Upset that parents won't get a flu jab

[Ieatcake]

They are both entitled to it but are spouting anti Vax stuff and won't get it. Aibu to push them to get it? They are saying the Australian flu could kill tens of thousands

I heard more about it last month while I was in the UK than I heard all winter in Australia. A handful of people died from it, but to suggest that "tens of thousands" of people will drop dead from it is pure dramatisation

By September 2017, 370 people in Australia had died from the 'flu. It was less than had been expected, but hardly "a handful". Most of them were residents in aged care facilities, so not real people.

One facility in Wangaratta had 12 residents die, 10 of them from the 'flu.

I read just yesterday the flu jab only 30-40% effective so still not a guarantee

I've never understood the reasoning of this. It's not a guarantee so why bother? No guarantee the seat belts in your car will save your life but you still buckle up. Reducing your chances of getting a serious illness by 40% is pretty good, why wouldn't you?

The flu jab is 20-30% effective for Australian flu, which whilst it doesn't sound much, is better than nothing if you are in a vulnerable group, and also goes some way to suppressing a major outbreak, assuming that there is a decent level of uptake of vaccination.

The jab is a none active one - it won't give you flu. To be frank being elderly puts them in the vulnerable category and it is absolutely selfish not to get it - a friends Mum has it at the moement we are on day 12 I think. They have refused her hospital admission as she is too contagious and think it can be managed at home for now she is getting on for mid 70's and it has utterly poleaxed her. She is very fit, strong and healthy and has been working her land and horses right up until the day she went to bed ill for the first time in 54 years 12 days ago. For the moment I am checking daily. Her Daughter was hospitalised around 15 days ago with bad sinus, tonsillitus and conjunctivitus. She has Crones so is immune compromised. She didn't have the jab - guess what she got in hospital because its full of the vulnerable entitled to a jab but didn't get one folk. She couldn't have the surgery she needed because of the flu, 2 lots of antiBs for the bacterial infection she had she is home but obv still v ill with virus.

I don't think either of them will be refusing the jab this year...

I can get the flu jab free from work. Dr told me I had to be cold / illness free for 7-10 days before getting the jab, otherwise I'd risk getting a temperature/worsening the illness...and then of course I'd blame the jab.

Unfortunately since the end of October I've not been cold / illness free for 7 days

So people having adverse reactions, it may be because they were already under the weather or coming down with something.

Our hospitals are not coping either. Over the Xmas period, someone I shall call X (with end stage lung disease) had to go to hospital by ambulance. BUT because a hospital 30 miles away was "full to capacity" all ambulances from THAT area were sent to our local hospital.
The result was that the car park was full of ambulances containing patients who could not get inside A and E because it was packed. X spent NINE hours in an ambulance in the car park waiting to get into A and E, then another THREE hours in the corridor before finally getting a bed in the ward. Even then X was not given the correct meds til the following day.
Our hospitals are NOT coping and it's worse than the newspapers are saying. Not to mention that ALL those ambulances were parked, so no wonder there were waits of several hours for anyone NEEDING to call one!!!

I would recommend that everyone needs to do basic first aid and learn some life saving techniques. Personally I did lifesaving as a kid and was a first aider in my workplace, but this is something I feel very strongly about. If you have babies and kids DO a paediatric first aid course, if you have older people or know people with a health problem or weakness- FIND OUT how to help them in an emergency. Practice. Because I strongly feel that survival is dependant on caring relatives and friends now.

You cannot mke another adult human do anything they dont want. Some sites say this years jab protects against the Austrlian strain, some say it doesnt. My local pharmacist where I had it said it does. Flu vacs are dead, they cannot give you actual flu. sometimes you will feel off colour, maybe low grade fever, sore or swollen arm.if you are already breeding flu, when you have the vac,you still still get it. You can still get flu AFTER the vac, but it should be less severe. Yes, flu CAN kill some folk. When you healthy adults die from it, it is thought to be because they have a supercharged imune system that works against them. chicken Pox or measles can also kill some people. Fit and healthy, never smoked in my 40s I got flu and then pneumonia was ill for 3 months. Also well believed at present that over 65s, the vac doesnt work.

