Bowsite.com

I chose this link for reasons that should quickly become obvious; there are far too many documented cases of the effectiveness of a vaccination program to ignore.

There are a lot of points brought up in the link you provided and to really address them all would take quite a bit of time.

A few main points though are:

1. There will always be cases of ineffectiveness of any vaccine for a number of reasons. Among those reasons are the immune status of the recipient may be compromised (age, illness, on immunosuppressive therapy due to conditions such as lupus, psoriatic arthritis, eczema, etc or organ transplant), the fact that vaccines are made on the "most likely" strain thought to be prevalent for the coming flu season. Viruses have a number of mechanisms of evading treatment or vaccines and it doesn't take much in the way of antigenic structure (what antibodies target; vaccines are designed to induce an immune response) to the point where the effectiveness of the vaccine is diminished.

2. Flu is spread via aerosols; even if 1 in 10 people are effectively vaccinated that 1 person will not be spreading virus. Think of the number of people you come in contact with on an average day and you get a sense of the exponential benefit derived.

3. Hospitals can be the best and worst place in the world to be for the sick. Google "Hospital acquired infections" and you'll quickly see the downstream benefit of preventing hospitalizations. Additionally hospitalization(s) cost money; to the patient and if the elderly who are on Medicare/Medicaid, the taxpayer.

I do agree with your link's reference to doing all you can to boost the performance of your immune system.

Hope this was helpful!

Like a doctor told my mother last year: "There are this many variations of the flu every year (Held his arms out stretched). Flu shot covers this many (held two fingers about a 1/4 inch apart).

Most in my work place do not. And every year they get the Flu. Flu spreads faster in a work place than Strep Throat or Pink Eye.

I have not had the Flu in over 10 years.

Personal experience: Most years were great and I made it through the flu season without even a sniffle. But there were a couple of years that were a true curse. Maybe just coincidence, but those years that both me and the wife suffered through the flu were also the years that we spent a lot of time over Thanksgiving/Christmas with our young (grade school/middle school) nieces and nephews. I blamed those little "germ sponges" for giving us the creeping crud. :^)

I think some peoples immune systems can actually be degraded by too much preventive medicines. Course I am not a doc, just and observer.

Besides, it gives me a chance to watch Jeopardy, Judge Mathis, and The King of Queens marathon. And other than being in a treestand or working a trolling motor, it keeps my family away from me for that "re-charging" of my battery. :-)

I keep a bottle of Nyquil and a 5th of Jimmy Beam stashed away for the occasion.

he he he

:-)

Did the flu shot have anything to do with it? I don't know, but it seemed a very unlikely coincidence to be totally unrelated. When I told my doctor about this later I was informed that I simply caught a strain of the flu that the shot did not prevent. I have not had a shot since and have only had minor colds in that time. I do not plan to get another shot anytime soon.

I consider that preventive maintenance..... don't save it for treatment Joey.. damn..

Too, I can say I've never a had a kidney stone. I believe it to be because of the cleansing use of the beer.

;-)

For a good "Guffaw" recommendation for when you are sick, try the "Maury" show, when they are doing the "You are not the Father" episodes.

I swear, some women have had 20 or more guys on the show for DNA tests, and still cannot find their "babydaddy".

It is hilarious.

Flu shots cause double posts. :^)

Statistically, the flu shots help. Individually, results may vary.

Speaking of shots, how do y'all feel about the "shingles" shot? Worthwhile?

I've had chicken pox and both parents have had a bout with shingles. I figure it's just a matter of time......

Also, you cannot get the flu from a flu shot.

I think the "snick" of the pull tab helps scare the flu debbils away.

If you get the actual flu, you are generally VERY sick with fevers, aches, etc.

I have never had a flu shot. I considered it this year due to a new job that will expose me to a large number of new people.

One thing that I have read is that the older you are the less effective the vaccine may be. If you have the shot and still get the flu, it will probably be much milder.

I spent about 5 years as a contractor for Intel. I got sick more often when I was there. Everyone spends most of their day in a cleanroom and it causes your immune system to weaken. The second you leave work and step out into the real world you catch every germ known to man. It's amazing how many people there were always sick.

It seems that the "clean freaks and germ-ifobes" are always sick, so I tend to keep a bit of a slob element in my life for protection!!! It's worked pretty well so far. LOL!

That sounds like as good excuse as any to me bro

I used our family (science based)treatment:(Vernors/Kessler hot toddy), raise core temp and go to bed and sweat it out.

Today, almost completely cured...slight residual cough.

