To Flu or not to Flu ...

Where did you see 6-12? I've only seen and heard 2-6 from serious sources.

Our pharmacist told us 6-12 months between shots when we got our first dose. They called us about 6 months later to come in for the second dose.

After the deaths form the swine flue vaccine in 1976 I will never get a flue shot!

Those deaths were attributed to Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). As to what the Mayo Clinic says about GBS I offer the following...

“The exact cause of Guillain-Barré syndrome is unknown. But it is often preceded by an infectious illness such as a respiratory infection or the stomach flu.”

Are you not trading one inaction for a potential problem? If you remember the 1976 flu shot issues 54 years ago), you may be too old to buy green bananas, but have you had the two pneumonia shots?

Could be based on how many people live in the area. I live in a heavily populated area, southeastern part of PA.

I got a script from my doctor last week (Wednesday) for the Shingrix vaccine. I tried to get it on Saturday at CVS but there were some problems with my insurance, and believe it or not, I called the insurance number on the card and they were closed until Monday. I called yesterday (Monday) got it straightened out and had the first of the two shots by 2pm at my local CVS.

Possible money saver; I live in Exton and the Walgreens does not require any Rx.

OK, but with a script it was 100% covered by my insurance, not sure if it would have been without it.

I was unaware that any insurance covered the cost of receiving the Shingrix vaccine.

...it all depends on the coverage. I also think Medicare part D will cover it as well as both of the pneumonia vaccine.

By the way, although I did not have an Rx from any of my physicians, the name of one is shown on the Walgreens paperwork as the “prescribing physician.”. I assume that physician is a Walgreens employee of some sort, perhaps nothing more than a contract employee.

The wife and I both have Medicare and another insurance, and they pay in full for both flu and shingles (both doses) shots

Hopefully, a vaccine for the Coronavirus will be available in the near future. If so, I'll be the first in line.

I'm a believer and have been immunized for flu, pneumonia & shingles.

I get the senior shot for the flu, got the 2 shot for shingles, and prevnar 23 but caught a strain of pneumonia that it was ineffective and had to go to hospital, bummer.

Again as before I am not a Doctor. If and it will hit and spread rapidly because we will not stop and Quarantine adequately (it takes 2 weeks to develop)be ready. Go to Lowes Paint Dept, purchase some good N-95 Dust/Fumes Masks. Now it takes a Ceramic Filter to stop a Virus but a good N-95 (95% Filtration) should give you 85-95 percent protection if you follow common sense Rules, do not move, remove or touch underneath mask, people scratch or lift mask to talk on Cell Phone. Wash hands Frequently, avoid confined or crowded spaces. Now the shocker, CVS and Walgreens sell Masks, are sold out, but guess what, most of those sold were Surgical Masks. A surgical Mask does not give a good tight seal, it is designed for spit, fluids and such. A N-95 at Lowes will be cheaper and give a better seal even with facial hairs. Now that's another factor, beards and other facial hairs affect seal but just wearing a mask will greatly reduce the droplets from that person coughing in your face.

I don't like shots. I don't like the FLU. Between the two I'll take the shot any day. I've been getting the flu shot for a long time, probably 15 years or more. In that time I can only remember getting the flu once...! So for me, it has worked out well, the older I get the more valuable it is to do anything you can to not get sick.

Thank you

Although the tuberculin Skin Test (TST) may yield a false-positive, TB blood tests are not affected by prior a BCG vaccination and are less likely to give a false-positive result.

You're right, and I was wrong.

I thought I saw another article a week ago saying 6-12 months but cannot now find it now. By far most evidence supports 2-6 months, not 6-12 months. The CDC says: 2-6 months. Research suggested there was some fall-off in immunity if the second dose was delayed until a full 12 months after the first, but no falloff at the six-month mark, and that was the basis for the CDC recommendation.

Because the safety and effectiveness of three doses of Shingrix has not been studied, the CDC actually does not recommend restarting the series and getting a third shot if the second one is delayed longer than one year; the CDC says just get the second dose as soon as you can, at least two months after the first dose, and try to get it within six months.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingles/hcp/shingrix/admin...

Have had them regularly and so far so good. Right now I'm enduring a bout with a cold. That Coronavirus is somewhat scary for me. No reason to think I might get it unless it spreads much more. But prognostications by the CDC aren't particularly good.

Thanks for looking up and sharing these extra details.

I get the flu shot understanding it may not be the exact strain but medical professionals say that it will help lessen symptoms even if it is not quite the right strain you are being vaccinated against.

Don’t get the shot...63 and more worried about the reaction than the flu

Luckily don't have a problem with flu. Some people I know still get the flu even when vaccinated.

This is true, I got the shot in October and got the flu in January. It happens. The shot is made up of known strains at the time, new strains pop up all the time, so the shot can't help you with those. I've gotten the shot for many many years, only the second time I caught the flu on top of it.

These are the symptoms of this years flu, which is now being reported as a potential double barrel blast (once, type A; 2nd time type B).

Fever or feeling feverish/chills.

Cough.

Sore throat.

Runny or stuffy nose.

Muscle or body aches.

Headaches.

Fatigue (tiredness)

Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.

Current US death estimates from this season's flu:

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/01/24/us-flu-deaths-climb...

Those who say not to get the shot.

Respectfully, imho this is not good advice. Respectfully I think a person should in fact do what they feel is best for themselves, just that they should make an earnest attempt to not necessarily encourage others to follow.

Again I use my cousin as an example. He's highly intelligent and makes a gazillion dollars in the corporate world. He advocates not getting vaccinations, not wearing a seatbelt, not going to church, and not saving for retirement via 401k (he says that's for fools).

I could be totally wrong--but I believe that all of the above is bad advice.

For the naysayers, at least it's nearly too late (it isn't, but it's kinda like that column the other day where the guy was 58 and said he has saved $0 for retirement, asked is it too late, and was told no, that's sugar coating)

The people that refuse to get vaccinated for influenza are largely responsible for others coming down with the virus (whether those people receive the vaccine or not). So, the people that get infected with the flu virus can thank those irresponsible (a.k.a. harebrained) people that refused to get vaccinated.

Are right, to illustrate some more with my cousin. He works in the financial industry, says there is no value to an elite education, as he has none. Well, he's lucky. So is the 19 y.o. kid who gets drafted into the NHL. But if we're average, we should follow conventional wisdom and not be a cowboy. When one of our cousins stated how much he had to borrow for medical school, my other cousin above basically said you made your bed you have to sleep in it! sigh

Being a cowboy reminds me of that movie with Paul Newman, HUD. It happened to be on 2 weeks ago when I was on the road, so I watched it again. Those types are better suited to stay away from everyone else.

If you are vaccinated then whether or not I get vaccinated shouldn’t matter because you should be safe....if we who don’t get vaccinated only give it to each other I’d say that pretty much qualifies as a mind your own business situation. If, on the other hand, you’re saying the vaccinated get it from the unvaccinated that pretty much proves the point that vaccinations are pablum for the weak minded masses.

I awoke with a 103 degree fever, wracking cough and and and...nope, not the flu but some other virus that kept me sick until now and has my lungs messed up. My doc says there’s no vaccine that would have prevented what happened to me...life...you pays your money...you takes your chances...

It alters the odds. Substantially. Just as fire won't propagate if the fuel is thinned out enough, where the level of "herd immunity" is high enough infectious diseases dampen out rather than increasing as they spread.

Vaccines are not pablum. They do vary in effectiveness.

Or it could be that those urging everyone that can receive the vaccine to get it, these folks are protecting those who are unable to received the vaccine: infants under six months old, those with severe allergies to a component of the vaccine, and some folks who have had Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

Look, I am no anti-vaxxer...measles, polio, TB, diphtheria, etc. where the vaccines have proven effective at eradicating horrific diseases are all great and wonderful things and have my 100% support. But the flu vaccine is different, it’s a crap shoot, might work, might not...maybe this year, maybe next, maybe not...my body, my choice as my 70s girlfriend taught me and I’ll not be called harebrained without response for exercising a choice in a crapshoot medical model. Come up with a flu vaccine guaranteed to work and I’ll be the first in line...otherwise, we’ll just agree to disagree.

I got my Tdap shot last week and this morning I'm going to Costco Pharmacy to get my Pneumovax23 pneumococcal shot. I had the Prevnar 13 pneumococcal shot back in 2015. This should bring me up to date on all vaccinations.

Let's try to get back to the more fruitful and helpful discussion on this topic.

Please keep the forum rules in mind, particularly the first several points.

Be friendly and polite. We will not tolerate personal attacks, insults, rudeness, or inflammatory posts.
Avoid bickering or arguing for sport. POI Factory is not a forum for politically charged debate.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/28855

~Angela

Thanks for your work Angela and for reopening this thread, I missed the fireworks and hope folks can be adult in their responses.

I'm glad you reopened this thread as I have learned a few things from the comments. I ended up getting the first of two Shingrix shots, at 61 yrs old I probably should have gotten in sooner but I didn't know it was a thing.

Hope to learn more, thanks again.

Nearly impossible to be 100% effective. The shots are formulated from the known viruses at the time. New strains pop up all the time and sometimes after the shots were produced so the shot wouldn't cover those newer strains.

I have gotten the shot probably for the past 20 years or so years, got the flu twice in that time, most recently earlier this year. It was a new strain, popped up after the shot's formula was produced, it happens.

I liken getting the shots to keeping a fire extinguisher in the house, hope I never need it, and if I should, it might not be enough to put the fire out but it's better to have it for the times it will.

The immune system and response of each person is different. People have different responses to all meds, even common OTC. Some meds work, some don't... for certain people.

Look, since the advent of learning to use hot water for the sanitary benefits it provides, many illnesses have been attenuated. Simple hot water was a HUGE advancement in sanitary practices. People can still get burned to this day. Gonna reject using hot water because of the risks?

No med is 100% effective for all people. Nothing can be all things to all people all the time.

I get all the vaccines and immunizations, and I have not had those illnesses. I think that is a good thing.

Peace.

That's your decision and right to make that choice. Some of you may remember Elizabeth Taylor, she died because of over use of Penicillin. When she finally really needed it her body rejected it because she kept getting Penicillin shots for every thing. Doctors used to give you a shot of it just to justify the Office Visit Charge back when. Your body is a machine, it wears out with use. Jogging means Knee replacement, repetitive movement Carpel Tunnel and so on. Your Immune System is the same, again ask your Vet about shots for Dogs, a good Vet will tell you. Why do I say ask a Vet, the are actually often better trained, qualified then Physicians. Many Medical advancements are first developed, tested in Veterinary Medicine, a Vet has to know more varying Parameter's because of different animals

A record-breaking 105 U.S. children have died from flu so far this season.

"If you're vaccinated and you still get the flu, you're more likely to have a less severe infection. Your risk of dying is less."

► https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/21/health/child-flu-deaths-105/i...

The flu I had caught that prompted me to start this thread was the "B" type, whatever that means. The scary one is this coronavirus traveling across the globe, scientists say a vaccine is months away. Who knows how many more people/places it will infect by then.

Sure get vaccinated. But don't expect the flu vaccine to do much for most active flu strains. The effectiveness in recent years has been remarkably low.

For anyone interested in how the CDC effectiveness estimates are generated, there is an informative page here:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/effectivenessqa.htm
The CDC posts estimates of effectiveness by year here:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/past-seasons-estimates...
People make up their own guesses based on a handful of anecdotes, personal experiences, and fragmentary news stories. The CDC methods can't generate perfect truth, but they are a whole lot better than personal guessing.

Disclosure: although trained as an electrical engineer with a career in electronic design (microprocessors and simulation systems) and large-scale data analysis (semiconductor factory data) in graduate school I had a flirtation with medical diagnostic equipement design aspirations, and took a course in biomedical statistics and epidemiology taught on the Harvard Medical School campus.

In 1961 and while on the set of "Cleopatra," Elizabeth Taylor contracted a deadly infection caused by staph bacteria that were resistant to penicillin. It was methicillin, a new synthetic form of penicillin developed for this reason, which likely saved her life.

She died in 2011 of congestive heart failure at the age of 79. I suspect many of us here hope to reach that number!

I'll take low effectiveness over no vaccine. With low effectiveness, at least I have a decent chance. Even when the vaccine does not prevent an event, it attenuates the severity. All good.

Just about all medical procedures have an effectiveness. Some are better than others. That's well known. It can take attempts with several meds before the one that works is found. Some meds don't work for some people, same meds work better for other people. Nothing new there.

Here are the Deaths in the United States alone from influenza for the past nine years according to the CDC:

2010-2011 Season: 37,000 Deaths
2011-2012 Season: 12,000 Deaths
2012-2013 Season: 43,000 Deaths
2013-2014 Season: 38,000 Deaths
2014-2015 Season: 51,000 Deaths
2015-2016 Season: 23,000 Deaths
2016-2017 Season: 38,000 Deaths
2017-2018 Season: *61,000 Deaths
2018-2019 Season: *34,157 Deaths
*Estimates may change as data are finalized.

Fears about the spread of the deadly coronavirus are serious, but is the panic warranted? Thus far there have been only a handful of people in the U.S. with the coronavirus. All but one of them are recovering nicely and there are no deaths. Compared to the tens of millions that come down each year with influenza and the tens of thousands that die from it each year in the U.S. it would appear the coronavirus is minor in comparison.

The concern is that there is so much unknown about the coronavirus. It's not the common cold, it's not the flu.

So the response has been rather elevated, for good reason.

Look what happens when nothing is done.

The coronavirus is expected to be around forever now, mutate and cycle around just like flu and cold seasons. We shall see how this evolves.

Due to repeated violations of forum rules.
Bummer.

~Angela