No, vaccines!

[Walt34]

Went to Walgreens and got the second Shingrix shot. I won't mention the co-pay.

 

[gerntz]

Not sure if you are saying you got the tetanus shot as a child? If you did, a booster isn't considered necessary.

But if you got the tetanus shot as an adult, then a booster IS recommended. Tetanus is not something you want to risk - there is no cure for it.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/do-adults-really-need-tetanus-booster-shots-2020051219786

My reaction to the tetanus shot as a 14-year-old as necessary to be allowed to play HS football was the worst shot experience of my life. I was in bed sick for a week & my arm was swollen & sore for another 2 weeks. Had to get another shot as adult as work protocol & I was scared to death. No reaction though.

 

[tmm99]

I have had the tetanus shot a few times. I was told I need it every 10 years or something like that.

 

[harllee]

Seems like I am always stepping on something or doing something to my body that requires a tennis shot. Last time was a few years ago when I stepped on a wasp nest and got stung a bunch of times--had to get a tetanus shot. I hate that shot-- it hurts and my arm is sore for a week or so. But I don't want tetanus, that is for sure.

 

[Car-Guy]

Seems like I am always stepping on something or doing something to my body that requires a tennis shot. Last time was a few years ago when I stepped on a wasp nest and got stung a bunch of times--had to get a tetanus shot. I hate that shot-- it hurts and my arm is sore for a week or so. But I don't want tetanus, that is for sure.

Maybe it's tennis elbow?

 

[samm]

I've had a bunch of immunization shots and I'll take any and all that are offered. The worst side effects have been a mildly sore arm for a few days and that's a lot better than any of the diseases they at least mitigate if not outright prevent.

I am not so arrogant or foolish to think that I am all that much different from the millions of people whose lives have been saved by those shots. Sometime later this week I'll get my second Shingrix shot.

+1000

After retiring I started university teaching (144 students in last class). 6/2020 University asked if I will return for fall 2020. I said "no way" unless students agree to wear masks and agree to vaccinations..."

University refused to address my concerns because they want students to enroll and pay $$$

Forecast: Fall 2020 will be a bigger covid disaster than spring 2020.

 

[harllee]

Maybe it's tennis elbow?

Sorry--Of course I meant tetanus shot! I love tennis shots but hate tetanus shots--they hurt.

 

[6miths]

After retiring I started university teaching (144 students in last class). 6/2020 University asked if I will return for fall 2020. I said "no way" unless students agree to wear masks and agree to vaccinations..."

University refused to address my concerns because they want students to enroll and pay $$$

Forecast: Fall 2020 will be a bigger covid disaster than spring 2020.

Did the same here and taught my first class today. Students aren't getting tuition reduction. Degree is the same at the end and no good evidence that they won't learn just as well. And they are saving money by staying at home. One of the students was 3000 miles away. Classes are online until Christmas at least.

 

[pacergal]

Vaccines all up to date. Annual Influenza done for years, TDAP updated before first grandchild and will continue with tetanus update every 10 years, had Hep B required for work, zostavax and shringrix done. Waiting for pneumonia at age 65 and covid when available.
Will get this years influenza shot in October or earlier.
Old enough to have had measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox illness as a child and polio vaccines. Did get 2 smallpox vaccines also.
Don't plan any international travel for now, so no other shots in the works!

 

[Amethyst]

Reminds me - Years back, I had Twinrix for Hep A and B, required for a work deployment. I was told the immunity is lifelong. The nurse said it could even be useful in the U.S. - that not all our water is free of these pathogens.

We took an oral Typhus vaccine for Southeast Asia, but I don't think it lasts very long. Not much Typhus in the U.S.

No more international travel for us, alas! Unless cruises start up again, which doesn't seem very likely.

Vaccines all up to date. Annual Influenza done for years, TDAP updated before first grandchild and will continue with tetanus update every 10 years, had Hep B required for work,
Don't plan any international travel for now, so no other shots in the works!

 

[rodi]

I am fully vaccinated, my kids are fully vaccinated, we get flu shots every year. I will wait till I see more data about the COVID vaccine because I'm troubled by how many steps are being skipped to fast track it. But I will eventually get it, I'm sure. Glad I don't live in Russia where they are rolling out a vaccine without a stage 3 trial.

 

[2soon2tell]

REW,

Yes, I remember the yellow shot card. If you vaccinations were not up to date you weren't allowed to get on the plane. I recall that we had to get cholera vaccinations every 6 months while stationed in the Philippines. Once I let mine lapse and had to be hustled over to the Clark AFB clinic to get vaccinated before I could get on the C-141. They made your arm sore for a few days.

 

[smoghat]

I get the flu shot every year and I don’t get the flu. Before I did I got it. Simple as that!

 

[beowulf]

For those of us who were in the military, it was a very routine thing. I have over 50 immunizations recorded in my Air Force shot record, for all sorts of things. Probably meaningless now, but at least they didn't do me any harm.

