Sunday, September 26, 2010

question of the week:

to get a flu shot or to not get a flu shot, that is the question?

every year at this time the big hype is flu shots. i myself have never gotten a flu shot. ...well not that i remember anyway. one of the perks of working out as often as i do is it creates a strong immune system, so over the past 2 years i've never really gotten sick. then last year all that craziness happened with the swine flu etc..., so now i'm more so considering it. but i can't decide. always around this time of year i wonder if i should get one? like i stated i never have, but i thought i would ask and see what you guys have to say.

do you get a flu shot?

strike! 60min
624


4 comments:

Nikki said...

I did last year. and I didn't get hte flu.

Rachel said...

We don't do flu shots in our house.

Every year the flu shot is prepared to protect us against only a few of the many different strains of the flu, but no one can accurately predict which strains will dominate the flu season. In my opinion, getting sick or not has more to do with hygiene and luck, and not a shot.

I trust that nature and my body can work together to keep me healthiest, and the natural immunities my body makes *if* I do get sick are much stronger than artificial immunities from vaccines.

This year there's the h1n1 vaccine in the flu shot. If you get the shot that's in a vial (and the nurse fills the syringe from the vial, with more vaccine in the vial for other patients), you will be injected with 24.5 mcg of thimerosal mercury - a level that the fda says is safe for those of us that weigh 2,450 pounds.

In addition to containing thimerosal, this year's shot has been sending children in Australia and parts of Europe to the hospital in convulsions. It's caused comas and one (that I know of) death. These reactions have been in children, but if they can cause these problems in children, I can't be convinced that they are safe for me.

Let me know if you have any questions, April, I'm happy to share any info I have.

Emily said...

I get the flu shot because why not? It doesn't make you sick, and if it DOES protect you from the flu, isn't that better than getting it?

sarahlove said...

Don't fix it if it's not broke? For you I'd say no. My dad says yes every year and never gets sick....