Hey all,

I know some people do not get flu vaccines for any number of reasons and I respect that.

However, if you are like me and try to get a flu shot every year, just a reminder that the 2020-21 flu vaccines are available. I got mine yesterday and there was no waiting at CVS. Also, my health insurance covered it.

I say that I "try" to get one every year and I do try. Sometimes, I get busy and just don't get around to it. I figured that this year would be a good year to make sure I got the vaccine.

Stay safe and stay healthy. Try to eat right and remember that chocolate is one of the most important food groups.

TMFL

TopManFL (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:39 pm Hey all,

I know some people do not get flu vaccines for any number of reasons and I respect that.

However, if you are like me and try to get a flu shot every year, just a reminder that the 2020-21 flu vaccines are available. I got mine yesterday and there was no waiting at CVS. Also, my health insurance covered it.

I say that I "try" to get one every year and I do try. Sometimes, I get busy and just don't get around to it. I figured that this year would be a good year to make sure I got the vaccine.

Stay safe and stay healthy. Try to eat right and remember that chocolate is one of the most important food groups.

TMFL

EVER ONE should get one who can! Ernie of Maine

I also get the flu shot every year at my doctor's office, though it's the nurse that gives it to me. I have also gone to public clinics on a couple of occasions. As for those who don't get it, for most of them, their reasons are absolute nonsense. There are a lot of anti-vaxers around, trying to talk people into not getting vaccines. People of my parents generation certainly know the value of vaccines, as when they were young, they lost a lot of friends or siblings to what are now preventable diseases. When I was a kid, TB and polio were the big scares. Fortunately, vaccines for both were developed when I was a kid.

AnneK_TG (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 7:26 pm I also get the flu shot every year at my doctor's office, though it's the nurse that gives it to me. I have also gone to public clinics on a couple of occasions. As for those who don't get it, for most of them, their reasons are absolute nonsense. There are a lot of anti-vaxers around, trying to talk people into not getting vaccines. People of my parents generation certainly know the value of vaccines, as when they were young, they lost a lot of friends or siblings to what are now preventable diseases. When I was a kid, TB and polio were the big scares. Fortunately, vaccines for both were developed when I was a kid.

Hey @AnneK,

I, like you, have seen the horrors of diseases such as measles, mumps, diphtheria, etc. My mother raised four children and all of us got the mumps, measles, and chickenpox. Although I and my three brothers were lucky, some others were not and died from measles.

However, I didn't want this to morph into a pro versus an anti vaccine thread.

That's why I said, "

TopManFL (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:39 pm However, if you are like me and try to get a flu shot every year, just a reminder that the 2020-21 flu vaccines are available.

" That way if someone doesn't get vaccines (for whatever reason), I was just addressing those that do.

Two more quick points:

1. Although there is a TB vaccine, it is not widely used in the United States.

2. The HPV vaccine will be the "game-changer" for those born after 2005. HPV is a virus that causes cervical, penile, prostate, and throat cancer. The vast majority but, not quite all, of those cancers are caused by HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). It's difficult to imagine a world where women stop dying from cervical cancer just because they got a vaccine when they were younger but, it will happen.

TMFL

I too am one that believes in vaccinations, and every year I get a flu shot. Haven't gotten mine this year yet, but will.

I've had one every year for 20 years. It might not work, but it gives me a head start if the flu comes my way. I am not concerned about any of the stuff the anti-vaxxers spew.

Hey @AnneK,

TopManFL (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:56 pm 1. Although there is a TB vaccine, it is not widely used in the United States.

That may because the vaccine has been so successful that TB is now rare in North America. No need to vaccinate against something you're unlikely to be exposed to.

AnneK_TG (imported) wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2020 6:32 pm That may because the vaccine has been so successful that TB is now rare in North America. No need to vaccinate against something you're unlikely to be exposed to.

I looked up the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis on the Center for Disease Control's website. The reasons it's not routinely used in the United States are pretty complicated. Here is the article from https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/vaccines.htm :

-- Text from the Article --- (Remember, medical information and recommendations change. So, best to check the direct link if you can).

TB Vaccine (BCG)

Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) disease. This vaccine

TopManFL (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:56 pm is not widely used in the United States,

but it is often given to infants and small children in other countries where TB is common. BCG does not always protect people from getting TB.