I can’t help but feel suspicious about these epidemics of flu apparently happening every year now. We are told yet another more dangerous than ever strain is out there to get us. Get a flu jab if you want to be safe. Vaccinate your children, healthy or not.
Just who would have a vested interest in having this yearly frenzy and seeing the flu vaccine uptake going up? Pharma companies, of course. So whilst it can and is appropriate in some cases i remain sceptical and highly suspicious about this yearly frenzy as i don’t trust this is quite what we are told it is.
I might of course be wrong but suspicious sod that i am, i’m not going to inject myself with your latest product just because.

I'm another one who's had a very bad strain of flu. Once I was very ill and looked after at home by my mum. The second time it was worse, and went through the flat share of lived in. We had to call an ambulance for one housemate and like a PP I honestly think that had we not all been healthy mid twenties fitness/health fans someone could have died from it. I was unable to move, I had to be carried to the bathroom, and we couldn't wake my housemate at all. Mercifully we all caught it at slight intervals so we were able to help each other. I will never mess about with flu after that experience and I always get the vaccine.

I had tthe flu jab in the uk. I caught the flu from younger family members. They were unvaccinated. They were far far worse than I. The vaccine is worth having in my opinion.

Is there any reason adults can't have the nasal spray? There's no way I'd have an injection but I would think about the spray.

Just who would have a vested interest in having this yearly frenzy and seeing the flu vaccine uptake going up? Pharma companies, of course.

Or people who want to see fewer deaths from flu, of course.

I was entitled to get the flu jab for free last year and had it. I still got the flu over Christmas and am still in a very slow recovery from it, it really knocked me about. So you can still get it even if yo had the vaccine.

However, I would still get the vaccine next year. I prefer to know that I have a reduction of risk.

Yabu

Is there any reason adults can't have the nasal spray? There's no way I'd have an injection but I would think about the spray.

You could. It's been taken off the market in the US after research showed that it's much less effective than the injection, but it would be better than nothing.

Just who would have a vested interest in having this yearly frenzy and seeing the flu vaccine uptake going up?

Health care professionals who don't want to hospitalize their patients and risking pneumonia and other potentially fatal complications.

How flu virus kills

Your parents are adults and you can't make them. Nothing to get upset about, it's not as if the flu jab gives you 100% certainty you won't get the flu..

I have had the flu, so I know what it is like.

I qualify for free flu jabs due to my chronic illnesses.

I had it last year. I will never ever have it again. I was in pain for weeks where they jabbed me and I'd rather have the flu again. AND then after it turned out that only 1 of the 3 strains in that jab was active last winter and the strains making people sick that winter weren't in the jab.

So I'm not doing it again and I know the risks.

Their body, their choice.

It’s kind of late to get it for prevention anyway this year. I’d be more inclined to do some research so you can show them the science for next year and get them to have it early in Sep/Oct if possible

It’s kind of late to get it for prevention anyway this year.

Not really. Flu cases typically peak in February and run through April or May. Within two weeks of having the vaccine you'll have whatever immunity it's going to give you.

I got the jab this year because I work in a huge high school, and got 'proper' flu last January and I was signed off for two weeks, and it took another month to fully recover.
I've got the box from the vaccine I had, and it covered four strains, including Aussie. Got it from Boots in October.
Might work, who knows?
But after last year, I'm happy to pay for anything that might reduce the risk.

I have type one diabetes and I have a flu jab each year. This winter, my partner had dreadful flu; fever, shakes, vomiting, cough. He didn’t leave his bed for two weeks and is still suffering fatigue and breathing issues.

I have been lucky enough to escape it. I can only assume that this is thanks to the vaccination as we live in very close proximity and I had to look after him.

Had I caught the same flu, it could have been incredibly dangerous with regards to my diabetes. The inability to eat for ten days would have been disastrous.

I am therefore glad I was vaccinated and grateful that I am given the opportunity to protect myself.