[Acura604]

just wondering if most of us will get a flu shot for this years season.

This year’s vaccine provides protection against the following strains of Influenza:

1. A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) – like virus
2. A/Victoria/361/2011 – like virus
3. B/Massachusetts/2/2012 – like virus

[zetazeta]

I've never taken the flu shot, I've always been quite lucky in avoiding the virus. My office provides free flu shots every year. Not a lot of people go for the shot though.

How effective is this years flu shot estimated to be?

[murd0c]

NAY by the time the flu normally comes here it has mutated and it won't work, eat healthy drinks lots of water and get sleep and you won't have anything to worry about.

[ziggyx]

^ +1 to eating healthy, drinking water, and getting your sleep

Also be careful around sick people, dress for the weather and wash your hands before eating.

If you do get sick, try to cough/sneeze into a tissue or at the very least into the underside of your shirt or sleeves. Using your hands to cover a cough or sneeze makes it easier to spread.

[Nocardia]

If you work with or are always around an elderly or immunocompromised population...get it (unless you have had a severe reaction to vaccines)

As always, immunization isn't always about you.

[BeeBeeAhn]

Some debunking of common flu shot myths. (http://io9.com/lets-just-debunk-every-flu-vaccine-myth-in-one-fell-sw-1454237689)

[MR_BIGGS]

Alberta is close to having a measles outbreak. There are pockets of the population in rural areas where immunization rates are very low. Some choose to ignore it; it’s not important enough a disease to do anything about. Some believe vaccines are not safe, and for some its part of their culture or their religious beliefs that vaccines should not be used. Some segments of the population don't believe in putting something in their bodies for religious reasons. Not to judge, but I feel for kids whose parents didn't get them immunized for measles.

As for flu shots, it's a tough sell to the public when the effectiveness of the shot is typically in the 60 to 70 per cent range. I think the elderly and the young should get it, but for the rest of, we should all practice proper hand hygiene.

[Mr.HappySilp]

My paretns got it and my mom still got sick.

I myself haven't ever gotten the flus hot before and I don't thinK i been very sick for the last few years (We all cough and get cold from time to time but not serious enough for me to take time off work). One of the reason I think I don't think sick is becasue my room is super hot (right above the furance) so even in the winter I am wearing shorts and T-shirts and i eat a lot of tomatos.

[twitchyzero]

i'm literally right up in patients' face at work and I've been doing okay for the past couple of influenza seasons. Once I start getting running nose/sore throat I take vitamin supplements :denied:

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

flu shots are completely unnecessary.

[Traum]

Not flu shot-related, but vaccine-related.

Vaccines and Autism - YouTube

Science may not explain everything, but when there are things that has already been well-proven by science for years and years, it never fails to amaze me how stubbornly ignorant some people still are...

As for flu shots, it's a tough sell to the public when the effectiveness of the shot is typically in the 60 to 70 per cent range. I think the elderly and the young should get it, but for the rest of, we should all practice proper hand hygiene.
If you ask me, I'd say a 60-70% effective rating is quite high. A lot of times we go to great lengths to improve our chances of getting something, and those advantages we get often fall into the single digit percentage range. More importantly, the herd immunity that was mentioned in the above video really drives home the idea of why vaccines and immunization is important. The process is far more effective when the majority are immunized.

[yogenfruz]

A bunch of co-workers got it. I refused. I live by the "take care of yourself, and avoid sick people" route.