Flu Shot: Are you getting one?

[Cyclone792]

The national flu scene has been quiet for weeks now.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/healt...tionalreports/

Are we out of the woods? Were all the warnings a scare tactic to move some vaccines off the shelves or perhaps to keep more people watching the news?

I'm not trying to be controversial, but it's hard not to at least wonder if the media unnecessarily gets people worked up.

I think the media coverage was fine. For one thing, at the height of the media storm it was largely unknown how severe the flu strain would be and what populations were at risk.

Fortunately, what we later learned is that most folks middle aged and older (especially senior citizens) had some degree of immunity due to being exposed to similar enough strains several decades ago. It spread rapidly, though, amongst younger people, such as myself, who had no such immunity to a similar strain. Of course, the positive in that is most younger folks have a strong enough immune system that they were able to handle H1N1 fine other than just being miserable for a few days to a week.

I had H1N1 back in mid October during its raging peak, and while I'm a healthy 27-year-old with a presumably strong immune system, I was pretty miserable for about six days. I probably hadn't had a fever over 100 in nearly 15 years, but this pushed a fever up in the 101+ range for me. What made things worse is a bacterial respiratory infection came in about four days into having the flu and just stalled my progress of fighting the flu so it strung out a few extra days for me. Antibiotics wiped out the bacterial infection, and then my immune system finished off the H1N1.

[K30]

Unfortunately being in the air force, they made us get the H1N1 shot this year...i felt so terrible for close to a week after getting it.

[macro]

I'm still not convinced about the media coverage. It was one of the lead stories night after night on the 6:30pm network news, on Nightline, and on the local newscasts as well. It really seemed to consume a disproportionate amount of air time from the broadcast media, especially given that the coverage was based on speculation and not actual outcomes.

The Louisville TV stations spent so much time informing us where the flu shot clinics were going to be and interviewing "experts" that I nearly got sick of hearing about it. After all, there were many other newsworthy things going on, but it seemed that the first five minutes of every newscast were devoted to updates on the vaccine supply, followed by some tips about washing our hands.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the situation was unimportant. Not at all. But the broadcast media seemed almost obsessed with the story. Let's face it, they need something sensational to keep people tuned in, and in lieu of a scandal or a celebrity death, the flu story was probably the best option.

I'll set aside my cynicism for a moment and admit that perhaps the widespread vaccinations may have prevented what so many feared. If that's the case, perhaps all the coverage served a good purpose. That being said, I still question the motives of those pounding these stories through our TV screens night after night.

[vaticanplum]

I think the media is most successful at talking people out of common sense. The whole thing seems pretty straightforward to me. If you're at risk, it makes sense to get it. If not, then weigh the risks and decide for yourself. If you work with a high-risk population (e.g. little kids), that should also be taken into consideration. You should educate yourself, but I don't really see how this is more than a couple-of-hours common sense desicion. This is pretty simple risk/reward with a touch of personal thresholds thrown in. The media really teaches people not to listen to themselves sometimes.

I'm extremely healthy (knock on wood), I work from home, and I take good care of myself especially if I feel like I'm getting sick, which isn't often. I don't react well to shots. So for me this is a no-brainer. That said, I'm sure personal experience plays a role, even in scaring people, and that's fine too. I had meningitis a little over a year ago and if I could be vaccinated against that I'd be first in line. I didn't even have the scary meningitis that kills you (there's viral and bacterial -- I had the former I think), but the pain was so bad I almost wanted to die. If I'd had bad experiences with the flu I might take the shot.