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MERCMAN
10-19-2010, 03:44 PM
Budget of Dumb Asses 2010 (Flu Vaccine)
Mark Crislip, MD, Infectious Diseases, 07:27PM Oct 12, 2010


It is October and that means two things return: The Great Pumpkin and a Budget of Dumb Asses. Since I am traveling the N.E. looking at colleges with my eldest, it is time for a pre-owned podcast.

This essay is, I would like to clarify, directed at healthcare providers, not patients. Healthcare providers have no excuse to avoid the flu vaccine: they have access to the world's medical knowledge and should be able to rise above superstition and ignorance. Yes, I too am a Dumb Ass, but for different reasons.

I give you, slightly rewritten for 2010, a Budget of Dumb Asses.

I wonder if you are one of those Dumb Asses who do not get the flu shot each year? Yes. Dumb Ass. Big D, big A. You may be allergic to the vaccine, you may have had Guillain Barre, in which case I will cut you some slack. But if you don't have those conditions and you work in healthcare and you don't get a vaccine for one of the following reasons, you are a Dumb Ass.

1. The vaccine gives me the flu. Dumb Ass. It is a killed vaccine. It cannot give you the influenza. It is impossible to get flu from the influenza vaccine.

2. I never get the flu, so I don't need the vaccine. Irresponsible Dumb Ass. I have never had a head on collision, but I wear my seat belt. And you probably don't use a condom either. So far you have been lucky, and you are a potential winner of a Darwin Award, although since you don't use a condom, you are unfortunately still in the gene pool.

3. Only old people get the flu. Selfish Dumb Ass. Influenza can infect anyone, and the groups who are more likely to die of influenza are the very young, the pregnant, and the elderly. Often those most at risk for dying from influenza are those least able, due to age or underlying diseases, to respond to the vaccine. You can help prevent your old, sickly Grandmother or your newborn daughter from getting influenza by getting the vaccine, so you do not get flu and pass it one to her. Flu, by the way, is highly contagious, with 20% to 50% of contacts with an index case getting the flu. However, Granny may be sitting on a fortune that will come to you, and killing her off with the flu is a great way to get her out of the way and never be caught. That would make a good episode of CSI.

4. I can prevent influenza or treat it by taking echinacea, vitamin C or Airborne. Gullible Dumb Ass cubed then squared. None of these concoctions has any efficacy what so ever against influenza. They neither prevent nor treat influenza. And you can't "boost" your immune system either. Immunity is not a Jamba Juice. Anyone who says that the immune system can be boosted is also a Dumb Ass.

5. Flu isn't all that bad of a disease. Underestimating Dumb Ass. Part of the problem with the term flu is that it is used both as a generic term for damn near any viral illness with a fever and is also used for a severe viral pneumonia. Medical people are just as inaccurate about using the term as the general public. The influenza virus directly and indirectly kills 20,000 people (depending on the circulating strain) and leads to the hospitalization of 200,000 in the US each year. Influenza is a nasty lung illness. And what is stomach 'flu'? No such thing, Dumb Ass.

6. I am not at risk for flu. Denying Dumb Ass. If you breathe, you are risk for influenza. Here are the groups of people who should not get the flu vaccine (outside of people with severe adverse reactions to the vaccine): Former President Clinton, who evidently doesn't inhale. And people who want to be safe from zombies. If you don't get the vaccine you do not have to worry about the zombie apocalypse, because zombies eat brains.

7. The vaccine is worse than the disease. Dumb Ass AND a wimp. What a combination. Your mother must be proud. Unless you think a sore deltoid for a day is too high a price to pay to prevent two weeks of high fevers, severe muscles aches, and intractable cough.

8. I had the vaccine last year, so I do not need it this year. Uneducated Dumb Ass. Each year new strains of influenza circulate across the world. Last year's vaccine at best provides only partial protection. Every year you need a new shot.

9. The vaccine costs too much. Cheap Dumb Ass. The vaccine costs less than a funeral, less than Tamiflu, and less than a week in the hospital.

10. I received the vaccine and I got the flu anyway. Inexact Dumb Ass. The vaccine is not perfect and you may have indeed had the flu. More likely you called one of the many respiratory viruses (viri?) people get each year the flu. Remember there are hundreds of potential causes of a respiratory infection circulating, the vaccine only covers influenza, the virus most likely to kill you and yours.

11. I don't believe in the flu vaccine. Superstitious, premodern, magical thinking Dumb Ass. What is there to believe in? Belief is what you do when there is no data. Probably don't believe in gravity or germ theory either. Everyone, I suppose, has to believe in something, and I believe I will have a beer.

