Do people not like flu shots?

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

I've never gotten a flu shot. I don't know if it costs money or whatever, haven't really bothered to check because I'm absolutely terrified of needles. Most people have a general dislike, but I fucking hate them.

I also haven't gotten sick in a long time. Everybody at my work got sick for a few days but me. Dunno if I just have a really strong immune system or it's because I wash my hands about 20 times or so whenever I work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_fl...#Complications



For real, it's a nasty virus, it kills people. Saying, "yeah, but you probably won't die" would lead us to not wearing seatbelts or bike helmets either. I guess that's your call, but it seems like a bad call.

If you look at that link, it also mentions that nearly half of patients had an underlying condition. It also mentions that over a third of the deaths were from people under 16 and about 5% from people over 64. Together those groups represented over 40% of the deaths but only ~25% of the population. Another thing about that article is that it's about a strain that vaccines provided basically no protection against anyway.

As for more regular flu strains, going from data on the US, the highest death rate for the disease was approximately 1 flu death for every 6300 people in the country, with the highest deaths being in the very young and the very old. For the average young, healthy adult in their 20s and 30s, the flu simply isn't a big deal on a personal level.

[Statix]

...I rarely post here...

Ahaha, you rarely post here with 18251 posts?

I've never really heard of anything resembling a flu shot in the Netherlands. Sure, for the more aggressive strains, but for something as common as a fever, sore throat or muscle pains?

Regardless if they exist in the Netherlands, I wouldn't take them, unless there was some deadly strain around. Ever since 2009's H1N1 influenza virus, I've been more cautious. Whenever I touched something other people touched, I wash my hands. I'm also very cautious with what I touch.

Having the flu sucks, but I think I'd hate getting shots more.

[Zippoflames]

Every time I get a Flu shot, I get the Flu. So the last 3 years or so, no shot, no flu, coincidence?

Pretty much exactly the same as me, Every time I got the shot I got the flu, Not had the shot for the last 4 years not had the flu once.

[Elegiac]

Just get your damn vaccinations, people. How quickly people forget that influenza is a very serious illness.

[GarGar]

I also have to get fully vaccinated for work, but I have a personal aversion to many vaccines which use mercury-based preservatives. It says right on the pamphlet (yes, they have them where I work and yes, I've read them) that it may contain mercury. If it's bad for mercury to go through my digestive system by eating contaminated fish, why in the heck is it any better being injected directly into my bloodstream?

Edit: The science behind vaccination in general is sound, and it's a good idea to teach your immune system to fight off baddies. But cmon, find something other than mercury to preserve it with, which was invented as a preservative almost a hundred years ago.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Just get your damn vaccinations, people. How quickly people forget that influenza is a very serious illness.

It can be serious, but in general it is not. People aren't forgetting that it's a very serious illness because they never thought that in the first place. People aren't going to think of it as serious if they and most of the people they know have gotten it a few times and lived.

[Elegiac]

It can be serious, but in general it is not. People aren't forgetting that it's a very serious illness because they never thought that in the first place. People aren't going to think of it as serious if they and most of the people they know have gotten it a few times and lived.

More evidence of history being a critical subject of study, to my mind. It is only through vaccinations that we have eliminated or at the very least marginalised diseases like smallpox, diptheria, tetanus, polio, etc. Before vaccines these diseases were scourges of humanity.

[Deadvolcanoes]

I also have to get fully vaccinated for work, but I have a personal aversion to many vaccines which use mercury-based preservatives. It says right on the pamphlet (yes, they have them where I work and yes, I've read them) that it may contain mercury. If it's bad for mercury to go through my digestive system by eating contaminated fish, why in the heck is it any better being injected directly into my bloodstream?

Edit: The science behind vaccination in general is sound, and it's a good idea to teach your immune system to fight off baddies. But cmon, find something other than mercury to preserve it with, which was invented as a preservative almost a hundred years ago.

A lot of good information on Thimerosal can be found here:

www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/

[Elegiac]

A lot of good information on Thimerosal can be found here:

www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/

Whenever I see vaccines and autism together in a title I tend to laugh, given that the guy who started the hypothesis admitted he forged his results.

[Arkenaw]

I always get the flu when I get "vaccinated," so I stopped getting the shot and stopped getting sick.

[Deleted]

I've never managed to bring myself to get a flu shot, I'm horribly afraid of needles. I'd probably just faint and start crying like a 5-year-old. Sigh.
Plus, you hear so many rumors about people getting the craziest side effects after they've gotten the shot...

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

More evidence of history being a critical subject of study, to my mind. It is only through vaccinations that we have eliminated or at the very least marginalised diseases like smallpox, diptheria, tetanus, polio, etc. Before vaccines these diseases were scourges of humanity.

IIRC the vaccines against those diseases are much more effective.

[Elegiac]

I've never managed to bring myself to get a flu shot, I'm horribly afraid of needles. I'd probably just faint and start crying like a 5-year-old. Sigh.
Plus, you hear so many rumors about people getting the craziest side effects after they've gotten the shot...

It's really not that bad. Just look away, you get a little prick, and it's done.

As for the rumours, they're not worth listening to. Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.

[Spectral]

Thanks for your posts in this thread Spectral. It's nice to have an actual scientist who works in immunology to inform us on this topic.

Sorry about the snippier posts by the way, this topic really gets my hackles up. Vaccination's a huge public health issues, and it drives me nuts that people think, "I Googled it!" is research.

---------- Post added 2012-11-11 at 10:33 AM ----------

I've never met Spectral before because I barely read this section of the forum but I am glad he exists.
The amount of ignorance expressed by the general public is scary and I always respect someone who is an expert and has the patience to repeat himself endlessly to people who aren't actually even prepared to listen, just in case by some miracle they absorb a little bit.

This is the first time someone's described me as patient Thanks!

[Deadvolcanoes]

Whenever I see vaccines and autism together in a title I tend to laugh, given that the guy who started the hypothesis admitted he forged his results.

Lol no shit? I didn't know that.

I do know, however, that they stopped using thimerosal in infant and child vaccines since 2001, and that autism rates have gone up since then. Maybe the thimerosal was preventing autism?!?

[Elegiac]

Sorry about the snippier posts by the way, this topic really gets my hackles up. Vaccination's a huge public health issues, and it drives me nuts that people think, "I Googled it!" is research.

Kind of like self-diagnosis of illness on the internet; type in your symptoms and wait for the word Cancer to appear.

[MatadorMedia]

Well since a flu shot literally gives you the flu (a lesser version of it) I have no interest in getting the shot and feeling like crap for two weeks. I'd rather just avoid getting sick all-together, which I do just fine on my own thank you.

[Elegiac]

Lol no shit? I didn't know that.

I do know, however, that they stopped using thimerosal in infant and child vaccines since 2001, and that autism rates have gone up since then. Maybe the thimerosal was preventing autism?!?

Correlation does not imply causation.

Do people really forget high school science that easily?

[skrump]

I don't mind getting shots but I just can't see paying $80+ so I can feel slightly sick the next day.

Would rather just get the flu and save the $80

[GarGar]

A lot of good information on Thimerosal can be found here:

www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/

Good info, thank you. Once they speed up the following process to the point where they can stop putting it in their pamphlets, I'll be more than happy to get my shots regularly.

"However, in July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure."

I'm just not comfortable with with the stuff bypassing all the body's natural defenses (digestive/respiratory tract) and going straight into my bloodstream.