Yep, more shots than I can remember. I ran out of space in the little yellow shot record book and had to staple a new one to it. I carried on the tradition after I left AD and now get all my shots in senior doses.

Never had the flu after the first inoculation years and years ago. The only immunization I can remember that actually hurt going in and for several days later was for plague. Only had one of those.

I will get a flu shot for this season when they come out and a Covid 19 immunization after clinical trials prove it effective and without side effects.

No personal problem with people who refuse, for whatever reason, to forgo immunizations. However, if they become sick and spreaders of whatever they have, I expect the local, state or federal government to quarantine them. They have no right to infect others due to their personal decisions.

 

[sengsational]

A bridge to a vaccine.

There is a preventitive that coud be over the counter and self administered on the horizon, please FDA give it the go-ahead if for no other reason to establish it does no harm: https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/08/4...owerful-inhalable-protection-against-covid-19

There are pharmaceutical firms in the 'neighborhood', like Genentech, that could manufacture it in volume.

This technology could be used for other viruses with minor adjustment.

I'd never heard of nanobodies before. This is truly next-gen stuff. I like the science, and hope it works, but it's only in vitro for this one (didn't even see an animal model in the paper referenced), but a quick google showed that at least one nanobody-based drug is FDA approved, so apparently there's at least some safety history in humans for the technology.

 

[Amethyst]

Me, too. Russian citizens are being used as trial subjects, no doubt without obtaining their consent.

Glad I don't live in Russia where they are rolling out a vaccine without a stage 3 trial.

 

[Aegis1961]

Vaccines for the last 10+ years

Interesting thread. I thought I'd had the flu in the past, but one year it took me DOWN. Within a few hours I went from general malaise to laying on the floor because I couldn't make it up the stairs. I was down for a week. I was in my early 30's and in excellent health. Other friends had a 2-3 days of discomfort that flu season. After that, I got the vaccine every year and never had a bad episode.
My last job (medical field) required all the vaccines before you could enter the hospital. And a TB test. Kind of annoying, but as an employment requirement, I got past the outrage of having to do something I didn't want to do. Never had a bad reaction. And the one year I did get the flu, it was mild and only took a couple of days to recover - and it was never as awful as my first experience.

My suggestion is to get the Covid vaccine. Just because you've healthy all your life doesn't mean your immune system isn't wearing down. Like your joints and your stamina - things change over time.

And a very important part of getting vaccinated is you are less likely to pass it onto others. Be that flu, smallpox, or Covid. Seems like an injection is a small price to pay for keeping other people safe.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Fully vaccinated and even had my MMR titers checked recently to make sure the childhood shot "stuck." I hop e to avoid both suffering and dying of anything preventable with a stick. I'm also banging the drum on DH and my parents to get their " sticks. "

 

[Aegis1961]

you've never had a cold during flu season? For most of us... that is it. It is hard to tell the difference.

I used to think the same thing. And given that the flu ranges between mild and severe, I can understand the confusion. I can only give you my experience but one year I got the flu from a known source (we shared a computer mouse during training) and it HAMMERED me. No mild body aches, full on can't-raise-my-arm aches. No mild fever, full on 104 degrees (which ultimately led me to the Urgent Care). All in all, you will know when you get it.

But I sincerely hope you don't!

 

[harllee]

My DH had a terrible case of the flu 2 winters ago and was sick for at least 6 weeks and had to be hospitalized. Similar to Covid he lost his sense of smell, taste and his hearing. He got his smell and taste back in a few weeks but he still has hearing problems to this day that originated with the flu. I caught the flu from him and was very sick also--high temperature, very weak and was in the bed a couple of weeks but I was not nearly as sick as DH. Since we understand that Covid is much worse than the flu we are taking all precautions. Based on our flu experience I am concerned DH would not survive Covid and I might not either.

 

[timo2]

This. I never heard the term "Herd Immunity" before COVID-19.

I used to work for the USDA, animal side. I am familiar with the original herd immunity. I believe it came to prominence with humans with people stopping getting the measles vaccines for their kids.

I'm also a military brat, and had lots of vaccinations, and get everyone one offered. I'm also a believer in statistics, and don't want to be on the wrong side of the numbers on purpose.

 

[O2Bfree]

I might have had the flu once, but have had a lot of bad colds so there's no feeling of invincibility here. I get a flu shot each year and got the Shingrix vaccines as soon as I could. My mom had shingles in 2015 and still suffers from nerve pain that is sometimes severe. I had rather bad reactions to both shots, but consider them well worth the short-lived suffering.

Some folks just aren't affected much by common viruses. DH for example rarely gets a cold, and when he does the symptoms are barely noticable and last just a couple days. He has type O blood, while I'm type A, and I've heard that type Os have more effective immune systems.

 

[Time2]

Not enough to convince me either. Tomorrow I clean up hurricane debris. I don't want to be doing that without having up to date tetanus boosters.

A couple years ago my wife got a tetanus shot, 5 days later she stepped on a nail doing hurricane cleanup. She was fine but we wondered if the 5 days was enough time for her to develop antibodies.