Should we get the flu vaccine?, page 1

Good thread StaticSky.

I used to get the flu shots when I was a kid. I didn't really have a choice. At that time, we considered it more like choosing when to be sick, when the inevitable virus ran through the children, us being the vector of contamination. I was always told that it was an intert form of the virus that we were innoculated with. I didn't notice that the flu I got was any worse or easier than what everyone else got. I'm certain it's improved over the years.

Once I was older -- about 10, I objected, and my parents didn't force me to get it. Yes, I frequently get a flu, although it's been at least three years since I've gotten it. The most important thing about avoiding it, IMO, is avoiding people who are sick, avoiding things they have touched, washing your hands a lot when around sick people, and trying to not touch your face when you've been around sick people. The CDC recommendation is that people at higher risk of complications from the flu get shots:

People who should get vaccinated each year are:

Children aged 6 months up to their 19th birthday
Pregnant women
People 50 years of age and older
People of any age with certain chronic medical conditions
People who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
People who live with or care for those at high risk for complications from flu, including:
a. Health care workers
b. Household contacts of persons at high risk for complications from the flu
c. Household contacts and out of home caregivers of children less than 6 months of age (these children are too young to be vaccinated)

www.cdc.gov...

I have a couple of personal thoughts about the flu shots. One, I think that with the speed that antigens shift, often what we're getting as an innoculation has shifted beyond that, and thus the shot is ineffective. I know that friends of ours that have gotten flu shots still got (some kind of) flu.

Some health professionals believe that flu shots are related to Guillain-Barré syndrome: www.lauricidin.com... Also, I believe that all but a few million of the vaccinations probably still contain thimerisol. I personally believe that thimerisol is linked to autism in children, despite it's being declared "safe" by the FDA. Why, oh, why, would anyone (a) introduce mercurial compounds into a human being on purpose and (b) not tell anyone?

Which leads me to the bottom line for me. I just don't trust the drug companies anymore. I think it's too much of a business, and I don't trust governments and their tinkering with additives and other things. I may be paranoid, but that same paranoia has saved my bacon a time or two, and thus I have no direct evidence that leads me to distrust it. See how that works? A true paranoid can use their own circular reasoning to reinforce their beliefs.

I got really leery last year, when the medical community seemed to be really pushing flu shots, with little signs like "get yours now! Not many left" etc. Maybe that's just sales.

Okay, sorry for the novella. Obviously this is something I ponder about this time of year as people line up at one of the two places here to get shots.