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If you have ever gotten the flu shot, you should have signed a disclosure that lists possible side effects. I remember epstein barr virus was listed as one of the serious side effects.
No, the vaccine has nothing to do with Epstein Barr virus, which causes mono.
Perhaps you are remembering the reference to Guillain-Barré Syndrome, GBS. That risk attributable to the vaccine is "no more than 1 or 2 cases per million people vaccinated." About 1 in 10,000 people who get influenza die.
You can get GBS if you catch influenza, too, and the most common cause for GBS is an organism called Campylobacter jejuni , a common cause of gastrointestinal illness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaggieZ
lots of shots are money making schemes. If the shots are so successful, how come they're not preventing new strains of the virus from causing an epidemic every year? I just had the flu, in August..so have many others here..Viruses have adapted over millions of years.They're bound to win.
They are not intended to prevent new strains of viruses from emerging. They do nothing to the genetics of the organism, so a vaccine cannot produce resistance the way something designed to kill bacteria or viruses can.
The health care system, including the drug companies, would make far more money treating people who are sick with vaccine preventable diseases, so the argument that "shots" are only a money making scheme does not hold water.
Part of the problem is that many people will say they have "the flu" when they do not actually have an influenza infection, so many of the anecdotes you hear are worth very little.
Thousands of people die of influenza every year, and many more are made miserable. If you get the vaccination you reduce, but do not eliminate, the risk that you will not only get infected but also infect other people.
You will not get influenza from the vaccine, but it could save your life.
The people who benefit the most from the influenza shot are: age 65 and older, those who are immunocompromised (diabetes, cancer, HIV, AIDS, the very elderly, etc), and those who are health care workers (eg those who are in direct contact with patients and their care).
Everyone else, it's plus or minus, meaning there is no true benefit.
ER Doc, I know you know this, but wanted to point it out for some of the confused people on this forum:
It is rare, but previously healthy people can die from the influenza virus & a resulting pneumonia. There is no known case of a person dying from the flu shot. So do a cost-benefit analysis, which is worse, the shot or the actual flu? Sometimes people can have a response to the vaccination that feels like a cold -- this happens as a result of the immune system mounting a response to the shot. It's a good thing, it means your body works. Can you imagine how your body would respond if you are infected with the actual live influenza virus? Which would you prefer?
For those who have experienced what feels like the "flu" shortly after getting the shot...either you experienced another virus, or the shot did not include protection against the strain you acquired. Your body can be infected with multiple viruses at the same time, and nasty ones are always around. It is entirely circumstantial.
Additionally, the flu shot provides "herd immunity" to a population for that year, which means that as more people within a population are vaccinated, the less chance that the most vulnerable members of a population (ie. immunosuppressed, elderly) will be exposed to and acquire th virus. For some members of our population, the flu is deadly. I used to work with little babies with heart defects -- they are highly vulnerable, and they and all of the people they come into contact with need to be healthy. Regular newborns, people with diabetes or asthma, those on immunosuppressive drugs for arthritis or MS or cancer or lupus -- these people and their contacts are all around you. People really do need to realize that the decision of whether or not to vaccinate impacts other people in your community.
But at the very least, please wash your hands & remain home if sick.
Here in TX they are only $5 at the local health clinics, $30 at most grocery/drug stores, "free" if you have insurance and at your doctor's office, but you pay the doctor copay, usually $30, so, best bet is the health clinic for us
ER Doc, I know you know this, but wanted to point it out for some of the confused people on this forum:
It is rare, but previously healthy people can die from the influenza virus & a resulting pneumonia. There is no known case of a person dying from the flu shot. So do a cost-benefit analysis, which is worse, the shot or the actual flu? Sometimes people can have a response to the vaccination that feels like a cold -- this happens as a result of the immune system mounting a response to the shot. It's a good thing, it means your body works. Can you imagine how your body would respond if you are infected with the actual live influenza virus? Which would you prefer?
For those who have experienced what feels like the "flu" shortly after getting the shot...either you experienced another virus, or the shot did not include protection against the strain you acquired. Your body can be infected with multiple viruses at the same time, and nasty ones are always around. It is entirely circumstantial.
Additionally, the flu shot provides "herd immunity" to a population for that year, which means that as more people within a population are vaccinated, the less chance that the most vulnerable members of a population (ie. immunosuppressed, elderly) will be exposed to and acquire th virus. For some members of our population, the flu is deadly. I used to work with little babies with heart defects -- they are highly vulnerable, and they and all of the people they come into contact with need to be healthy. Regular newborns, people with diabetes or asthma, those on immunosuppressive drugs for arthritis or MS or cancer or lupus -- these people and their contacts are all around you. People really do need to realize that the decision of whether or not to vaccinate impacts other people in your community.
But at the very least, please wash your hands & remain home if sick.
Great synopsis!
However, too few people take the flu vaccine for true herd immunity to kick in. About 83% to 94% of us would need to take the vaccine.
It really is very simple. If you get sick right after you take a vaccine which contains dead germs, the dead germs did not make you sick. Either you had already caught live germs from someone else before the vaccine had time to work (about two weeks) or you caught a variety of the germs that were not in the vaccine, in which case the vaccine could not protect you and would not be expected to. Although the pneumonia vaccine contains 23 different strains, there are still some that are not covered.
"PNEUMOVAX 23 will not prevent disease caused by capsular types of pneumococcus other than those contained in the vaccine."
The vaccine will not "give you a lesser version of that strain". It will not "give" you any strain at all. It might give partial protection against strains that are not in the vaccine but are closely related to those that are.
The vaccine --- any vaccine --- does not "lower immunity". It revs it up. That's why your arm gets sore and sometimes you feel a little feverish.
I know all that. I know what they say. I know they say it's not a live virus and you can't get flu or pneumonia from the vaccine. I have worked in the medical field for 32 years. I still will not ever get a flu or pneumonia shot unless I am forced by my employer to do so. But for now, I am self employed so I don't have to.
As I said, I have seen people get the shot and get sick. Coincidence? Maybe. I'm still not getting the vaccines.
As I said, I have seen people get the shot and get sick. Coincidence? Maybe. I'm still not getting the vaccines.
How many people have you seen get the shot who did not get sick?
The people who look at the effectiveness rates look at thousands of people, many more than you can count among your personal acquaintances. So if you make a decision based on knowing a handful of folks who got sick after the vaccine, when there is no evidence that the vaccine caused the illness other than timing, you are making a decision about your own health based on faulty data and reasoning.
My doctor and my pharmacist both told me that the flu shot takes two weeks to take effect. Some people get the flu in that timeframe and then mistakenly blame the flu shot for making them sick.
I used to be one of those "I dont need the flu shot" people. Then, in 1998, I got the flu. OMG, I was deathly ill for two weeks -- couldnt even crawl out of bed to get to the bathroom. I deserved what I got that year -- and I've gotten the flu shot, as soon as it's available, every year since then.
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