12. The government puts tracking nanobots in the vaccine as well as RFID chips as part of the mark of the beast, and the vaccine doesn't work since it is part of a big government sponsored conspiracy to line the pockets of big pharma and inject the American sheeple with exotic new infections in an attempt to control population growth and help usher in a New World Order. Well, that excuse is at least reasonable. Paranoid Dumb Ass.

So get the vaccine. And pass this url on to someone else. The life you may save may be your own. Or be a Dumb Ass. The Great Pumpkin will visit this blog, I am sure.

SC Cheesehead
10-19-2010, 04:40 PM
Guess I'm a Dumb Ass, I've never had a flu shot, nor do I intend to get one.

CBT
10-19-2010, 05:06 PM
Number 4, LOLZ

FordNut
10-19-2010, 05:25 PM
Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. The past 2 years I got it because they gave freebies at my wife's workplace to employees and families. The previous year I got one at the end of the season, when they dropped the price to $5. I figure it's worth that.

rayjay
10-19-2010, 05:35 PM
I didn't read the whole thing. All three of us received the double flu shot, regular that also contained the H1N1. All three of us became ill to some extent. I was the best case, just body aches and cold. Just about everyone we know has gotten ill from these so called "vaccines". My mother inlaw was down for four days. My personal physician refused it. If I get the flu this year, as I did last year after being vaccinated (H1N1), thats it. Never again...

Bluerauder
10-19-2010, 05:51 PM
Budget of Dumb Asses 2010 (Flu Vaccine)
Mark Crislip, MD, Infectious Diseases, 07:27PM Oct 12, 2010

1. The vaccine gives me the flu. Dumb Ass. It is a killed vaccine. It cannot give you the influenza. It is impossible to get flu from the influenza vaccine.


Number 1 is not technically accurate. Flu vaccines come in two types (one dead injection type vaccine and one live mist type vaccine that has been genetically altered to minimize flu symptoms.

There are effects from both types of vaccines (live or dead viruses). After 20 years in the US Army with annual flu shots, I can attest to the fact that whenever I got the shot, I was sick for a couple days. Every time without fail. If it wasn't the flu, it still made me feel like crap.

Side effects of the inactivated/dead flu vaccine injection include:
mild soreness, redness, and swelling where the shot was given
fever and aches. These problems usually begin soon after the injection, and last 1–2 days.

Side effects of the activated/live/LAIV flu nasal spray vaccine:

Some children and adolescents 2–17 years of age have reported:
runny nose, nasal congestion or cough
fever
headache and muscle aches
wheezing
abdominal pain or occasional vomiting or diarrhea

Some adults 18–49 years of age have reported:
runny nose or nasal congestion
sore throat
cough, chills, tiredness/weakness
headache

More severe, but very rare side effects include:
life-threatening allergic reaction

Leadfoot281
10-19-2010, 05:52 PM
I haven't been sick (or to the Doctor) in 10+ years. Don't have insurance either. I'm not worried. There are far worse things that can happen to a person than getting sick, going broke or dying.

Mr. Man
10-19-2010, 07:00 PM
The flu shot is the CDC's best guess at what strain of the flu is going to hit. Seems like a 50/50 stab in the dark, no thanks. I don't gamble unless I know I'm going to win. Heads I win, Tails you lose.

MrBluGruv
10-19-2010, 07:10 PM
H1N1 was the most pathetically over-blown thing I've heard in a while. I actually live the in the city that was one of the major "outbreak" cities, the high school that it broke at was our in-district rival from when I was still in high school. In fact, a friend of mine's girlfriend was put on the national list of people not allowed to board a plane because she merely came in contact with people at that school.

And all for what?

Even people that had it were pretty OK even when they were in the worst of it. ****, our district closed for I think a month or so, and the student unions made t-shirts that said "swine break 2009".

No one took that seriously but the government and the people that take the word of government as gospel.

kernie
10-19-2010, 08:40 PM
I haven't been sick (or to the Doctor) in 10+ years. Don't have insurance either. I'm not worried. There are far worse things that can happen to a person than getting sick, going broke or dying.

Holy cow!

I'm not sure i wanna ask...

Leadfoot281
10-19-2010, 09:12 PM
There is no way you could possibly understand my answer Kernie.

MrBluGruv
10-19-2010, 09:17 PM
I haven't been sick (or to the Doctor) in 10+ years. Don't have insurance either. I'm not worried. There are far worse things that can happen to a person than getting sick, going broke or dying.

