Originally Posted by retiredguy123 (Post 2245722)

I just got my flu shot today at Walgreens. Some will say it is too early, but I always get it when I can.

Originally Posted by Bill14564 (Post 2245872)

That may be what you read but that is not what I meant. I meant exact what I wrote: the flu vaccine is not 100% effective. (It looks like on its best days it is 60% effective but I don’t recall if that was preventing the flu or preventing serious illness)

Originally Posted by La lamy (Post 2245952)

Not at all too early since it's based on last year's strain!

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2245894)

When you were practicing, did you not get the memo that virii are able to mutate? I mean, you started 30+ years ago, supposedly. There are all kinds of virus strains now, that didn't exist 30+ years ago, or 20+ years ago, or even 5 years ago. The flu is one of them, and every year, the vaccine is adjusted to cover the newest strains they're able to catch while developing the new vaccine. That's why it isn't a one-and-done vaccine. Because every year, the flu is a little different from the year before.

RSV was only known to affect infants - at first. Now, 30+ years later, it's also known to affect the elderly.

To those who actually don't know, rather than those who insist they do know:

RSV isn't a sickness. It is a virus that CAUSES sickness. You can have RSV and not ever get sick. Or, you can have RSV and die. There's an inbetween as well: you can have RSV and just assume it's a cold, nothing more or less. That is the MOST common experience with RSV no matter what age you are. But some people die. There are more people who die with RSV when they're infants, immuno-compromised people of all ages, and older adults, than any other demographic.

Whether big pharma, the CDC, the American Lung Association, or your local supplement store is telling you this or not, it's just how it is. You don't have to like facts, but them's the facts.

Originally Posted by Pugchief (Post 2245735)

After the whole Covid vax scandal, I'm wondering what the retired MDs on here think about the flu shot. Still worth getting or more worthless propaganda?

Originally Posted by golfing eagles (Post 2245769)

Bill is 100% correct. We got sidetracked with COVID and a new type of vaccine that some considered controversial. But every year 35-70,000 Americans die of the flu. Not during COVID, of course, since it all got coded as COVID for $14,000 extra/patient.

The flu shot is a "traditional" vaccine---and except for some intranasal forms is a dead virus, not a live attenuated one. The most likely "side effect" of a flu shot is a sore arm. Period.

As far as RSV goes, when I was practicing it was a disease of young children, possibly a few immunocompromised folks. I never saw a case in and adult in 30+ years. Now that some company invented a vaccine, we are being told that seniors are at risk and should get the shot. From my perspective, the jury is out on that one.

Bottom line, IF I were to give advice, which I don't do, it would be to unequivocally get your flu shot.

Originally Posted by retiredguy123 (Post 2245722)

I just got my flu shot today at Walgreens. Some will say it is too early, but I always get it when I can.

Originally Posted by Pugchief (Post 2245833)

Whether any vax is 100% effective has no bearing on the LIES they pushed to get people on board with the Covid jab. The Covid jab did NOT prevent you from either getting or transmitting Covid.

Whoever told you that Flu vaccines are 100% effective is either lying or clueless.

Originally Posted by HospitalCoder (Post 2245981)

Speaking as a hospital coder, I guarantee that Covid coding was not falsified at my hospital in IL and any hospital who did try to cheat would very likely be caught and fined. Hospital coding goes through rigorous audits.

Originally Posted by Two Bills (Post 2245950)

Exactly.
My doctors have got me to my 84th year in reasonable running order.
Why would I, or anyone with a few brain cells still intact, suddenly pass their health care over to a conspiracy faction, or social website?

Originally Posted by Two Bills (Post 2245950)

Exactly.
My doctors have got me to my 84th year in reasonable running order.
Why would I, or anyone with a few brain cells still intact, suddenly pass their health care over to a conspiracy faction, or social website?

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2246011)

I had the flu half a dozen years ago. The following year, I started getting a yearly flu shot. If the shot does ANY of the following:
prevent me from getting the flu, reduce the risk of me getting it, reduce the symptoms when I do get it - then I'm fine with getting the shot. Sore arm for 24 hours beats sore lungs for a week, hands down.

I'm a test subject for the RSV shot, I've had two doses of whatever it was (either placebo or the actual shot). Pretty sure mine was the placebo since I didn't even have a sore arm after getting it. But we are well-informed about the shot, about RSV, and about how our participation helps. This is the GSK shot that I believe is already out and being administered now, unless GSK is working on more than one.

My cousin is also a test subject, but because she has certain medical conditions, she's not in the double-blind trial like I am. She knows that she received the actual drug. She's doing fine, and did get the sore arm that night when she got her first (and so far only) dose. She's in a 2-year trial, I'm in a 3-year trial.