My wife, who gets her flu shot every year at work came down with it yesterday and has it worse than I did.

What this means, YMMV.

And...an article of some relevance:

Guest Blog: Five Flu Myths Busted

If you’re sick, stay at home.

It’s that time of the year again. You probably think I mean Christmas, but as a virologist the sight of glitter, fairy lights and mounting pine trees immediately makes me think of the flu season. And if there’s one thing that can ruin your family’s Christmas, it’s the arrival of that particular unwanted guest.

There are lots of myths around about flu. So, here’s a quick guide to some common knowledge that actually turns out to be wrong.

I’ve got the flu

You probably haven’t. Four or five weeks ago, I would have said that you definitely hadn’t, but the first laboratory confirmed cases of the 2014-15 season are now with us, so if you have those familiar symptoms, you may well be one of those unlucky enough to have a preview of the coming epidemic. However, the balance of probabilities right now is that you don’t have the influenza virus but one of the many other things that regularly inflict similar misery on us – like respiratory syncytial virus, a coronavirus or an enterovirus.

This last trio give you severe doses of what we generally call the common cold. Real flu, however, is caused by a different group of viruses. Symptoms of flu are more severe, including high temperatures, aches and pains, lethargy and can also include feeling nauseous. If you have a bit of a headache and feel sniffley, it’s more likely to be a cold.

But the flu will muscle all of these things out of the picture as the winter’s epidemic builds. More and more of us are likely to be having real flu rather than just bad colds.

I can’t avoid it

OK, there is no foolproof method of protecting yourself. If somebody does give vent to a hurricane-force sneeze on that crowded bus, then the air could well be loaded with aerosolized virus, and that virus may linger long after the sneezer has left the bus. But there are ways you can minimize your risk.

A lot of people catch flu, not from inhaling sneeze-aerosol, but from touching surfaces that have been sneezed on, or have had hand-caught sneezes wiped on them – such as the bell the sneezing passenger pressed to leave the bus, or the hand rail near the door. This is called fomite transmission, and you can minimize the chances of you picking up a virus this way by simply remembering not to put your fingers in your mouth, nose or eyes while you are out of the house.

“Hands down” is the motto, and then wash your hands when you get home. This way the flu virus goes down the drain instead of into your body. Carry a bottle of hand-gel in your pocket for those occasions when you are eating out.

It doesn’t really matter

Yes, I know, you’ve had worse, stiff (if wet) upper lip and all that. But such macho attitudes do no favors to other people. While the vast majority of younger people suffer for three days and then gradually return to the Christmas spirit, for many elderly people a bout of flu can mean their last Christmas.

So do them a favor – if you feel unwell, stay at home, get a hot drink and some DVDs and wait until you are better before returning to the outside world. Thousands of vulnerable individuals die every year because tough young people insist on battling though. And at the very least, your fellow travelers and colleagues might appreciate it too.

Vaccination isn’t an option

Yes it is. Vaccination is for everybody. Not just to protect yourself, but to prevent you spreading it to others. There are three types of flu virus: A, B and C. As the first two occur most often, these are the ones covered by seasonal vaccines, developed each year.

Some people are particularly vulnerable to flu – those in older age but also pregnant women, adults and children, those with underlying health conditions and those with weak immune systems. These groups should certainly go for an annual flu jab. While your local health center will probably turn you away and tell you to come back once high-priority cases have been dealt with, they are doing that because they have limited time and public money.

But there are plenty of private providers – pharmacies and supermarkets – that will vaccinate you much sooner for as little as the cost of a cinema ticket.

We can catch it by eating infected chickens

Flu is fundamentally a disease of birds, meaning that at any one time, most of the world’s of flu virus particles are in ducks, geese and seagulls rather than humans. If television ancestry show “Who Do You Think You Are?” ever gets round to featuring a human seasonal flu virus as a guest, then the ancestral trails would all eventually lead back to birds.

But the flu viruses we suffer from are rather specialized beasts, that have journeyed a long way from their duck pond origins and adapted especially to the task of living and breeding in us. So it is very difficult for us to catch a bird flu and conversely difficult for the birds to catch one of ours.

The recent arrival of bird flu strain H5N8 in the UK poses no risk to humans as consumers of poultry. So enjoy your turkey. It is perfectly safe. But please, please, first wash your hands.

Why So Many Middle-aged Adults Catch the Flu

Honestly I think it's a combo of being a disciple of Joey Ward and always being stressed by work, my system is always set on high. I ain't got time to be sick....