[La lamy]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

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

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

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

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)

Some years it's 80% effective, one year I remember it was only 15% effective and they had to put out an additional vaccine. Since the strains vary, the effectiveness varies. In addition, it is always somewhat of a guess---teams go to Southeast Asia and China and take samples. The three (sometimes 4 or 5) most common strains are put in the vaccine.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by La lamy

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

Not quite how it works. Last winter's Asian strains are the ones that hit us this winter. See above post. But to answer the question, it's OK to get a flu shot starting in late August.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

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.

I'm not quite sure how to take the tone of that post. Are you asking me or telling me about virology? If you're asking, it's quite a long reply. If you think you are telling me, well.......Res ipsa loquitur. And some of those "facts" are accurate, some aren't.

Originally Posted by Pugchief

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?

Well there is this from the horses mouth relative to flu shots.

mRNA Flu Vaccine Possibilities | Pfizer

Not that they would tell the average person it is in the flu shot.

My mom had a very bad reaction to her last one for the first time ever (84 yrs young and double jabbed). Last year she ended up in the hospital because of the flu shot - heart related on a person with zero heart conditions. She saw her "new" cardiologist for a few visits post hospital. Had tests done and now a year later the cardiologist released her from his care, thank goodness. She will not be getting a flu shot anymore.

No thank you from one Villager to another. Soylent Green comes to mind.

[HospitalCoder]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

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.

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.

[Mrmean58]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

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

Haven't gotten a flu shot since I was 10 YO. Haven't had but one mild case of the flu when I was in college but it also could have been a case of food poisoning. Not planning on giving in now. Strong believer in eating healthy and regular exercise to build a strong immune system. It's worked so far

[westernrider75]

Originally Posted by Pugchief

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.

That is definitely your opinion, not fact. As a former health care worker I was second in line in my town to get the Moderna Covid vaccine when it came out and have received all the boosters. Even though I was a front line worker I never got Covid and attribute it directly to receiving the vaccine.

No vaccine is is 100% effective but I will take my chances and get the flu vaccine and any other vaccines that I feel will keep me safe and living my best life in my retirement years. I didn’t work all those years to die from the flu when a vaccine may have prevented it.

[deborahcme]

Percentages are interesting ducks. If we were told that we'd have a 95% chance of say winning the lottery, my guess is there'd be way more ticket buying! Even at lower percentages, we'd feel pretty good about the buy, while at the same time acknowledging that chance is always going to be a factor. As I always say when the lottery chance is predicted (e.g. a billion to one)---So! There IS a chance! hee hee. On vaccines I'm sure most people follow the advice of their own docs, and base decisions on their own health conditions and not on this or that article or social media posts, or various percentage reports.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by HospitalCoder

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.

Whoa, whoa, whoa

Nobody was talking about falsified coding---ie: coding a COVID negative patient as if he/she had COVID

As a coder, you could only go by the diagnoses on the attestation signed by the physician. If the patient tested positive for COVID, that was listed as a diagnosis.

I'm sure, even at your hospital, the coding department encouraged all physicians to list every diagnosis on a given patient, and then your department put them in the most financially beneficial order. Some hospitals changed the primary diagnosis, apparently not yours, but frequently the order of listing is subjective.

But thank you for being honest and trying not to rip the taxpayer off.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

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.

[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

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?

Spot on.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

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?

It might have something to do with her e-mails. Or maybe a laptop. Possibly the basement of a pizza parlor.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

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.

Absolutely!!!!

And everyone should thank you for being a test subject---that action may very well end up saving lives

[NoMo50]

My wife and I have taken the flu shot every year for as long as I can remember, and in that time, neither one of us has gotten the flu. Lucky? Maybe. Then again, during that same time span, neither of us has been bitten by a wolverine. Maybe the shot is good for that, too.