccines have a risk, and all vaccines have a benefit. You have to take that all into account, and decide what is best for you in your situation. I don't buy into the vaccines are evil camp, and I also don't buy into blindly following the government reccomendations.
Janson, the CDC is a very good place to go for information - but it ends up being highly specialized. They are very concerned with relative risk. Vaccines differ in terms of their "risk", but the flu vaccine is incredibly safe.
There are a few weird vaccines out there that DO carry substantial risks, but those are for some less common infections you might encounter in the developing world. Influenza's "side effects" are mild and not threatening to one's health.
There are a few weird vaccines out there that DO carry substantial risks, but those are for some less common infections you might encounter in the developing world. Influenza's "side effects" are mild and not threatening to one's health.
Um, actually prevention can stop one from getting sick. Complete quarantine while difficult and impractical will be effective in preventing people from getting sick. This is what's done when people are immunocompromised or after bone marrow transplants. I practice a milder form of quarantine called running away from people, and I rarely get sick. Someone coughs, I immediately moved away.
I have never gotten a flu shot. I used to get the flu once a year while I was in school, but haven't gotten since. I have also been teaching children for over 5 years now and only get slight colds during the changing of the seasons (fall and spring).
maximum 6.25% chance of protection from the current virus. not very good odds for the risk.
http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/th...he-blood-brain-barrier-and-can-cause-seizures
http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/th...he-blood-brain-barrier-and-can-cause-seizures
From a public health standpoint, vaccines aren't really there to keep YOU from getting sick, they're there for the good of the herd as a whole. It's a public health concept called "herd immunity" The more people who are vaccinated, the better off we are as a whole. There will always be those who don't get vaccinated for whatever reason. But the more people who are vaccinated the less chance a disease has to spread and it burns itself out faster.
Granted, the influenza vaccine is a little bit different in that it's a different strain of virus every season and it's a bit of a guess on which to make the vaccine out of and sometimes they get it wrong and it doesnt' work very well. But still the vaccine is safe for a vast majority of the population.
Granted, the influenza vaccine is a little bit different in that it's a different strain of virus every season and it's a bit of a guess on which to make the vaccine out of and sometimes they get it wrong and it doesnt' work very well. But still the vaccine is safe for a vast majority of the population.
Oh, this thread again... I was thinking about the topic the other day and was suddenly aware of what it is that bothers me so much about flu shots. I find them cynical. They assume that people are incapable of beefing up their own defense systems. Or, worse, provide a convenient way to avoid working on your own health. I don't agree that they're safe. I think people who rely on them end up weaker and more sickly over the years.
I'll clarify more tomorrow...
I'll clarify more tomorrow...
NickW
Guest
You know Willie, I'm kind of with you in a way, but then in a way I kind of understand CERTAIN people taking them.
