Flu Shots 2020

[explanade]

I read actually that typically the flu spreads from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere countries every year as the seasons change.

And there was low incidence of the flu in the Southern Hemisphere because of the distancing and masks.

But it's astounding, you wouldn't expect that much movement from South to North -- and probably vice versa.

East to West yes, but North-South?

 

[Markola]

If so, it is equally true that the flu spreads from north to south each year as the season changes to winter there [emoji41].

 

[Koolau]

I read actually that typically the flu spreads from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere countries every year as the seasons change.

And there was low incidence of the flu in the Southern Hemisphere because of the distancing and masks.

But it's astounding, you wouldn't expect that much movement from South to North -- and probably vice versa.

East to West yes, but North-South?

It's those darn airplanes! YMMV

 

[beowulf]

Received my weekly (really 3 to 4 times a week) on line ad from Costco. They are offering home Covid 19 test kits for $139 or so. You do an oral swab, mail it in and voila, you get a result in 2, 3, maybe 4 days after they receive it (it’s through a 3rd party vendor). So it could take 4 to 7 or more days to get a result, depending on where you live. If you suspect you have it when you send it in, you’ll know for sure before you get it back. Sounds like an expensive waste. No insurance accepted, though I suppose you could file on your own. Pretty sure Medicare would turn you down.

 

[braumeister]

Received my weekly (really 3 to 4 times a week) on line ad from Costco.

This is discussed a bit more over here:
Home Covid Testing

 

[beowulf]

Thank you.

 

[Koolau]

Received my weekly (really 3 to 4 times a week) on line ad from Costco. They are offering home Covid 19 test kits for $139 or so. You do an oral swab, mail it in and voila, you get a result in 2, 3, maybe 4 days after they receive it (it’s through a 3rd party vendor). So it could take 4 to 7 or more days to get a result, depending on where you live. If you suspect you have it when you send it in, you’ll know for sure before you get it back. Sounds like an expensive waste. No insurance accepted, though I suppose you could file on your own. Pretty sure Medicare would turn you down.

Had I been willing to wait in a long car line, I had several opportunities on Island to get a free test. You were supposed to have "symptoms" but with mostly negative results in these mass tests, I'm guessing a lot of folks just "wanted to be sure."

I have no problem with Costco wanting to make a buck off Covid, but I don't see why anyone would bite on this. Locally, it's likely a test would take as long as 5 days to get to the testing site (don't know where it is.) Most folks would be dead, on the mend or over it by the time results were returned. Can you imagine lying in a hospital bed, ventilator pumping away, tubes in every vein and orifice and your DW gets a note to you (she can't actually visit the hospital.): "Honey, Costco just sent a note that you don't have Covid!

 

[explanade]

If so, it is equally true that the flu spreads from north to south each year as the season changes to winter there [emoji41].

Thing that's surprising is that most of the heavily populated countries are in the northern hemisphere, though I guess India is close to the equator.

So you'd think there's more travel east to west than north to south.

Also countries in the southern hemisphere tend to be poorer so there might not be as many residents of southern hemisphere countries traveling internationally.

 

[harllee]

But isn't a major part of the flu season equation that colder weather gives the flu virus an easier opportunity to spread? When people are crowded indoors in the cold weather many viruses (common cold, influenza) are more likely to spread. So it's not just the southern hemisphere to northern hemisphere spread, it's also that winter is ending in the southern hemisphere and beginning in the northern hemisphere.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

2 flu shots and 1 shingrix acquired today for halohousehold.

 

[Gumby]

Research paper suggests that the flu shot could also give some protection against COVID. https://www.scientificamerican.com/...ronavirus-infections-early-research-suggests/

It might seem far-fetched that a vaccine designed to protect against one infection could protect against others, too. But a growing body of research suggests that this does, in fact, occur through a process called “trained innate immunity.” Vaccines are known to work by stimulating the adaptive immune system, causing the body to make antibodies that can recognize and attack a specific pathogen if it is encountered again. But recent studies suggest that some vaccines also train the body’s faster-acting and less specific innate immune system, improving its ability to fight off many kinds of infections. Vaccines appear to achieve this feat by reprogramming stem cells that give rise to cells involved in this early innate immune response.

 

[stephenson]

The SA article is interesting - and, that is a significant statistical difference.

However, remember back in the 1970s and 1980s? Volvos are safer cars, right? No, but Volvo drivers are safer drivers. Volvos are more reliable cars, right? No, but Volvo drivers take their cars in for more maintenance.

So, it COULD be somewhat related to those getting flu shots being more careful people - and, more likely to wear masks appropriately? More likely to follow rules more stringently?

Just some thoughts ....

 

[explanade]

Research paper suggests that the flu shot could also give some protection against COVID. https://www.scientificamerican.com/...ronavirus-infections-early-research-suggests/

There were trials to see if the tuberculosis vaccine would also raise innate immunity.

And some doctors proposed testing Oral Polio Vaccine for innate immunity as well.

These vaccines are not routinely given in US and other industrialized countries.

But there was a time during the spring when the pandemic hadn't hit developing countries like India as hard as it would later. So the theory was that in developing countries where they routinely vaccinate children with these vaccines, the then low rates of covid infections might be explained partly by these vaccines raising innate immunity in these countries.

BCG vaccine was given to thousands of health care workers around the world. Not sure where that trial is.

