The annual flu shot thread
 

Other winter topics have cropped up so it's time we had the annual flu shot arguments. ;)

http://gofitgirl.com/blog/wp-content...9/flu-shot.jpg

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Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

Wife gets it religiously every year. I do some years and other years I dont get around to it before the govt covered supplies are gone and those years I dont. Last year was the 2nd time in 10 years.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

I'd always thought that if the flu might seriously affect either your health or those that you come into contact with regularly then you should probably get it. If it's just going to put you in bed for a day or so then it's not so important.

What are the other arguments? I know that there is a diverse set of opinions here, but I didn't know we had any anti-vaxxer nutjobs.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

It'ssimple, the idea is to prevent it spreading, it’s not just to protect you, butalso to protect those you come into contact with Unfortunatelyalthough the principle is sound and more than well proven and the premisesimple enough, it is often too complex for a significant part of society tograsp how it works

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

Might help encourage more people to get it if it was fully covered for all. In BC anyhow only certain groups of people get it covered by MSP assuming they dont run out of the govt one at the pharmacies.

If not in those groups covered you have to pay for it which does keep some from getting it.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

Perhaps someone who knows about these things could inject a few facts.
As I understand it, and I may have misunderstood, the decision which strain(s) to incubate is taken perhaps a year earlier in order that the appropriate quantity can be prepared.
As the influenza virus is well know for its ability to mutate, what chance is there that the flu shot will protect against the strain that will eventually arrive.
Also, if its a case of better safe than sorry is it 100% safe?

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

I think someone suggested it was free for all in Ontario? Most provinces seem to have it as free for similar, if not the same, groups.

There might be an awful lot of people who don't have to pay but don't actually know it.

It's free for example for household contacts of people who qualify. Just as one example, it's estimated that 10% of the population have diabetes.

70% of Canadian households have more than 1 person, about half with 3 or more and a quarter with 4 or more.

That looks like a sizeable chunk of the population right there, just with a diabetes connection.

We get ours done at our family doctor and while we all qualified as a mixture of individuals and household contacts I have the distinct impression that our doc just does everyone who wants one.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

Not sure how far ahead they decide but I believe last winter was the first time in years they said they got it wrong. But it was still considered worth it.
That's probably a bit like asking if an operation is 100% safe. Or crossing the street. Or eating a strawberry. Or operating a piece of machinery. Or going down the stairs. Becoming pregnant. Using the oven. Boiling a kettle. Watching a game of football.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

How many countries routinely vaccinate their residents against the flu?

I have never had one despite being a Type I diabetic. I asked my doctor in England about it and he said that, in his opinion, the cost of the treatment significantly outweighed its benefit to society.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

Most western countries offer the jabs to those that want it. If the flu had the chance of killing you or somebody you saw a lot, you'd take it then I expect. I've never had it either, but if I was hanging out with 90 year olds every day I would.

Anyway did you ask your doctor at what point the lives/£ would make sense? Personally I wouldn't trust a doctor to understand epidemiology as that's maths and stats rather than medicine.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

Selecting the Viruses in the Seasonal Influenza (Flu) Vaccine | Health Professionals | Seasonal Influenza (Flu) .
A good link to explain virus selection, Plus a pretty good starting point for many other questions

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

That's the point, isn't it? What chance does the flu actually have of killing anyone? I don't know the answer to this but I anticipate that more people die every year travelling by car than are killed by the flu.

Well, society can spend lots of money to avoid any possibility it can dream up and I suspect that there are some on here that would argue that taxes should be increased to pay for things that others would disagree with. I have no idea what the chances of getting killed by the flu are, nor the cost of effectively vaccinating a population against such risk.

I do know that it is not mandatory for health workers in Alberta to have the flu vaccine (it is free to all those that wish to have it in Alberta) so one can only assume that those clever doctory types have determined that the risk is very small. That or their union reps have negotiated appropriately.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

Here you go. It's not hard to find this information - it's the first result on google.

Reported Influenza Hospitalizations and Deaths in Canada: 2009-10 to 2014-15 - Public Health Agency of Canada

You can see the effect of last years vaccine not being very effective. That's 3000 extra hospitalizations and about 300 extra people dead. I'm not sure how cynical you have to be to think that in general that's not worth preventing if possible.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

That was my (erstwhile) medical advisor's (now departed mother) POV for many years.

However, we were eligible for free flu shots (Quebec), & they were highly recommended given that my daughter was/is considered "high risk/vulnerable".

I got a nice little bout of side effects the first year I had the shot; small potatoes compared to possibly infecting my child & inflicting a hospital stay with oxygen tent upon her.

I'm a flu shot convert. YMMV.

Re: The annual flu shot thread
 

That's good enough for me.

Trying to find out how many deaths/hospitalisations can be attributed to flu is difficult. There are millions of search results, many of whom are deniers and conspiracy theorists through to doubters and on to those who allegedly include unproven flu causes.

But I remember being here in the first couple of years and the doc telling me I should have one and I researched it a bit then. There were far fewer search results then so it was a bit easier.

I remember seeing the rates for deaths and hospitalisations and, even using the lower estimates, it was far higher in New Brunswick than the UK. More so than an easy explanation of a higher % of old folk in NB.

It seems improbable that NB flu is nastier. Maybe people in the UK are generally healthier - that's possible if obesity rates are lower over there.

Quite likely being out in winter temperatures of 30 below and shovelling more snow in a day here than one sees in 5 winters in the UK has an effect that makes flu worse to cope with.

It seems to me it's better to take Canadian medical opinion (and WHO) over British medical opinion over this matter.