I did a search and the last relevent thread was in 2005, so I was curios. I have noticed in the past two years that the flu shot is almost becoming manditory. All work places are effering them, as well as huge adds in the newspapers saying you need to get them. Every year the news cranks the rederic up. Saying how young and old can die, but even if your young and healthy you should get one. I stoped doing it 4 years ago. When I noticed I caught the flu easier when I got the shot, and didn't get it when I didn't.

Only 20,000 deaths per year in the US doesn't justify the hype.

do you think it is the pharmasutical companies trying to make a buck or have you heard of a deep dark secret?



[edit on 17-1-2008 by Torlough]

There are several recent (2007) threads. Too numerous to list.

Go to search ATS and use..flu shots. You will find some informative threads there.

Glad to hear you found them. No need to be embarrassed.

FYI I've had the flu shot every year since they have existed and no ill effects I couldn't handle. A few hours of feeling ill beats the alternative of days in bed feeling like death.

I keep all vaccinations currant as I travel to impoverished countries and work closely with the natives. There are some nasty diseases that I can do without.

The fact that vaccines may contain mercury does not concern me as the amount is so small. IMO eating fish would do your body more harm with its high mercury content. Pregnant women are urged not to eat seafood in the area I live in.

Dizzie

Before you even think of getting any sort of vaccination watch some videos by Dr. Len Horowitz and visit educateyourself.org and find emerging diseases.

Hi There,

Here in the UK we have a couple of viruses doing the rounds, and I've been fortunate enough to have caught both of them. Two weeks ago I had the novovirus, and became very well acquainted with my toilet seat thanks to that one. This week, I have had to take 4 days off work having caught the flu bug from one of my work colleagues, I'm just now coming out of it, but have a slight chest infection for which I am taking the good ol' amoxicillin.

I have never had a flu jab in my life, and the amount of times I have actually had the flu can be counted on one hand. This particular bout knocked me off my feet, and I was in bed solid for two days (alone...damn it!), today is my first venturing out of the sack. I feel fatigued, hungry, achey, with remnants of the flu bug still lining my sinuses...but drying up.

I don't suppose that I am a good advert for the pharmaceuticals, but I would suggest that considerations need to be weighed in respect to other family members, particularly the very young and very old, as these are the more prone to the serious side to the flu. If your work or lifestyle brings you into constant social contacts then perhaps the jab is for you, but it is no gurantee of being immune.

What bothers me is that the companies are able to predict which type of flu is going to be the more prevalent year in year out, and thus, re-optimise the jab for that particular strain. If I were of the paranoid type, I would think there's a conspiracy in there somewhere.

There are multiple issues here. First of all, even though 20,000 deaths doesn't seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, most are preventable. Second, I suppose there could be some liability issues should someone infect others in the workplace and then someone dies from it. There's also the issue of productivity. A company doesn't want half of its work force out for a week with the flu, so it's understandable that they'd want their workers to get flu shots, even offer them at the workplace.

As for you getting the flu after you've gotten the shot, there's always the possibility that you caught a different strain. Each flu shot contains three viruses based on estimations as to which viruses will circulate or be most prevelant. There's always the off chance that you could catch another one that wasn't included in the vaccine. Also note that vaccines aren't 100% effective, and you still have a chance if getting the flu (albeit it's much smaller).

Then some people's bodies just aren't as receptive to vaccines as others. It could just be the vaccines don't affect you as much as others, thus why it would appear as if getting a shot makes getting the flu more likely for you.

Ah, to shoot up or not to shoot up, that is the question.

It makes one wonder, what ever happened to eat right, take a vitamin, exercise, and have a healthy immune system? I'm sure its easy to run around and say that everything is becoming antibiotic resistant, but what about that rampaging war machine that is the human immune system. have we become so weak in our body and its systems that we can't even fight off basic colds anymore?

I won't claim to be some paragon of healthy living, likely far from it compared to others, but I can't remember the last time I got sicker than a bit of a sniffle, and I work with a wide array of people on a daily basis. I watch my office mates continually getting sick, infecting th office, then recovering only to get reinfected and so on, whereas I'm just there dealing with them all and not getting sick.

Everyone seems to be looking for some cure all, or magic answer in a pill or simply to mask the symptoms, all so they can continually carry on with their cycles of self abuse. Too often, the real answers are right in front of you.

I've gotten the flu for many years and the worse thing that happen was my arm was sore at the site of the shot.

Now we get the "flu mist" which is live virus sprayed up the nose. You feel a bit like you have a cold coming on for about 4 or 5 days.

Originally posted by CoffinFeeder
Ah, to shoot up or not to shoot up, that is the question.

