a bunch of garbage basically.
A lot of long term real world studies show the flu vaccine to be equal to, or minimally better than nothing in most people. they used to boast 70-80% effectiveness, now they say 60%, real world shows it to be much much lower if it shows anything at all.
They now mandate a lot of health care workers to get one. The public thinks it's about safety, but it has more to do with money. The US gov't is the largest purchaser of flu vaccine, to the tune of billions of dollars per year. Put that with a very large and powerful lobbying group and now we have a situation where Hospitals are mandating a flu shot. Why?
The past 10 years of incentivizing and forcing employees to get it, they were able to raise vaccination rates of health care workers from under 20% to just over 40%. Were they too lazy? Did they not have access? Stupid? or do they know more about it than your average person?
Well that wasn't high enough, so today, it's being mandated, OR the hospital group will get hit with decreases to Medicare reimbursements for all services if they don't mandate all employees to get a flu vaccine. Doesn't really seem all that fair. Especially for something with such a garbage record of preventing anything in ALL age group.
And for those who have been here a while, you may remember a friend of mine, 30 year old mother, nurse, former college soccer player, current triathlete who was forced to take a flu vaccine in 2009 with the H1N1 paranoia at a Hospital in IA. She suffered a rare, but very real side effect of vaccine, and 3 days later was on a ventilator and on a flight for life to the University of IA Hospital and was on life support for a week. 2 weeks later she was still unable to speak. SHe had to learn to walk and everything again, and for what? To settle some paranoia??
Anyway, they have quite the marketing campaign, generate fear, lots of it, then provide a solution. A rather weak and ineffective one, but when did that ever matter?
Is it really about health and information? or is it about marketing and cash flow?
from 2004, read a little presentation from the CDC about the flu.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/36/2004_flu_nowak02.pdf
Sure lots of people may be sick this year. Is it really the flu? Rapid tests aren't all that accurate and usually can only tell if there is influenza present not what type. Lots of people have an influenza on mucas membranes, though that doesn't cause illness. I read a study earlier this year, wish I could find it, that said only 1 in 6 that come in contact with influenza, will get a clinical case of the "flu".
Anyway, they usually diagnose flu cases by appearance only, not diagnostic testing. That leaves a lot of room for error. When the H1N1 paranoia was being spread, they were claiming cases in the thousands in some areas. When clinical differential diagnosis were finally done, it was found that in many cases, fewer than 20% of the reported cases of H1N1 infections, were any influenza infection at all. That means over 80% of those reported cases they touted on the news every night were NOT even a influenza infection at all. But I guess when did accuracy in reporting matter any more?
if anybody wants to do any other reading, just do a quick search on the Cochrane database reviews on flu vaccines. There' a few and it's honest to goodness, large scale studies done on flu vaccines done by people that aren't making billions off of the sale and distribution of the vaccine.
So needless to say, no, I don't get one, never will.