Do you get a flu shot ?

[mjeze106]

Flu shot or not...

Having two children under the age of 2.5, I hope and pray that the war against vaccines ends soon. We need to stop taking medicine and science into our own hands... especially as parents.  Do some of the ingredients in vaccines sound scary?  Sure.  Is it most likely scary because we aren't educated researchers, medical professionals, and scientists? Most likely.

If a group of misinformed parents causes an outbreak of a disease that has basically been dormant for years (which we are starting to see bits of) and it affects the health of my child, I will be furious.

[BoomBaby]

On 2/5/2018 at 9:43 PM, HoagieRoll said:

sigh.

it's an inactivated vaccine that is physically incapable of causing you to get the flu, or having a sickness as a response (barring the 1/100,000 chance of an allergic reaction). There are so many viruses around this time of year that often people will get the vaccine, then contract a non-influenza virus and draw the wrong conclusion

Further, it's been proven to help if you do get the flu to have less severe symptoms and a shorter course. 

I've seen some bad, bad cases this year. Has landed a lot of people in the ICU as the severe strains are back and weren't covered as well with this round of vaccines. That said, everyone should be getting this shot and it's unbelievable to me that people don't.

My 2 cents, as a physician in training. 

Bless you, my son, for making the effort.  Graybeards like me, jaded by a lifetime of frustration trying to convince people to do what is in their own best interest, are too often unwilling to do so.  The truth is that the overwhelming majority will believe what they want to believe, no matter what you, or any other true expert, says.  Yet it is our job to try, simply because there is an occasional patient who will actually change his or her behavior in order to improve their health, and one cannot necessarily predict which ones will.  That's the wonderful thing about your youthful enthusiasm.