Flu season 2019 is here. Vaccinate to maintain herd immunity — and protect everyone.
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 5 years ago • 58 commentsBy: Nicole E. Basta and Maria Sundaram
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Each year, communities around the world suffer from a dangerous and potentially deadly infectious disease : influenza. The story is a familiar one: the virus jumps from one person to the next via a cough, a sneeze or a contaminated surface, linking people and places via long and intertwined chains of transmission.
What most people do not realize is that these person-to-person chains also represent a huge potential for interrupting transmission . Influenza virus uses these chains to find new people to infect, and vaccines can block these pathways between people. Every vaccinated person protects both themselves and others, by stopping the virus from spreading. Vaccination reduces your risk of spreading influenza virus and increases your contributions to protecting your entire community.
Our best chance at keeping everyone healthy this winter season is to strengthen our community immunity — or herd immunity — by ensuring that as many people as possible are vaccinated. But each year, more than half of Americans miss out on the opportunity to contribute to community immunity and protect themselves, their family and friends because they skip the flu vaccine.
Some Americans skip the flu vaccine because they think the flu is just an average head cold. It’s not. It causes severe illness and death, even in otherwise healthy people. Two children have already died from the flu this year, and the flu season is only just beginning — more people will die and tens of thousands will wind up in the hospital before the season ends next spring. Even a milder case of influenza can put an otherwise healthy adult in bed with a fever, chills and body aches for at least a week, and the illness’s effects can ripple outward for far longer. On average, every time you get the flu, you’re likely to infect 1-2 other people, who will each pass it on to 1-2 more people, and so on.
Some Americans skip the flu vaccine because they aren’t aware of the good they can do by getting it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that people who got the flu vaccine in 2016-2017 helped prevent 5.3 million cases of flu. Preventing millions of people from suffering and thousands from dying is a major success worth celebrating, but we could be doing so much more if everyone got vaccinated. The fact is, everyone gets the flu from someone else, meaning skipping the flu vaccine and becoming a link in the chains of transmission has consequences that extend to family, friends, co-workers and even people who pass us by on the bus and in the supermarket.
Some Americans skip the flu vaccine because they think it doesn’t work well. It’s true that the vaccine cannot prevent all cases of flu , but that alone shouldn’t be a reason to opt out of the benefits it provides. While there is no way to perfectly prevent the flu (yet), getting vaccinated is the most effective option available.
In the five minutes it takes to get a flu vaccine, you acquire the potential to save someone else’s life. This could be a newborn too young to be vaccinated, a neighbor, a relative or a close friend. It could even be a friend of a friend, or a stranger you walk by in the grocery store. How often do you have the opportunity to do something so simple that could have such a life-changing impact?
But don’t just take our word for it — ask yourself: “Who in my life do I want to protect from the flu?” Getting vaccinated will help the people you care about stay healthy this flu season. Community immunity is strongest when nearly everyone is getting vaccinated. This year, get vaccinated and share the benefits of the protection you get from the flu vaccine. Don’t share the flu.
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Last time I had the flu was 1996. It was miserable enough that I've had my flu shot every year since, and haven't had to go through that again.
My son has had the flu once - the year swine flu was big. The vaccine wasn't available here until he was already sick with flu. And then he stayed sick most of that winter - flu, then strep, then bronchitis on top of an ear infection. So he has also had his flu shot every year since.
never had a flu shot and never had the flu either.
You have been lucky. I have had it twice and wished that I was dead.
bummer. I hope you have better luck going forward.
cheers
In 2010 a viral video showed a woman's bizarre reaction to a flu shot.
Here's a video of her (totally bogus) symptoms.
It scared a lot of gullible idiots.
The thing is, is that is NOT what dystonia looks like. It locks the body up into strange positions and causes mild jerks when trying to fight the locked position.
Butt, it was hilarious.
Antivaccers probably use that as anti vaccine propaganda.
Yep. Butt since she admitted that she faked it, only the most ignorant antivaccers still use it.
Oh wait... the majority of antivaccers are ignorant idiots.
You know what, Gordy, don't even get me started on anti vaxxers..... YES, I will say it, they are crazy. There are confirmed cases of measles in my county where my girls go to school. Yes, my girls are vaccinated. When I was in school, my mom had to provide proof of my inoculations. The doc fills out a form 3231. Now, people are finding loopholes claiming "religious" reasons, truly fucking it up for really religious people, (Yea, I'm looking at you Karen in the car line!!! Mommy blogs don't count as 'research' you dumb ass!)
That "religious reasons" is quite the BS.
I do believe you are correct about that.
If parents don't want to vaccinate, fine. But be prepared to home school your kids and do not let them out in public, especially in settings where there are young children or the elderly.
If parents do not vaccinate without good reason), I'd call them quite irresponsible.
Absolutely.
I don't get "THE SHOT" !
If and when I do get sick, I stay in bed and tell people to "leave me alone". I'm thinking of the "Other People" when I do that.
Some interesting information here.
One of the most serious documented influenza vaccine reactions is Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). 3 An immune mediated painful and disabling neurological disorder that can occur after viral infection or vaccination, GBS involves inflammation of the peripheral nervous system and can cause temporary or permanent paralysis that may lead to death. 4 GBS usually develops within two to four weeks of vaccination.
Characterized by muscle weakness, unsteady gait, numbness, tingling, pain, GBS can cause paralysis of the face or one or more limbs. It can take several months for recovery or it can leave the affected person with chronic health problems and disability. 5 The mortality rate with GBS is highest among the elderly and those who develop severe complications. 6
As of Sept 1, 2019 , there have been 5,560 claims filed in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) for injuries and deaths following influenza vaccination, including 174 deaths and 5,386 serious injuries. Of that number, the U.S. Court of Claims administering the VICP has compensated 3,129 children and adults, who have filed claims for influenza vaccine injury. 59
The flu itself can also cause Guillain-Barre syndrome. Many people who develop symptoms state they had a recent flu infection.
Get the shot.
We had a couple of scary winters with the babies years ago. I remember dunking one in a tub of ice water to bring down the fever (I think she was at or near 106). The next year, I had to take one to the hospital when she had a fever of about 105 and was coughing up blood.
Every year since, we always get the shot and we haven't had to go through that again. I concede that's thin as scientific studies go. We joke that we also have elephant repellant that never fails.
Still, we certainly have never had any negative effects from the shot. Might as well get it.
I had the typhoid shot in the Army but still got it years later. It was like having the Godzilla of flu symptoms. Because of my age I get the flu and pneumonia shots every year. I also got the shingles one.
Get the goddamn vaccine, don't be an asshole. And yes, if you are an "anti-vaxxer" you are an asshole.