Have you gotten the flu vaccine?

mcgiggles wrote: »

I am lucky enough never *touch wood* to have gotten the flu. Few sniffles/ headcolds/ sinus infections but never the flu. I don't get the vaccine, there are new strains of flu coming about all the time, you can't vaccinate against them all, so if you are at risk chances are you may still get it, all the vaccine can do is protect you from previous strains of flu.

They make a new vaccine a couple of times a year and it's generally pretty effective. The flu changes quickly but it can protect you for a flu season. The more people who get the vaccine, the harder it is for the virus to spread.

Me to nurse "should I get the jab?"

Nurse "Cant hurt"

Me "OK then, go for it"


Thinking about it more than that seems like a waste of time.

At O'Hare airport last October they were administering the flu vaccine to those who wanted it for $30.

northernpower wrote: »

You should tell that to the nurses - <20% have taken the flu vaccination this year according to Simon Harris' sources. Shameful

I haven't seen those statistics, sounds like boll0x to me.

I know that in 2015 over 85% of the nurses in England got the flu vaccine.

northernpower wrote: »

You should tell that to the nurses - <20% have taken the flu vaccination this year according to Simon Harris' sources. Shameful

Wait, this year, as in the last 4 days?

I had the flu twice - about 10 years ago and once about 5 years before that. It's a truly nasty things to have. The amount of people who have the flu but battles through it is just like the people who battle through migraines when some lesser people take a day or two off for them. The implication being that they're tough for battling through when other people are lazy and would use any excuse to take a day off work.

I haven't been properly sick since that flu back in 2007, just a few coughs, colds and tummy bugs since. And I also used to get very bad migraines when I was growing up but thankfully I grew out of them. Now I often get little migraines - same symptoms but mild enough that you can plough through it. But they're in no way proper migraines - one of those and there's zero chance you're working for at least a day.

Oh, and I've gotten the jab for the last few years. Don't have a reason not to. My girlfriends had sniffles after it for a day. I thought that type of thing was very rare, but it was hard not to link the two.

northernpower wrote: »

I'm in the hospital too, a presentation from occupational health at the start of the flu season when vaccinations were being rolled out for staff had figures on last years uptake in this particular Dublin hospital, can't remember the numbers but in terms of uptake it was Doctors > Health care assistants > nurses.

So uptake from staff may be high overall but it may mask areas where uptake is lower than it should be, for example among nurses. Now without wanting to derail this thread any further I think unless there's a genuine reason a health care worker can't take a vaccination there should be questions asked, especially when it's offered free in the work place and can be done while on shift.

So no evidence then. Presume you want enforced vaccination? Would be hard/impossible to enforce.

I think incentivised vaccination in General is a good idea. For the nurses who are offered it for free you could not pay them sick pay if they get the flu and haven't been vaccinated. I guarantee you they'd all get it then. And you'd lose less of them to sickness. Sorry to be harsh, but if they don't believe in the vaccine they don't really believe in modern medicine so shouldn't be working in it. If they have a genuine reason then fair enough.

fixxxer wrote: »

Occupational Health get you to fill out a form when you get your vaccine so I assume their numbers would be very solid on who has and hasn't gotten the jab.

Enforced vaccination should definitely be an option. There's little to no reason not to get it.

Unless there are medical reasons which exempt you from being vaccinated, such as those who are immunocompromised.

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

So no evidence then. Presume you want enforced vaccination? Would be hard/impossible to enforce.

Evidence? I could maybe get you the newstalk player link from this mornings show where Simon Harris quoted his sources.

Enforce is an emotive term and I think you're using it intentionally. I didn't say I'd enforce anyone to be vaccinated, but I do think unless there's a reason why someone who has contact with the sickest and most vulnerable in society does not take precautions to protect those people, then yes, questions should be asked.

I'm required to get whatever vaccinations for common communicable diseases are available before I can be allowed on a ward. In some hospitals I'm screened for HIV, TB and MRSA and my rubella and measles titres are assessed before I'm allowed on a ward. These are precautions to stop disease spread. The annual flu vaccination seems to be the one which has a large amount of autonomy and personal preference attached to it, I don't see it as any different from any of the other measures taken to prevent disease spread.

I find some people cope with it better than others so those who say you can't get the real flu and possibly keep going haven't been in situation where you have to keep going. I along with my husband and two children had the flu last year and I had no choice but to look after us all, my husband couldn't even stand up!! I know it was the flu as my youngest was only three months so we brought her to doctor who sent us all to a & e to be safe. They took swabs and confirmed the following day it was full blown flu so I'm 100% that is what we had.

northernpower wrote: »

Evidence? I could maybe get you the newstalk player link from this mornings show where Simon Harris quoted his sources.

Enforce is an emotive term and I think you're using it intentionally. I didn't say I'd enforce anyone to be vaccinated, but I do think unless there's a reason why someone who has contact with the sickest and most vulnerable in society does not take precautions to protect those people, then yes, questions should be asked.

I'm required to get whatever vaccinations for common communicable diseases are available before I can be allowed on a ward. In some hospitals I'm screened for HIV, TB and MRSA and my rubella and measles titres are assessed before I'm allowed on a ward. These are precautions to stop disease spread. The annual flu vaccination seems to be the one which has a large amount of autonomy and personal preference attached to it, I don't see it as any different from any of the other measures taken to prevent disease spread.

Enforce may be emotive but you're dancing round the word. Yours is a reasonable point of view, but if the language of enforcement is off putting to you, surely you can see the issue you would have trying to explain this idea. Right or wrong, the HSE will not do this any time soon, they have enough strife with retention of staff as it is. Recruitment fairs where they expect hundreds of nurses returning home, and get low twenties attending, they can't afford to alienate their existing staff more than they have.


Incidentally I think nurses should be screened for MRSA but my belief is the HSE are terrified of just how many nurses would come back positive and it's bye bye workforce for several weeks.