We don't need no stinkin flu shots.
Posted on 10/22/2004 2:15:44 PM PDT by lindor
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) - The Chicago Bears gave scarce flu vaccines to two players who have asthmatic conditions that placed them at high risk of developing influenza, the team said Friday.
Healthy players who asked whether they should receive the vaccinations were told no, Bears spokesman Scott Hagel said.
"The players that received the shots were the ones that were in the high risk category," Hagel said. "Nothing was offered categorically across our players. This is part of our standard procedure every year."
The team returned its unused flu vaccine to the distributor, Hagel said.
"We received our order in mid-September, well before the shortage was announced," Hagel said. The nationwide shortage was announced Oct. 5.
The team called a news conference Friday after the players' morning practice in response to media reports that healthy players had received the vaccinations.
"Everybody is really conscious of what is going on," defensive end Michael Haynes said. "We realize there is a shortage, and everybody is trying to do their part."
Generally, only players who need the vaccinations are offered them, Haynes said.
"A lot of us are healthy and we don't have respiratory problems. Obviously we're not old and we're not young, not little kids, so we don't need it and we know that," he said.
Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said he wasn't offered a shot.
"No. I mean, come on guys, are you serious? No," Hillenmeyer said. "I didn't even know they were doing it. I didn't even know they were giving them."
The vaccine shortage was caused when one of the nation's two suppliers, Chiron Corp., was barred from shipping its vaccine because of contamination. That cut almost in half the 100 million doses U.S. officials were expecting.
Officials urged healthy Americans to forgo shots to have enough for those at highest risk of getting seriously ill from flu. Each year, 200,000 Americans are hospitalized with the virus, and 36,000 die.
Chicago Bulls players received the vaccinations Oct. 4 - the day before the shortage was announced.
"We absolutely need them," guard Eric Piatkowski said. "The way we travel, we're going in and out of cold and warm climates. I won't say we need them more than some 85-year-old person, because obviously we don't. But I'm glad we got them."
We don't need no stinkin flu shots.
If they were registered Republicans they don't deserve the flu shots regardless of their health status.
More evidence that the MSM can't tell the truth. If the MSM can't even get a sports story right, why should people believe anything they publish about politics? Pathetic!
Butkis, Singletary, Urlacher... Bears RULE!
Staubach, Morton, Aikman, White... Cowboys RULE!!!! We'll see on Thanksgiving, though.
;) DA BEARS!
I'm 50. I have never had a flu shot...
I don't get the flu either.
I also avoid public transportation... 8^>
God...have we sunk so low in this country that we now have to begrudge people flu shots? I work in the health care as a Nurse Practitioner and until last year and now this year we couldn't give the stuff away now there's a flu shot police scrutinizing who had gotten one and whether they deserved it.
This is the most ridiculous issue I've seen yet. Sure, people should get the shots but I think we're about to go over the top on this one. It's the flu not bubonic plague folks
I work in health-care and have never had a flu shot either. I really agree with what most professionals are saying.....it's for the elderly and those at high risk. But like free government cheese, there are those who want something for nothing as long as the government is paying for it.</p>
Bingo. And yet there are lines forming at midnight for shots to be given at 9:00 am the next morning. I literally shake my head.
Please, please please let Jonathan Quinn get the flu.
Tell it to the media. I've never had a flu shot. My mother gets rabid about getting hers. She's 66. Last year she had the flu shot and then came down with a flavor of the flu that the shot didn't cover. Go figure. It's more media driven hysteria.
People like you and to be fair, asthmatics, should get flu shots. I won't. The one time I did I got sicker than I ever have been.
I've never had a flu shot either and wouldn't get one, and I work in a large hospital. Most people who are healthy and between 12-65 do not need flu shots. Even those over 65 who are healthy probably don't need the shot as the flu is probably not(90%) going to kill them.
The only people who are making this a big deal is the media and the democrats
The Chicago Bears are the greatest, and most important team in football. They may not need flu shots, but they deserve armored team buses, gourmet cuisine, Secret Service protection, anti-aircraft missiles surrounding Soldier Field, and anything else they deem necessary to maintain their greatness, importance and vitality to this, the greatest nation on God's Green Earth!!!
Swell. I'm an asthmatic. My little boy is an asthmatic who has spent a lot of time in the hospital. Where's his flu shot? It was doubtless used by some member of Congress or a Congressional staffer.
AGREE!
While you are at it, how about a Quarterback???
[grin]
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