Holy cow!

I'm not sure i wanna ask...


Those are fun days,


waking up in the morning and thinking to yourself "you know, death would sure be a refreshing change of pace."


God bless caring friends and family, when you're lost in life few things will prove more helpful.

FordNut
10-19-2010, 10:04 PM
I haven't been sick (or to the Doctor) in 10+ years. Don't have insurance either. I'm not worried. There are far worse things that can happen to a person than getting sick, going broke or dying.

You're gonna get fined for that... Unless we get a repeal or constitutionality ruling.

I've got insurance but haven't been to the doctor in about 4-5 years. I use insurance as it was originally intended, a safety shield or umbrella in case of a catastrophic event. Even with insurance you've got a bunch of deductibles and co-pays, so I'll wait and go when I'm on death's doorstep. Not particularly interested to get myself put into the new database that's coming up with the EHR requirements anyway.

Vortex
10-21-2010, 06:45 AM
Here's an interesting article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

Get your flu shot; Walgreens will do it fast and cheap; no excuses!

fastblackmerc
10-21-2010, 06:53 AM
I'll be getting my shot shortly.

Hotrauder
10-21-2010, 07:36 AM
"there are are far worse things that can happen to a person than getting sick, going broke or dying."

I have tried all 3 and don't recommend any of them. That said, I am not dumb enough to believe all the hype but with compromised lungs I get flu shots every year and pneumonia every 5. Work or not I have no problems from the shots other than a sore shoulder muscle and a red and hot 3" circle there...NO!! not there, on my shoulder....and they go away in a couple of days. I usually get the shots on a day I am not scheduled to pitch in the world series. Dennis:D

Cheeseheadbob
10-21-2010, 07:54 AM
So, I am a dumb ass because I do not want a vaccine pumped into my body which may or may not be of any benefit, and which may actually decrease my level of health, albeit temporarily? It is a crap shoot with the CDC. I understand the only data they can use to conjure up the next batch of voodoo:P are trends from past years. If any other group of scientists outside the pharma world consistantly put out a 1 in 3 success rate for their work, they would be stripped of their respective credentials. (Ok, maybe the global climate change alarmist "scientists" will keep their jobs too) Government plot? No. Corporations making obscene amounts of money through their joined at the hip association with our out of control nanny state, a.k.a. our friends on K street, scare tactics and dis-information... more that likely.

SC Cheesehead
10-21-2010, 07:56 AM
My reason's simple.

I just hate geting shots... :cool:

kernie
10-21-2010, 07:56 AM
"there are are far worse things that can happen to a person than getting sick, going broke or dying."

I have tried all 3 and don't recommend any of them. That said, I am not dumb enough to believe all the hype but with compromised lungs I get flu shots every year and pneumonia every 5. Work or not I have no problems from the shots other than a sore shoulder muscle and a red and hot 3" circle there...NO!! not there, on my shoulder....and they go away in a couple of days. I usually get the shots on a day I am not scheduled to pitch in the world series. Dennis:D

So.....what happened there?

Any cool stories like leaving your body or seeing past loved ones?

CBT
10-21-2010, 08:28 AM
Let's just do away with shots and vaccine's altogether like it was a hunnerd and fifty years ago. Soon, we can all go back to ejoying that 47 year life span expectancy from a hunnerd and fifty years ago.

Zack
10-21-2010, 08:37 AM
No shots for me...ever.

God only knows if the government has 'added' something to the shots for some malicious purpose.

Lots of people have been discussing human depopulation via Vaccines/Shots and im not risking it.

CBT
10-21-2010, 08:44 AM
No shots for me...ever.

God only knows if the government has 'added' something to the shots for some malicious purpose.

Lots of people have been discussing human depopulation via Vaccines/Shots and im not risking it.

What about hot beef injections? :eek:

Haggis
10-21-2010, 09:20 AM
I'll be getting my shot shortly.

Sell out!!!

tbone
10-21-2010, 09:57 AM
I've had one flu shot in my life, because my new wife insisted. That was 2 years ago. Never again. I don't trust our government anymore. And for good reason.

Dragcity
10-21-2010, 10:01 AM
I'm a non-fluer.

Hell, it'd be nice to have a week off, in bed.....

Joe Walsh
10-21-2010, 10:22 AM
Guess I'm a Dumb Ass, I've never had a flu shot, nor do I intend to get one.

+1!

I still remember the 'swine flu' scare of 1976...when more people died from the vaccine than from swine flu...:rolleyes: