bluebayou

back in '76, a rush to market brought us chronic Guillaume-Barre (sp?) syndrome....the feds track record with rush jobs ain't very good, IMO.

mommusic

member--right. Getting polio, smallpox, and lockjaw are "natural." I don't suppose you have any of those innoculations either?

bluebayou--Guillaume-Barre syndrome was from a totally different type of vaccine. There have been no problems with the seasonal flu vaccine.

China

I'm fairly middle of the road on this kind of stuff. My husband (in law enforcement) gets a seasonal flu shot every year. He'll probably get the H1N1 as well this year. I (working in the public school system) have never gotten a flu shot and will probably not get any this year (neither seasonal nor H1N1). As far as I can recall, I've never had any type of flu in my adult life.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I sort of figure, why start with the shots now. I'm generally a pretty healthy person, so if I do get any type of flu, I'm hopeful (very hopeful I guess) that I'll get over it and be fine.

My 2 college age kids? I think I'll leave the decision more to them. See what each of their schools is offering and how they feel about it. I have no objection to them getting it. I'm also not totally sure it's necessary. I don't think either one of them has ever had any type of flu either (maybe all that breastfeeding really did do some good, huh?)

I do think some of the hype about the swine flu is just that - hype. Yes, I know that some people have died from complications, even some people without underlying conditions. I still think that is very unusual though.

member

well yes, they are natural.


Id much rather people get smallpox or polio rather than being sterilized, dumbed down and possibly even enslaved in the long run.

MidwestMom2Kids_

My son was sick from Tuesday afternoon til Friday with fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue, muscle aches. I talked to his peds office on Tuesday and they said rest and hydration, no need to test for H1N1. He was okay on Saturday, will be back in h.s. on Monday. A knowledgable member of the staff from his h.s. told me (Saturday afternoon) that there was a very good chance it had been H1N1, that if one was a sick teenager in our area now, that is the virus that is making the rounds. Hmmm! Maybe we had it in the house and didn't know it. Husband and I have not caught whatever it was. I had planned to get him the shot when our pediatrician had it on hand, so I'll share the "might have already had H1N1" theory with him.

bluebayou

Correct, but by definition, H1N1 is NOT a "seasonal" vaccine. Yes, the feds claims that they followed similar procedures in developing H1n1, but the testing was rushed, rushed, rushed....

fwiw: my wife's onc, a top doc in SoCal is recommending against the vacccine for his otherwise health patients. My derm, how is 8 months preg, has still not yet decided.

ignatius

The ER doctor diagnosed my daughter based on a checklist of symptoms; the H1N1 test does not seem to be held in high regard in terms of accuracy. The doctor also said that a sick teenager with fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue, and aches at this time is a teen with the Swine Flu.

Glad your son is better.

CBBBlinker

Huh? What on earth are you talking about???

Son of Opie

^ I think he's been getting his vaccine information from Jenny McCarthy... though to be fair, she has two very convincing reasons, if you know what I mean.

member

You have no idea what the vaccines actually do, other than what they are claimed to do. You don't now what interactions they have in the human body, with the food we eat or with the viruses themselves.

Its foolish to assume, that there are not those in our world who want to take advantage of the uneducated. If you take these vaccines without proof of what you are taking, then you are simply uneducated.

There have been numerous case reports, which all can be found online which have scientists admitting that they have worked on manipulating common medicines and food in hope of dumbing down the population with consumption. The rich elites of the world have never shied away from stating their plans for globalization and mass reduction of the population.


Sure you can be dumb and choose to believe in the good of people. I tend to believe everything everybody does is to exploit another for their own gains.

RebelCats

With the amount of people in the USA alone and the vast number of kids being born today, I doubt they are secretly sterilizing people via vaccines. And honestly I think that is the craziest thing I have ever heard.

I have not gotten the vaccines for the flu and probably will not. I had the vaccine once when I was pregnant with my middle son, and I ended up with mild enough symptoms that I was thrown into preterm labor and had to go to the hospital. Other than that I have never had the flu.

The kids will not be getting the vaccines as well. Only one has ever had the flu and after a week he was fine and that was several years ago. And even then no one else in the house got the flu. So no we will not be getting either of the shots.

Son of Opie

Read this on one of the websites I frequent... Get a flu shot, and don't be a Dumb-Ass.

A Budget of Dumb Asses
Mark Crislip, MD, Infectious Diseases, 08:40PM Sep 7, 2009

Flu season is here, kinda sorta, it never really went away thanks to H1N1. I was rounding today, lucky me with the three day weekend, when one of my colleagues mentioned a post I had written a year ago at the old blog about the flu vaccine. It was printed and put up in the break room, and he saw it, took it home to his wife, who promptly mailed it to a colleague that is a proud "I never get the flu vaccine" kind of guy.

It is like people who are proud of being ignorant of science. I never understand why people brag about being ignorant or stupid. You would think they would be embarrassed, but then they are probably a... well, let us just see.

Anyway, he read my short rant and evidently changed his mind about getting the flu vaccine this year. Yippee. So what was the powerful, reasoned essay that altered the course of human (well, maybe one human) history?

I give you, slightly rewritten for 2009, a Budget of Dumb Asses.

I had my flu shot today. Well, my anti-flu shot. Protected me, my family, and my patients from sickness and death for another year. Whew.

I wonder if you are one of those Dumb Asses who do not get the flu shot each year? Yes. Dumb Ass. Big D, big A. You may be allergic to the vaccine, you may have had Guillain Barre, in which case I will cut you some slack. But if you don't have those conditions and you work in health care and you don't get a vaccine for one of the following reasons, you are a dumb ass.

1. The vaccine gives me the flu. Dumb ass. It is a killed vaccine. It cannot give you the influenza. It is impossible to get flu from the influenza vaccine.

2. I never get the flu, so I don't need the vaccine. Irresponsible dumb ass. I have never had a head on collision, but I wear my seat belt. And you probably don't use a condom either. So far you have been lucky, and you are a potential winner of a Darwin Award, although since you don't use a condom, you are unfortunately still in the gene pool.

3. Only old people get the flu. Selfish dumb ass. Influenza can infect anyone, and one of the groups who are more likely to die of influenza are the very young. Often those most at risk for dieing from influenza are those least able, due to age or underlying diseases, to respond to the vaccine. You can help prevent your old, sickly Grandmother or your newborn daughter from getting influenza by getting the vaccine, so you do not get flu and pass it one to her. Flu, by the way, is highly contagious, with 20 to 50% of contacts with an index case getting the flu. However, Granny may be sitting on a fortune that will come to you, and killing her off with the flu is a great way to get her out of the way and never be caught. That would make a good episode of CSI.

4. I can prevent influenza or treat it by taking echinacea, vitamin C or airborne. Gullible dumb ass cubed then squared. None of these concoctions has any efficacy what so ever against influenza. They neither prevent nor treat influenza. And you can't boost your immune system either. Immunity is not a Jamba Juice. Anyone who says that the immune system can be boosted is also a dumb ass.

5. Flu isn't all that bad a disease. Underestimating dumb ass. Part of the problem with the term flu is that it is used both as a generic term for damn near any viral illness with a fever and is also used for a severe viral pneumonia. Medical people are just as inaccurate about using the term as the general public. The influenza virus directly and indirectly kills 30,000 people and leads to hospitalization of 200,000 in the US each year. Influenza is a nasty lung illness. And what is stomach 'flu'? No such thing, dumb ass.

6. I am not at risk for flu. Denying dumb ass. If you breathe, you are risk for influenza. Here are the groups of people who should not get the flu vaccine (outside of people with severe adverse reactions to the vaccine): Former President Clinton, who evidently doesn't inhale. And people who want to be safe from zombies. If you don't get the vaccine you do not have to worry about the zombie apocalypse, because zombies eat brains.

7. The vaccine is worse than the disease. Dumb ass AND a wimp. What a combination. Your mother must be proud. Unless you think a sore deltoid for a day is too high a price to pay to prevent two weeks of high fevers, severe muscles aches, and intractable cough.

8. I had the vaccine last year, so I do not need it this year. Uneducated dumb ass. Each year new stains of influenza circulate across the world. Last years vaccine at best provides only partial protection. Every year you need a new shot. And we have a new strain this season, H1N1, so you cannot be a parasite on the immunity of others.

9. The vaccine costs too much. Cheap dumb ass. The vaccine costs less than a funeral, less than Tamiflu, less than a week in the hospital.

10. I received the vaccine and I got the flu anyway. Inexact dumb ass. The vaccine is not perfect and you may have indeed had the flu. More likely you called one of the many colds people get each year the flu. Remember there are hundreds of potential causes of a respiratory infection circulating, the vaccine only covers influenza, the virus most likely to kill you and yours.

11. I don't believe in the flu vaccine. Superstitious, premodern, magical thinking dumb ass. What is there to believe in? Belief is what you do when there is no data. Probably don't believe in gravity or germ theory either. Everyone, I suppose, has to believe in something, and I believe I will have a beer.

12. The government puts tracking nanobots in the vaccine as well as RFID chips as part of the mark of the beast, and the vaccine doesn't work since it is part of a big government sponsored conspiracy to line the pockets of big pharma and inject the American sheeple with exotic new infections in an attempt to control population growth and help usher in a New World Order. Well, that excuse is at least reasonable. Paranoid dumb ass.

So get the vaccine. And pass this url on to someone else. The life you may save may be your own. Or be a dumb ass.

BTW: budget is an archaic term for a quantity of material, usually written. I do love dem dare archaic words, don't cha know.

RebelCats

Son of Opie- Interesting and comical read but I am not getting the vaccine and neither are my kids. Unless there is a law that says I have to then I am not getting it.

Son of Opie

^You can lead a horse to water, but when they get there, they're still a horse. You can thank the people that do get their shots for the herd immunity from which you benefit.

JustAMomOf4

Son of Opie - great post!
(except for #1. The flumist is a live vaccine. soon the h1n1 will be available in the killed form (injection) and available for pregnant women and those with a compromised immune system.

LAST WEEK 19 CHILDREN in the United States DIED of the flu.

Next week they could be the children of member or RebelCats. How does a parent explain that to the child's other parent? surviving siblings? grandparents? friends?

I sincerely hope that anyone who chooses not to get vaccinated will stay away from pregnant women. Pregnant women are extremely susceptible to complication from H1N1. ! out of 3 pregnant women with H1N1 admitted to the ICU has died.