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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
 Posted - 10/29/2006 : 17:35:39
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My company is partly sponsoring flu-vaccine.
I'm thinking about getting a shot. I haven't had the flu for several years, and I've been led to believe that a flu gives some time-limited immunity to it. Can someone give me a run down on this vaccine. For how long is it effective?
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2006 : 18:01:53 [Permalink]
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As far as I know, Mab, flu shots are only good for that season. Since the virus mutates so quickly, you're only protected from this year's strain.
It may confer some limited immunity beyond that, but I'm unsure to what extent.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2006 : 18:22:21 [Permalink]
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If you haven't had flu or the vaccine for several years, there's little chance you'd have immunity from an existing strain. In my layman's opinion. I'm going to get the shot.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2006 : 18:24:07 [Permalink]
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| I bet you can get better treatment from FE6666.... |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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woolytoad
Skeptic Friend
313 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2006 : 18:49:17 [Permalink]
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It is only good for the season and only protects you from the most virulent strains of the flu. i.e. the ones that could kill you.
For kids and the elderly it is highly recommended. For everyone else, it will just make a serious flu that may knock you out for 2-3 weeks, into something you may get over in a few days.
FWIW, I get it every year. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2006 : 18:50:08 [Permalink]
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If you think you are at any exposure risk to infuenza, get the vaccination.
The yearly vaccines are created for the most likely strains of infuenza. There are detailed epidemiology studies done every year to try and predict which strains will be effecting what regions. Its not perfect, but it is better than trying to vaccinate people against every known strain every year...
beskeptigal can probably provide a bit more info on this topic also, as this is her area of expertise.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2006 : 21:51:56 [Permalink]
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I have 7-10 coworkers who have children on day care, and they seem to be complaining every now and then that there's an epidemic of the flu, or the cold, or something else.
Given that they are exposed through their children, there will be a good chance someone at work will be carrying the flu too. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2006 : 01:23:40 [Permalink]
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I must disclose my bias here, I'm giving ~3,000 doses to people this year.
I get one and give my son one every year. The vaccine is very safe, doesn't make you ill as commonly believed, and the flu is greatly underestimated as a dangerous disease. While the majority of the thousands of people that die every year from flu have an identified risk, every year at least a few healthy people die or are hospitalized with influenza as well. So your risk, if you are healthy, of having a serious bad outcome from flu is low but not zero and the risk from the vaccine is minuscule compared to the actual infection. In other words, the benefit of the vaccine greatly outweighs the minimal risk of the vaccine as determined by an evidence based decision. |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 10/30/2006 01:25:13 |
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