It makes one wonder, what ever happened to eat right, take a vitamin, exercise, and have a healthy immune system? I'm sure its easy to run around and say that everything is becoming antibiotic resistant, but what about that rampaging war machine that is the human immune system. have we become so weak in our body and its systems that we can't even fight off basic colds anymore?

Sooo....this would apply to smallpox vaccine as well? Polio? Gonna pass on the mump's vaccine? Or pack in the pennicillin and trust in the ol' immune system instead? I see your poiint, and personally, I try to stay away from those cold medications that only treat the symptoms and let you wear yourself out. But as to the vaccines...careful what you ask for.

Originally posted by Torlough
I have noticed in the past two years that the flu shot is almost becoming manditory. All work places are effering them, as well as huge adds in the newspapers saying you need to get them. Every year the news cranks the rederic up. Saying how young and old can die, but even if your young and healthy you should get one. I stoped doing it 4 years ago. When I noticed I caught the flu easier when I got the shot, and didn't get it when I didn't.

do you think it is the pharmasutical companies trying to make a buck or have you heard of a deep dark secret?

[edit on 17-1-2008 by Torlough]

I never got a flu shot ever.. till 2003 when I was working in a place where they offered free flu shot to employees and I thought why not. I became sick with the flu almost immediately and was out sick for a couple days. I seldom to never get sick but after getting the flu shot I became very sick.

I just visited my doctor a week back and he recommended I get the flu shot and I said NO!. In his report he stated I refused the flu shot.

Who would be behind such a charade, why the big drug companies and there political trained monkeys. And to think into the conspiracy realm, Perhaps they keep records on all who take the shots and watch for reactions for further study of other implementable scenarios.

People are largely ignorant about the protection that the flu vaccine offers. The vaccine makes can only predict what flu virus will appear, so it's most likely the vaccine you are getting will be good for nothing and you will have suffered the ill effects of it for nothing.

The second thing that bothers me is that this magic virus just seems to pop up every year at the same time that people start being vaccinated for it. Also, most of the people who get the shot that I know end up getting the flu anyways.
My mother is a family physician and I have had more vaccines than I can shake a stick at, but none in the last 3 years and I have gotten sick maybe 3 times since which is amazing for me.

Bottom line, I think the flu vaccine gives you the flu!! And this is coming from someone who worked for 2 years in a hospital, whether that adds any credibility to my opinion or not.

I think its true that some people get the flu from he flu shot. My brother got one for the first time few years ago and was sick with the flu for about 5 days afterwards. The doctor tried to convince him he must of had the flu when he came in for the shot. But I don't believe that, you hear it all the time people saying after they got the shot or the mist they got the flu. I however, think it has more to do the persons immune system and how it reacts to the vaccine. Just like certain medicines are okay for one person but not for another. I don't think vaccines are a one size fits all. Just my humble opinion.

Well here is another thought. Bear with me. Isn't the mortality rate 5% for infants and 4.8% for of 75. and basically less than 1 % for those in the middle and most of that one percent have medical conditions to begin with?

Why the big push for healthy people over infant age and under 75 to get a flu shot?? I saw a full page add in a NY paper this morning. Is it the Gov / news media, causing false hysteria. The gov didn't even pay for the adds they are done pro bono. All I see is the drug companies profiting from the shots, and they are lobbying the CDC to push them.

People die all the time there is 2 x the mortality rate in a car than catching the flu, but we arent' baning recreational driving.

It's like Jarts, three kids die in 1987 and now it is illegal to sell the game even as a collectable and they should be destroyed. I mean WTF??? A game completely banned becase 3 families were to stupid to play it correctly, yet we sell guns at wall mart. This country confuses me.

I have had 2 flu shots in my entire life, one was when i was a small boy around 5 or 6 and the other when i was about 12, BOTH times i became severely ill 1 or 2 days after the shot, and my sickness lasted days. I am now 25 and have had the flu maybe twice, I have been keeping my immune system healthy with an active lifestyle and immune system stimulating herbal medicines. I watch what i touch and what i eat and who i come into contact with, I am throughly convinced the flu shot is not only insanely stupid its dangerous.

Bottom line is dont be a lazy turd, get some exercise, keep you body healthy and it will take care of you. If you get the flu so what, stay home drink lots of water and tough it out. The reality is the flu shot is NOT going to give you some magic shield against the flu, mainly because there are so many different strands of it. The flu shot is for people who are looking for a "quick cure all" But the truth is there is no substitute for healthy living and health practices. It is a lazy persons way to make them selfs feel protected without doing anything.