Posted on 01/16/2015 12:58:03 PM PST by Nancy29
The CDC released early estimates of the influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) today. Many of us saw the report circulating that the VE was 23% overall. But if you happen to be 18-49 years old, it’s only 12%.
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The whole flu shot deal is BS.
You got that right!
I got hit by the flu this time around but its only about twice per decade so I’m doing fine without the shot.
I get one every year in accordance with my doctor’s orders. Been doing this since 2008 and have not had the flu since then.
Of course, it could be that I’ve avoided the flu because I’m retired and don’t go out in public when the weather is bad. I avoid anyone that might spread the flu to me.
Same is placebo then. Even 23% is pretty poor.
But.. but.. but my doctor sez that flu shots are very effective?
They can only guess which strains of the flu will spread, over the next year, when they decide what will go in the vaccine.
Sometimes they guess right, sometimes they guess wrong.
But I’d rather the CDC be working on this, than researching gun ownership or trying to convince everyone that we’d be healthier on a low-fat diet.
I got the pneumonia shot this year. My doctor wanted me to get the flu shot, but as I told him, I couldn’t tell any difference between years I got the shot, and the years I didn’t. I take zinc, C and Sambucol. So far, so good.
remember when an issue with the flu vaccine was the fault of the president?
I have contended for years that the flu vaccine is highly ineffective.
1st. The vaccine released every year is targeted at a scientific best guess as to which strain will be most prevalent during the season.
2nd. The vaccine is generally only some 60% effective against a particular strain, less effective against 2 or 3 close variants and has zero effect on other strains.
3rd. There are some 15 strains or variants each season, so mathematicaly the effect of vaccination is reduced from the the current targeted strain and reduced to near zero effect, as a matter of probabilities, against the panoply of flu’s.
I do not get them and view them as pointless.
Take plenty of vitamin D3 and get lots of sleep.
Same here we get the flu shot every year. We have since they stopped using a live virus and we have not had the flu a single time. . (the live virus always made you sick)
One year I had a strange skin reaction that only lasted about 45 minutes. the doctor advised me to always get a flu vaccine that is made without preservative. I have ever since and the problem has not reoccurred.
Before we started getting a flu shot we had the flu every year, but no more!
What I always get a profound kick out of, is every single year the media lemmings, the info babes, are all over the airwaves emotionally imploring people to get their flu shot. And a CDC Doc can always be counted on to lend their face to this ruse.
A 12% effective rate? Bwahahahaha... just what I had suspected.
Of course every single time the media lemmings have a report pushing flu shots (every year like clockwork) they always — every cotton pickin’ time — zoom in on the needle plunging into some person's arm, usually a crying kid. Every single time.
This only tells half the story. Vaccines are also effective at reducing the severity of the flu, if you do catch it anyhow. For most people (no egg allergies, etc.) there’s little downside risk to getting the shot, and considerable upside benefits (even 12% is far better than 0%).
BTW, if you’re counting on “herd immunity” to protect you — your best strategy would be to attempt to convince everyone else in your “herd” to get vaccinated. Campaigning against vaccines for other people is your worst strategy.
BTW 2, you shouldn’t count on “herd immunity” to protect you.
Read post #13. We are 74 and 79 years old and the flu shots work for us.
I have receive the flu shot twice and both times caught the flu soon after.
I erroneously thought, and told people, that the flu shot gave me the flu.
A recent report though says that, in some people, the flu shot can temporarily compromise your immune system. So, while the shot didn’t give me the flu, it lowered my resistance and I caught it anyway.
A lot of this becomes clear when you consider how vaccinations are selected at the start.
Throughout the course of the year, estimates are made of any number of flu strains and subtypes, called clades, of which there are thousands. These are compared to the known “immunity estimates” of people.
Say, as a group, people have been in recent years exposed to 30 different subtypes of a strain of H1N1 flu. But in the past year, seven new clades have emerged. Some of them are so closely related to a former strain that they aren’t worth consideration, because as a group, people are immune to them.
But say three of them are far enough away, say second to fifth cousins, so that our immunity doesn’t reach that far. But which of these three are spreading, actually infecting people? Say two of them are.
So these two are candidates for the vaccine, but only in the sub-finals with other candidates from other strains.
Eventually, it boils down to an educated guess, with only three types of flu vaccines to be included in the vaccine.
Most of the time, they guess right. However, this year, they missed the clade that hit. And sometimes, before the flu reaches the US, it mutates again, well out of the range of the vaccine.
Right now, in the US, there might be 50 different strains and clades of flu, with only a few being symptomatic. We live in a very septic world.
I take a different approach. I avoid crowded and/or poorly ventilated places and I try to keep a healthy life style and nutrition.
How long ago did those flu shots give you the flu?
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