We've made the family decision to NOT get flu vaccines.

[Epistaxis]

dread disease? that is the laughable perversion of concern.

again, eating correctly is the true vaccine.

If you say so. Good luck with that, but please don't go to the hospital or a doctor when you get really sick. Just eat some broccoli.

We love people that ignore us until the shyte really hits the fan.

[jdl]

If you say so. Good luck with that, but please don't go to the hospital or a doctor when you get really sick. Just eat some broccoli.

We love people that ignore us until the shyte really hits the fan.

wtf does this have to do with a hospital or doctor?

all i said was the real vaccine is eating correctly. If you like putting crappy processed foods in your body and then making up for lack of immune system by getting vaccines(which also contain harmful chemicals), go for it.

[SmootsDaddy89]

Yes if you eat right you'll never ever get sick.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Man, no omelets. That sucks.

No birthday cake growing up either... and people wonder why I am always in a foul mouthed mood...

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Yes if you eat right you'll never ever get sick.

I think it's quite possible...

My grandfather just turned 93... He hardly ever goes to the doctor and when he does, it's something unrelated to our concept of "being sick"... He still gardens and leads a very active life...

He also eats his fruits and vegetables, never eats at restaurants, and when he does eat something the portion is so small it wouldn't do anything but make me mad...

Just an example of what he's had to go to the doctor for recently (well, urgent care since he has no regular doctor):

Lyme Disease - lol he's been getting bit by ticks all his life, and one finally got to him.. has since been cured through antibiotics (during which he burnt up his hands and face in the sunlight because he refused to stay out of it)...

Hernia Surgery - had to have this one for the second time about 2 years ago... in and out within 24 hours and had to take it easy for a week after...

Other than that, nothing... He's also broken nearly every bone in his body over the course of his life... but he simply doesn't get "sick" as we know it...

[Sultan33g]

Nope. Neither H1N1 or seasonal.

We've really thought about it, and my wife is preggo, but i think the risks of these things outweighs the rewards. Yall gettin them?

wife is preggo too and we decided the same thing.

[TheSaint]

Yall dont forget...the Doctor is always right.

BTW, had a neurosurgeon tell me the other day, they would not being taking the vaccine due to their own concerns.

Im sure the vaccine companies have nothing to do with spreading the mass hysteria....

"Hey doc, this flu is really bad and scary...btw, can i bring the office Chik-Fil-A again next week? ..here, check out these cool new pens!:D"

[Epistaxis]

wtf does this have to do with a hospital or doctor?

all i said was the real vaccine is eating correctly. If you like putting crappy processed foods in your body and then making up for lack of immune system by getting vaccines(which also contain harmful chemicals), go for it.

Believe me, I am the LAST person that would ever advocate substituting a healthy lifestyle for a "quick fix".

However, to make the assumption that a healthy lifestyle, including eating properly and exercise is the ONLY answer is ridiculous.

I made the mistake of assuming you were the type that thinks the answer to viral and bacteriological illness can be found in the aisle of your local GNC.

Maintaining good overall health gives you a better chance of easily combating these pathogens, but thinking overall healthy habits are ENOUGH is like taking a knife to a gun fight.

Vaccines have their place in the fight against disease, as does lifestyle.

[PntherPryd]

I don't have a problem experimenting with drugs or vaccines but when and where does a person go to get one? I thought they were being rationed?

Epi, you do have to admit there is true controversy over this. I'm sure I can go find links to many doctors who are on record as NOT being willing to give this to their own children. Without even doing a google search there was a doc on GMA (I think?) that took the same position.

[Guest]

I don't have a problem experimenting with drugs or vaccines but when and where does a person go to get one? I thought they were being rationed?

Epi, you do have to admit there is true controversy over this. I'm sure I can go find links to many doctors who are on record as NOT being willing to give this to their own children. Without even doing a google search there was a doc on GMA (I think?) that took the same position.

Me either man. :sifone:

[Epistaxis]

I know plenty of my colleagues that have issues with certain vaccines, specifically flu and chickenpox, since they believe (correctly) that for the vast majority of people that get these conditions, the result is inconsequential and FAR from fatal.

However, the danger here is to extrapolate this in to the realm of disease that has been safely and successfully controlled in the modern world.

The last thing we need is a bunch of people getting nutty and then seeing a return to such gems as polio and measles.

These two most often are annoyances, but they CAN be debilitating and even fatal.

Hell, flu kills 10s if not 100s of thousands every year, which is why the vaccine is available.

I just get nervous when people start down the path of not listening to medical advice because they "heard from a guy" or "had a neighbor that" or whatever.

Again, it is your choice, and any physician's choice (a surgeon is hardly a doctor btw, we all admit this fact:)) to not be vaccinated against whatever. All I know is flu, REAL honest to goodness flu, not something misinterpreted like a bad common cold, will knock you on your ass.

I don't have time for that, and I am well aware of the mutational characteristics of viruses and the difficulty in staying one step ahead of these buggers.

But when we have some that we KNOW work well and are amazingly safe, why would anyone risk ANYTHING for their kids when the "links" to conditions such as autism are complete crap?

Just educate yourself on the risks and benefits and accept the consequences.

[Epistaxis]

I think this link summarizes my feelings much more eloquently than I am capable of putting to words.

http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/vaxliars/vaccines.htm

[Captroop]

I can't get the flu vaccine because it's cultured in Egg, which I am allergic to...

Not all flu vaccines are cultured in egg. I know the nasal spray vaccine is, but some of the injectable ones aren't, I'd go check it out.

In response to a few of the other claims on here:

You can't get sick from injections of flu vaccine. While vaccine's aren't "living" so they can never technically be "dead," what you are injected with is "dead" virus. The only situation where people do get sick from the flu vaccine is in certain cases with the nasal spray vaccine, because that is actually "live" virus. But it is also highly improbable to get the flu in those cases, because it is a cold attenuated live virus. Meaning that the virus has been raised to survive in cold temperatures, so when it is exposed to the 98 degree temperature of your body, it is pretty much completely shocked and inactive. The payoff of having a live virus is that you have a longer-termed immunity, and good immunogens that your body may not develop when confronted with the defanged virus in inacvtivated vaccines.

Yes the influenza virus is constantly changing, but it's not going to change in a couple weeks. So saying "the flu is constantly changing so the vaccine may not even work on it," is BS. Generally speaking, it changes from year-to-year, not day-to-day

My family works in the Biotech industry, and not the Marketing or PR side; the science side. So when something goes bad I know about it, if there is nothing to be concerned about, I know about it. And I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is next to no risk involved in getting a flu shot. Will you get sick if you don't get one? Probably not. But you shouldn't avoid them because of what you've heard on your local news.

And on a completely unrelated note, if you have a daughter, for goodness sake get her the cervical cancer (more accurately HPV) vaccine. I know some real nuts that refuse to get that for their kids.

[TheSaint]

And on a completely unrelated note, if you have a daughter, for goodness sake get her the cervical cancer (more accurately HPV) vaccine. I know some real nuts that refuse to get that for their kids.

safer and more effective