 

[braumeister]

I would take all this with a grain of salt.
Remember when Dr. Henry Heimlich (he of the Heimlich Maneuver) wanted to try curing AIDS by infecting patients with malaria?

 

[cnocmmz]

It's going to be time for flu shots soon. "Is it worth leaving my house to get a shot?" is the question for many people. Maybe they will have drive up clinics? Time will tell. DW says no if you stay home you don't need one, but maybe I might have to go to to doctor and wish I had received a flu shot.

My actual question is there are multiple types of flu shots, according to the CDC site. For those of us over 65, does Fluzone High-Dose offer better protection than the adjuvanted flu vaccine? CDC says 'who knows' (to paraphrase). I have not had anything but the normal shot previously, AFAIK.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm

Go get your flu shot especially this year with all that is going on with the COVID.
What really sucks is the 2-Shingles shots that we just finished up with[emoji13]

 

[geeky_grrl]

I've tried to find a way to get a flu shot that I was comfortable with and failed. No open drive through clinics within an hour. A couple of clinics did have events for established patients but I didn't qualify. The county health department said they would do vaccines in the parking lot but that they didn't carry flu shots.

Even though I don't get near anyone I still feel weird about missing the vaccine for the first time in many years. I'll just need to keep up the social distancing until flu season is over.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

First thing in the morning like 9am at Walgreens. We were the only customer. Don't go in until 9 or the time they open the pharmacy. Took us to a private room to get the shot. We did a Monday morning

I've tried to find a way to get a flu shot that I was comfortable with and failed. No open drive through clinics within an hour. A couple of clinics did have events for established patients but I didn't qualify. The county health department said they would do vaccines in the parking lot but that they didn't carry flu shots.

Even though I don't get near anyone I still feel weird about missing the vaccine for the first time in many years. I'll just need to keep up the social distancing until flu season is over.

 

[cnocmmz]

First thing in the morning like 9am at Walgreens. We were the only customer. Don't go in until 9 or the time they open the pharmacy. Took us to a private room to get the shot. We did a Monday morning

Does not seem like a good plan

 

[geeky_grrl]

First thing in the morning like 9am at Walgreens. We were the only customer. Don't go in until 9 or the time they open the pharmacy. Took us to a private room to get the shot. We did a Monday morning

I haven't been inside a store in months, that is outside of my comfort zone. I don't go inside building with non-household members. I don't know if everyone was walking around without a mask right before they opened or if they are pulling them down whenever they don't see someone nearby.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

"Everyone" meaning the 2 total employees busy on the other side of the store stocking wearing masks? Or the nonexistent customers? Or the masked pharmacist who administers the shot? You can't actually give yourself the shot so you're going to encounter at least 1 person. However if you don't go out at all ever, why bother getting one?

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

How so? In the building less than 15 mins. 1st appts of the day. Zero other customers. 2 employees far away from us. 1 pharmacist masked administering our shots. Please elaborate on the terrible portions of this plan. Was the lowest friction option we had.

Does not seem like a good plan[emoji17]

 

[geeky_grrl]

"Everyone" meaning the 2 total employees busy on the other side of the store stocking wearing masks? Or the nonexistent customers? Or the masked pharmacist who administers the shot? You can't actually give yourself the shot so you're going to encounter at least 1 person. However if you don't go out at all ever, why bother getting one?

I don't plan on being near anyone, but an emergency might happen (medical emergency, evacuations due to fire, etc).

I'm willing to be within a few feet of someone outdoors masked but not indoors. I don't have a lot of faith I'd be in and out of the pharmacy because that has not been my experience previous years, even first thing on a weekday morning. The pharmacies in town always seem to have long lines, no matter when I go, and pharmacist on duty is usually swamped and it takes a while for them to break free to give the shot.

 

[Idealer]

I'm willing to be within a few feet of someone outdoors masked but not indoors. I don't have a lot of faith I'd be in and out of the pharmacy because that has not been my experience previous years, even first thing on a weekday morning. The pharmacies in town always seem to have long lines, no matter when I go, and pharmacist on duty is usually swamped and it takes a while for them to break free to give the shot.

I feel similarly, so googled for “drive up flu shot” in my area. Around here (Chicago), the Jewel Osco stores are having scheduled outdoor flu shot clinics. Pulled into the parking lot and saw a table by the entrance, one car parked there. I had filled out their consent form online ahead of time so paperwork was all taken care of. They asked for ID, looked up my form, jabbed me in my preferred arm. 5 minutes total. Slight soreness at injection site, gone in a couple days.

 

[timo2]

I've tried to find a way to get a flu shot that I was comfortable with and failed. No open drive through clinics within an hour. A couple of clinics did have events for established patients but I didn't qualify. The county health department said they would do vaccines in the parking lot but that they didn't carry flu shots.

Even though I don't get near anyone I still feel weird about missing the vaccine for the first time in many years. I'll just need to keep up the social distancing until flu season is over.

I went to a 24 hr CVS at 7:00 AM. no other customers were in the store. Just the clerk and the pharmacist who gave me my shot. But DW's plan is to keep hidden until flu season is over. She would do a drive through, but we don't have any here.

 

[REWahoo]

Flu Season Update: For the week ending 10/24/2020, seasonal influenza activity in the United States remains low. Out of a reported 17,000+ tests, only 24 were positive. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm