What is the best way to ensure people get the recommended flu shots this year?

[hedgehog]

[1]

1. i've never had a flu shot in my life. i'm sure i don't want one. why would you wish this on others?

[hedgehog]

4. I've been getting flu shots for me and my family for 20 years.

We've always been able to get the vaccine although in some years we've had to wait until October while in others we got them in August. I had to laugh a few years back. I don't remember the year it happened, but one year all the news reports were about a vaccine shortage. Our doctor didn't get his vaccine delivery until October. The next year, the amount of vaccine available was doubled. More people got the shot the year of the shortage than the following year. People were more afraid of not being able to get the shot the first year than they were of getting the flu the next!

[1]

6. so have you ever had the flu? in these 20 years? i haven't. what's the point?

[hedgehog]

7. I had the flu 28 years ago and it took me months to recover.

My kids had it when they were toddlers and were sick as dogs. Some of them had friends get it at college and they missed two or three weeks of classes.

It's like wearing seat belts; you play the odds. I haven't been in a major car accident , ever, but I still put on my seat belt every time I get in a car. My odds of not getting the flu are better if I get vaccinated. There's a chance I won't get the flu even if I'm not vaccinated. There's a chance I could get the flu if I am vaccinated. The overall odds are best if I am vaccinated.

[1]

12. ok. i'm not trying to be a dick. maybe i had the flu once and now i'm immune. maybe i never had it.

i just don't like the idea of someone injecting some foreign substance into my body.

i'm old. ignore me.

[hedgehog]

14. Hey, I absolutely hate any injection; they give me the creeps.

You should have seen me years ago when I had to get six squirmy kids lined up for their shots, listen to their qualms and help them through it, then sit there and smile calmly while I got my shot! Having a toddler with severe asthma was my motivation. The recommendation was to immunize anyone with asthma and anyone who was a family member to avoid exposing the asthmatic to the virus.

[1]

19. "six squirmy kids?" hell. i'd ask the doctor for a shot on that premise...

but it wouldn't be for a vaccine.

:)

[hedgehog]

20. What can I say? They were all so cute I went for an even half dozen.

ZPG has me on their hate list. But wait until all civilization collapses and I have to depend on my kids to support me in my old age, and we'll see who's laughing then!

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Just for your education, the FLU is a VIRUS that changes

every year... why the yearly vaccine is different.

And the swine flu is also different from the yearly crop, which is human in origin. This is an animal origin

Just for education sake, so you did not develop immunity from getting it once.

Now you don't want it. fine... leaves more for the rest of us who are responsible enough to realize it is a good idea.

[lame54]

53. not a good idea

[Quantess]

38. Actually that's not how flu shots are supposed to work.

The flu virus mutates and evolves so that it can still attack hosts that have made antibodies of the previous version of the flu. The problem with the flu vaccine, is that it is always one step behind the newest flu virus mutation.

I don't bother to get flu shots either.

[handmade34]

5. agree

never had a flu shot (in my almost 60 yrs) and not sure I ever will get one.

[tabatha]

8. I have not either.

And I NEVER get the flu.

And I don't drink beer or any alcohol, so that would not work.

[hedgehog]

9. I would seriously urge you NOT to get a flu shot this year, either....

at least not until after my family and I get our shots!

[tabatha]

39. No urging required.

I would seriously not consider it. It is all yours.

[Raine]

41. You're welcome to mine

I'm not taking it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

45. Welcome to mine too.

[Raine]

40. Same here

and I intend to keep it that way, never had one and never will.

[elocs]

46. I'm 57 and never had a flu shot either, including the 1976 swine flu fiasco.

I'm passing on this one too.

[Oregone]

2. Genetically engineer a virus that takes over host cells to produce the H1N1 antibodies

:)


Whats the worst that can happen?

[Maru Kitteh]

17. Yer a naughty one, ain't ya! n/t

[CoffeeCat]

47. Yes....Look at this-------------------

Like I'm going to trust big Pharma (who stands to make a killing off of a panic) and our government--who has
been bought and paid for by corporate interests, including big Pharma???

I was more afraid of the bird-flu scare a couple of years ago. I watched that data closely. I'm also watching
the Swine Flu data as well.

This chart from Wired clearly shows that the "experts" aboslutely know that this Swine Flu isn't behaving like the
1918 flu. http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2009/st_infoporn_1707

The chart deserves it's own thread. We're all being bamboozled and marketeered, folks. Aren't we tired of this nonsense?
If you look at the data, this is not an apocolyptic situation. So, why are they ramping up to convince all of us that we MUST
be vaccinated (You're all gonna die!!!), when this is no worse than an ordinary flu season? The answer is...to make money!
It's our government that is heading the marketing campaign at the behest of big Pharma. Gee, with all of the billions that big
Pharma has given our politicians---no conflict there!



Link to full article from Wired:
http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2009/st_infoporn_1707

[Ellen Forradalom]

3. Refuse beer sales to anyone not showing proof of vaccination

[Fumesucker]

50. I haven't quaffed a beer this year.

Never liked it and I see no point in renting something I don't like.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Make sure the supply is there

there are people who are willfully ignorant who will never, ever get them... so why bother forcing them to get them?

If they want to play the odds game... and have the deck stacked against them... who am I to stop them?

Oh and that ensures I will be able to get MINE

And for the record there are a few people who shouldn't... my hubby had a nasty reaction to it twice while in the USN. He is one of the few who it is recommended they don't.

[hedgehog]

13. It's a sample of my skewed sense of humor. As you note, there are

some people who should not get the shots. I fully expect that if there is no serious problem with the flu this season, we'll hear once again from all the people who've never had the flu shot and don't see the need. If there is a serious problem, I expect to see a panic develop and loud demands to know why there is a vaccine shortage and why people weren't warned etc. As I mentioned above, more people got their shots the year of the shortage than the previous or following years. It wasn't fear of the flu that was the motivation; it was the fear of not being able to get something.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. I know, I remember having no problems, but that is because the USN

got the vaccines for us stupid civies and personnel. It was a matter of we need to get you vaccinated period, force protection

[hedgehog]

23. Be sure to remind us all of this thread next winter if people start complaining about

the Pentagon hogging all the vaccine!

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. I have no clue where exactly they get it from, but it is not the direct

civilian supply... though if I see trouble getting it will go to a Navy medical facility

:-)

[hedgehog]

25. Now you've done it - you just started a thousand conspiracy

threads about how the military gets the good stuff and the civilian vaccine is nothing but sterile saline!

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. So sorry...

:-)

They were going to come up with a variation of this anyway

[cabluedem]

44. I wouldnt trust any vaccines after all the Gulf War vets got sick from the shots. nt

[MercutioATC]

11. Depends on your definition of "best"

How far are you willing to go to insure vaccination?

[hedgehog]

16. It was a joke. Just talk to any school nurse and ask how effective

it is to require shots before kids go to school. My sister goes nuts every year trying to make arrangements for kids to get caught up on shots they were supposed to have as infants. Between public opinion and sheer logistics, there is no way to mandate everyone get a shot. IMO, the way to maximize the number of people getting a shot is to make them think there is a shortage and that shots will be rationed.

[CoffeeCat]

15. Are you talking about the Swine Flu vaccination?

I'll never get it.

[hedgehog]

18. Let's just hope that there will be enough vaccine for the people

who want to get the shot. I'm perfectly willing to be a fire break for you.

[Hannah Bell]

26. house to house with truncheons & cattle prods. oops. sorry. i mean "tasers".

[hedgehog]

27. Tasers? Tasers? We don't need no stinking tasers:

[Hannah Bell]

29. what in the heck is that?

[hedgehog]

30. Shhhh......it's secret!

[Hannah Bell]

32. mum's the word.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Now that is a good way to do it

Hey, one way to give snipers target practice...

(For the humor impaired, that is gallows humor)

[hedgehog]

31. I've got it! This is a win -win! Anyone who doesn't want a

flu shot will have to pay a special tax and we'll use that to finance single payer health care!


And now, I'm hitting the sack. I'm getting way too silly.

[Hannah Bell]

33. have you told obama yet? he wants our ideas.

[Cid_B]

35. (d) Join the Army...

[Hannah Bell]

36. or work in health care. no vaccination, no job.

[Quantess]

37. The 2 times I got a flu shot were a wasted effort

(not to mention the wasted $10 or $20)

I've never been sick with the flu in my life, and I didn't get sick those two years I had flu shots either---once in 1999 and once in 2002. The flu shots were sponsored by the public schools I was working in. I did not always take them up on the offer for a flu shot, but either way, I didn't get sick.

[Spider Jerusalem]

42. If the vaccine worked, you WOULDN'T get sick, now would you?

Therefore it's totally irrational to say it was 'wasted effort', because you don't know if you WOULD have gotten sick otherwise.

[Quantess]

43. 2 flu shots out of 38 years.

Anyway, the flu virus mutates so quickly that theoretically the flu vaccine will be outdated by then...

Just keep your body healthy and get enough rest.

[havocmom]

48. Dunno, but thinking giving Phram Co.immunity from civil suits for the stuff won't help

Sorry, not taking any shot that won't allow for me to sue if it does bad things to me. That fiasco back in the 70s is still an issue for some.

[timeforpeace]

49. Ensure? Then mandate. If indeed ensure is what you really want to accomplish.

[hedgehog]

51. Public health officials are taking their best guess at what happened the last time around

and what might happen this time. The fear is that a new virus will establish itself world wide as a mild disease. This has happened. The next step would be for a second mutation to emerge that would be far more deadly. The only real defense is to immunize as many people as possible as early as possible. No one has the health systems in place to take care of massive numbers of sick people. Between the people suspicious of immunizations and the people suspicious of government, no mandate will be effective. The infrastructure to enforce it simply isn't there in any case. The intent of the OP was the gallows humor recognition that attempting to force the vaccine upon people would be ineffective, but that if people thought the vaccine was in short supply, they would move heaven and earth to get a shot.

[lame54]

52. How about this...

DON'T GET A FUCKING FLU SHOT