BCG Recommendations

In the United States, BCG should be considered for only very select people who meet specific criteria and in consultation with a TB expert. Health care providers who are considering BCG vaccination for their patients are encouraged to discuss this intervention with the TB control program in their area.

Children

BCG vaccination should only be considered for children who have a negative TB test and who are continually exposed, and cannot be separated from adults who

Are untreated or ineffectively treated for TB disease, and the child cannot be given long-term primary preventive treatment for TB infection; or

Have TB disease caused by strains resistant to isoniazid and rifampin.

Health Care Workers

BCG vaccination of health care workers should be considered on an individual basis in settings in which

A high percentage of TB patients are infected with TB strains resistant to both isoniazid and rifampin;

There is ongoing transmission of drug-resistant TB strains to health care workers and subsequent infection is likely; or

Comprehensive TB infection-control precautions have been implemented, but have not been successful.

Health care workers considered for BCG vaccination should be counseled regarding the risks and benefits associated with both BCG vaccination and treatment of latent TB infection.

Testing for TB in BCG-Vaccinated People

Many people born outside of the United States have been BCG-vaccinated.

People who were previously vaccinated with BCG may receive a TB skin test to test for TB infection. Vaccination with BCG may cause a positive reaction to a TB skin test. A positive reaction to a TB skin test may be due to the BCG vaccine itself or due to infection with TB bacteria.

TB blood tests (IGRAs), unlike the TB skin test, are not affected by prior BCG vaccination and are not expected to give a false-positive result in people who have received BCG.

For children under the age of five, the TB skin test is preferred over TB blood tests.

A positive TB skin test or TB blood test only tells that a person has been infected with TB bacteria. It does not tell whether the person has latent TB infection or has progressed to TB disease. Other tests, such as a chest x-ray and a sample of sputum, are needed to see whether the person has TB disease.

I never get a flu shot. I had the swine flu that went around in '77, I think it was. Had it for a month. Really high fevers, vomiting, the whole nine yards. Got over it, felt OK for like 2 or 3 days, then went right back into it. Me and "G", another boy in my class, were the hardest hit. Turns out, "G" was the grandson of my grandpa's cousin. We were like 10 or 11 at the time. Noticed in Freshman year, I think it was, that every time the flu went around, we never got it. Or if we did get symptoms, they didn't last long. The same for "J", who was "G's" aunt. (she was a late baby-surprise).

I know of several people who had bad reactions to the flu shots over the years. During the last swine flu scare, one of the local factories here required all workers to get the shot. They ended up nearly shut down for several weeks, due to everyone reacting to the shot. One guy even died of side effects.

Drug companies know this when vaccines, drugs, etc., are put to market. It's going to happen. This has probably been happening since Jenner first noticed that milkmaids and stable boys didn't get smallpox, as they'd already been exposed to cow pox. There will always be side effects for some. It's only logical. Not everyone's body is the same.

What is a real shame is that we have a society, and not only in the USA, where SO MANY distrust the government, the CDC, and other agencies (wherever they are) that they refuse to have anything to do with modern vaccines and/or drugs. And it seems as if this problem is only getting worse. Add to that, that so many now believe that the mainstream media is lying, or has its own agenda, or is even a tool of "some faction of government".

It will certainly be interesting to see what comes of the vaccine for COVID-19, when and if it comes out.

Question for TopMan. You seem pretty knowledgeable. I believed in vaccines for years. If you were a kid in the 50s a nightmare was polio and living in an iron lung. The polio vaccine pretty much ended that nightmare. I have gotten vaccines for some of the wonderful things like yellow fever before working in iffy countries and everything always went as predicted and never got diseases. But I do have to admit that the last couple of years the flu vaccine didn't seem to work that well. I would get sick after injection. It could be from age except I would see it happening to people in their 30s and 40s. Last flu season I got sick after the shot and then 3 or 4 times afterwards. In your opinion, is that because flu viri mutate quickly and somebody has to make a stab at what vaccine to manufacture in time for the season and some times that stab does not match flu mutations? The next question then is that polio, yellow fever, etc. don't mutate? Final question is if Covid mutates. My guess is that it does. Any comments.