The Year I Didn't Get A Flu Shot

[Ladygrey]

56. Anti-vax nonsense

I lurk more than I post, but as an RN of over 40 years I advise everyone who can get a flu vaccine do so ASAP. I have seen perfectly healthy adults and children die within days after first getting flu symptoms. If you have never had the flu and think you don't need to be immunized, be aware that does not mean you won't get it this year and end up in the hospital or even die. Thousands of people die from the flu every year. It is nothing to be sneered at. Nothing is sadder than having a patient whose healthy husband got the flu and died within 3 days just months before. They had been going to get their flu shots. They just hadn't had time to go to the clinic. Don't you know that woman thinks about that all the time? Getting vaccinated also means you won't be out there spreading flu virus around to all your family, friends and neighbors that wouldn't or couldn't get vaccinated. It can be several days, or even a week or two before symptoms manifest after exposure, so most of the infected are blissfully unaware that they are walking virus factories when they are hugging their kids or going to work. Vaccinations are a miracle of modern medicine. Don't refuse to take advantage of it out of some primitive fear or pride. BTW, thimerosal is not really mercury. it is flushed from your body within a few hours and is not harmful in any way. They have removed it from almost all vaccines, though, because of the unfounded fears of the anti-vax crowd. It is only used in multidose vials as a preservative. There is much worse to be had in most of the processed foods you eat, the water you drink (even bottled water!) or the air you breathe. Don't use it as an excuse not to get vaccinated.