Flu Vaccine, what\'s your opinion?
Everyone is scrambling to get a flu shot this year, I'm wonder what the big fuss is all about? Is it only because we all want whatever we can't have?? Is the media causing the "crisis"?
In the past, everyone pretty much ignored the flu shots, most of the people I know actually declined it. I understand why it would be beneficial for us, as healthcare professionals, but it's the general public that is freaking out about not having one. Am I under-reacting, or is this being blown out of preportion in the same way we encountered anthrax and sars??
If you check out the stats, about 2/3rds of healthcare providers routinely refuse a flu shot each year. In that respect, you wouldn't expect nurses, doctors, etc scrambling to get them. My family doctors has stock and I got my shot yesterday.
Responsible employers (hospitals, doctor's offices, etc) should be able to get the vaccine as healthcare providers and the patients they serve are on the CDC's guidelines as priority recipients.
As far as getting the flu, it does kill 36,000 people every year and hospitalize over 200,000 in the US. That's a lot of potential mortality and morbidity.
Unlike Anthrax and SARS, Influenza is a real threat. Most people have friends and family members that have been hit with the flu in the past and remember it well.
In that respect, I can see why people are getting nervous about not receivng a shot. Specially if you're sick already, the flu can and will be fatal for a large number of people who catch it.
It's no trivial matter.
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.comI (with my fellow nursing students)just volunteered to dminister flu shots to hospital staff a week ago. We also gave each other the shot as well. Look at it this way. If you are a healthcare worker and are more exposed to the possibility of getting the flu why not get it. Now let's not confuse the little flu/cold with the big daddy influenza the one that knocks you out for two days and you are vomiting all over and feel like you want to die. Isnt it worth getting the shot? They also say that when you get the shot you will experience the flu within a day or so. That doesnt seem to be true from the material that I've read since it's not a live virus that's administered. Unless you have had an anaphylactic reaction to this shot previously or are allergic to eggs get it.
I've never taken a flu shot and never gotten the flu either but hopefully being generally healthy if I was to have the flu it wouldn't hit me like it would my grandparents, father with diabetes and prostate CA etc....I'm in L&D now so we don't get too many with flu to be exposed to (did have a couple of cases last year) but I used to do peds and home health and have been ok so far so just cross my fingers.
But there really is a shortage we aren't getting them at our hospital for employees anyway because they did order from the company in Britian that is the holdup.
My experience is that all people react differently to the Flu shot and you can still have symptoms with the vaccination 24 hours post-injection. But again you need to weigh your options and the risk you pose for others and yourself. If you are a high risk individual then perhaps you should get it. Of course the shortage is also playing a part in that to. And also Influenza is protecting you against the respiratory flu...many confuse the stomach flu with influenza. Just my two cents worth..
people also have to know that the flu shot is only good on certain types of flu that the WHO has decided would be the worst strains that year so those are the only ones in the shot and there are many other strains around. When I was in school for my BSN part of the clinical you could do for community health was give flu shots and I gave a bunch at different stores and factories...it was an assembly line flu shot.
I think the media is blowing the "crisis" way out of proportion simply because the media always latches onto a topic and rides it to overkill, and because it's an election year and John Kerry has used the shortage of flu vaccine as something else to try to get the public to believe is George Bush's fault personally. Most of the media is liberal so they ride the wave- right or wrong.
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cassioo said:
people also have to know that the flu shot is only good on certain types of flu that the WHO has decided would be the worst strains that year so those are the only ones in the shot and there are many other strains around.
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The good news this year is that they picked the right strains to target. The epidemiologists tracking early cases of the flu have verified that the vaccine developed should protect against strain of infuenza circulating this year.
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.comYou do have to wonder if this issue would be getting as much attention if there were not an election year.
By the same token, it's a vaccine that close to 1/3 Americans get every year, and Influenza is a well-known public health concern that hospitalizes close to a quarter of a million people every year and kills bout 36,000.
So in that respect, I don't think the media is overblowing the issue. It is a legitimate health concern and the more people that know about it, the better.
Shame on the politicians for trying to turn it into a political football.
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.comShame on the politicians for trying to turn it into a political football.
isn't everything an issue? LOL
I think it is a shame when John Kerry blames Bush for the flu shot shortage. He has put the fear in many elderly and the media is playing it up. Saw an article on CBS that talked about seniors driving 100 miles to Canada to get a flu shot.
Just another example of liberal 20/20 hind sight.
Another sad thing is, the Liberals were putting down Dick Chaney for getting a flu shot. COME ON!!! I do not want the V.P. to become ill and unable to function for not getting a flu shot. My god the man has heart problems. He needs the shot!
I have faith that by the end of November this shortage will be resolved.
Last week I treated two people who came into the ER after waiting in line with 1,000 other senior citizens and felt weak and fell to the ground. The medics said that the crowd of anxious senior citizens waiting in line was a disaster waiting to happen.
That's what the media has done for people and what they always do - they stir the proverbial pot. By the same token, there should be better arrangements made for seniors.
Having been sick two years in a row after receiving the flu shot (including the illness recurring over several months last year) I decided not to get it this year. In our ER we are bombarded by people every year who panic when they get the flu...but as a public health nurse as well as ER nurse, you have to realize that the virus mutates into all different types of fun shapes and we never know what we'll be facing. Public panic always gets us into trouble, and the media contributes to public panic.
