Should Flu Shot be Mandatory?

From UK area:

http://www.expressandstar.com/2009/07/30/a-million-swine-flu-jabs-to-region/

Nurses Assoc. Oppose

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/158780.php

Is this propaganda or a reliable news source?

Have any of you heard what will be happening in your areas?

In the past few years there has been much outrage over mandatory shots for children. Does anyone have update info as to how effective the protests were?

What do you think about getting a flu shot and should they be mandatory?

wow, from the second article

"There is no exemption for religious or cultural preferences regarding immunization, effectively blocking individuals who have these beliefs from earning their livelihood," Avery said. "It's possible that nurses will leave the profession or choose another career because of this onerous mandate; a serious threat at a time when the shortage of nurses in New York State is expected to reach 20,000 within a decade."

I worked for the hospitol as a courier for a few years.  Three years I got the flu shot and got sick after getting the shot, the fourth year I declined and made it through the winter OK.  Last year my daughter had her baby in January.  The hospitol offered the flu shot to her before she left, I advised her to decline, she did and did not get the flu.

I know they say the shots don't make you sick but I get sick getting the shot, so I no longer get them.  I wonder if the hospitols here will make them mandatory this year.

purps

I hope not.  My family and I don't get the flu shot.  My kids get a cold once a year and none of them have had the flu.  I've had two lung infections in my 20's and something that was similar to flu a couple of years ago but it only lasted three days and like my kids I get a cold once a year that never last long.  My father gets the shot every year and like clockwork he gets the flu every year too.

Josie

No.

I get the flu shot each year at work, for free. I wouldn't force it on anyone.

Normally I would say it is up to each individual.

This current situation is different.  I would STRONGLY suggest that anyone between the ages of 10 and 25 receive the vaccine for the current H1N1 as well as the vaccine that will likely come out in December or January for any mutated version (the more deadly anticipated strain)

More than 50% of the current people being impacted by H1N1 are in this age group.  This vaccine is an opportunity to provide some immunity to this potentially lethal flu strain.

In Canada, they are calculating 112,000 fatalities if this strain mutates with any of the typical seasonal flu strains.

Any connection with an illness post flu shot is purely coincidental.  Dead virii cannot make someone sick.  All seasonal flu vaccines contain nothing living that can reproduce and make someone ill.

Thay are now discussing school closures if there is a resurgence of a more deadly strain in the Fall.  The more we can protect our kids the better.  Remember the Society once said vaccines were evil.  Don't fall into the same mindset.

Uzzah

I get myself and kids flu shots every year to make sure we don't get it and to make sure we don't carry it to others. My daughter and I get EXTREMELY sick from the flu. We get bedridden for no less than 10 days at minimum. It's very painful to have the flu.

Any connection with an illness post flu shot is purely coincidental.  Dead virii cannot make someone sick.  All seasonal flu vaccines contain nothing living that can reproduce and make someone ill.

I have heard this thought before... all I can say is quite a number of years ago both the wife and I got our one and only

flu shot... within one hour we were both severly sick with flu like systoms. I never get any flu's but that year I did !

Years have went by I still never get the flu.. friends who try to convince me to get the shot usually get the flu

at least once every winter.  .. I just don't quite understand  !!! I know this quote is considered fact so what's up ? ....

My kids and I never once got sick BECAUSE OF the flu shot. In fact, we never got sick at all after receiving it. I got a cold once, but that was unrelated to the shot. Everyone was getting sick and I just happened to have gotten exposed before the shot.

As I understand it, a flu shot isn't designed to protect against every possible strain of flu, but only the more serious strains that have a possibility of spreading in our region. Getting a flu shot is no guarantee that you won't get sick with a different strain.

I get a flu shot every year. Some years I get sick, most years I don't. I don't think they should be mandatory though.

W

Of interest:

Calibre:

I have heard this thought before... all I can say is quite a number of years ago both the wife and I got our one and only flu shot... within one hour we were both severly sick with flu like systoms. I never get any flu's but that year I did !

Considering most if not all flu virus usually takes 48-72 hours from time of exposure before someone would have any symptoms, it is likely you had some form of allergic reaction (or psychosomatic) rather than 'getting the flu'.  I am not discounting your experience but it is not scientifically sound that you got 'the flu' from the flu shot.

In order to get sick from a bacteria or virus, there has to be enough of the bug inside of you to overwhelm your immune system so it goes into full attack mode.  This and a weak immune system (often caused by lack of sleep, poor diet, stress) are usually the components required to be sick.  Thus even if the vaccine contained a live virus, it would take at least two to three days for it to reproduce in sufficient quantity to make someone ill.

Allergic reactions require an existing sensitivity such as to eggs (contained in most vaccines) so that upon even limited exposure the body's immune system goes into overload/high gear.

There are plenty of well researched web sites that can do a better job explaining the science behind the above statements.  I encourage everyone to do their own research from reputable sources (aka not Jim Carrey & Oprah).

Uzzah

Ok same thought as you Uzzah... makes sense here

Often patients are too quick to identify a cause and effect, says Heim. This frequently happens, for example, with patients who receive a flu shot and then get sick soon after. They tend to blame the vaccine since it contains dead strains of the flu virus, but since it will never become active again, it's likely an allergic reaction or a coincidence http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/07/28/f-forbes-health-myths.html

I'll go with allergic reaction.. both H40 and  I getting the flu onset at the same time would be a coincidence with odds of about a billion

to one    

 Jim is my in depth consultant for all my medical queries ......

Should Flu Shot be Mandatory?

I get mine every year, but no it should not be mandatory. This thread, along with the one regarding cameras being installed in private homes, make it look like the UK is going to hell in a handbasket. But hey, they have universal government administered healthcare. What some fail to realize is that the same mindset is behind both things.

BTS

There is a slippery slope when a Government starts mandating things like flu shots.  Let the Government take a little power and decision making away from you and they'll only want to take more away.  I wonder how the majority of people in the People's Republic of England feel about this matter?

Anyone remember the Hong Kong flu vaccination fiasco?

Farkel

I have never had a flu shot.  I have had the flu a couple of times in my lifetime... was over it in less than 3 days both times.  I will determine whether I will take a flu shot or not.  Period.  What are they going to do...arrest me, hold me down and force it on me?   I think not.

Coffee

I have never had a flu shot.  I have had the flu a couple of times in my lifetime... was over it in less than 3 days both times.  I will determine whether I will take a flu shot or not.  Period.  What are they going to do...arrest me, hold me down and force it on me?   I think not.

No, but they can enact laws to deny you access to healthcare if you do not comply. And in a single payer system, you may have no other options.

BTS

The flue shot doesn't really help a whole lot. This is common knowledge among the health professions.

More specifically speaking, they're not really sure if it does ANY good. Studies are inconclusive. So there you go. The people pushing for this as policy are the ones least knowledgeable about the facts and driven by fear.

Many states if not all allow vaccination exemptions for "reasons of conscience."  In many ways this is for religious reasons but not always.  But it could become a 1st Amendment issue if it isn't already.

Texas for example:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/immunize/docs/faq_exemption.pdf

Connecticut:

http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PDF/deps/student/health/Religious_Exemption.pdf