Are you really prepared to take every single vaccine

[Talsaml]

It worries me that we may have to keep having vaccines going forward. I’m due my booster which I will take but I’m hearing that AZ are in the process of tweaking the current vaccine to combat the new strain. So we are then required to take another booster. Many variants can crop up, suppose another one does very soon. I’m concerned about the number of vaccines we could be taking. Is anyone else? And no I’m not an anti vaxer.

Yep give me whatever keeps me from feeling dreadful and means I'm less likely to die if I catch whatever I'm being vaccinated for and puts an end to others getting ill and dying.

I have the flu jab every year after being hospitalised with it as a fit, non smoking, non drinking 22 year old. By god I thought that was the end of me.

People have the flu jab every year. Is there much difference. If you think of different strains of flu isn't it the same thing.

Yes. Very happy to have all my jabs, screening and whatever else is available to live as long and healthy a life as possible

Yes. Why not? I have a flu jab every year as it is.

Yes please, I'll happily have whatever jabs are offered. I've had the flu jab every year since becoming a parent as the thought of getting flu with an infant is hideous. Why not Covid as well? And if it needs to be every six months rather than every year, so be it.

I do think we'll get more effective vaccines eventually, but for now let's just be grateful we have what we have.

@VitalsStable

Yep give me whatever keeps me from feeling dreadful and means I'm less likely to die if I catch whatever I'm being vaccinated for and puts an end to others getting ill and dying.

I have the flu jab every year after being hospitalised with it as a fit, non smoking, non drinking 22 year old. By god I thought that was the end of me.

Hospitalised with flu? Honestly?

@TheElvishQueen of course you can be hospitalised with it! I was in bed for 2 weeks with it hallucinating, dripping in sweat and everything hurt. I couldn't even have the duvet touching my legs and my temperature wouldn't go down

@TheElvishQueen have you missed the fact that NHS winter pressures are primarily due to flu and have been for decades?

@TheElvishQueen why the surprise?

During the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons there were 46,215 and 39,670 influenza-related hospital admissions in England respectively.

Not all of these people will be older or vulnerable. Flu hospitalises and kills younger people as well.

Just has my third, and starting to feel like a pin cushion.

Dramatic much?

There are literally millions of people who have jabs of one sort or another monthly, weekly, daily, or multiple times per day. Often self-administered.

And are grateful for them.

@PuzzledObserver

Just has my third, and starting to feel like a pin cushion.

Dramatic much?

There are literally millions of people who have jabs of one sort or another monthly, weekly, daily, or multiple times per day. Often self-administered.

And are grateful for them.

Well said. Every 10 weeks for me and I’m blooming grateful for it, even though I absolutely hate needles.

@TheElvishQueen are you aware of the Influenza pandemic of 1918 and how many people that killed?

Of course young and healthy people die of flu. It isn't a mild disease. The problem is that any time someone has a bad cold with a touch of fever, they think they have 'flu. They don't.

Last time I had it I was 33, fit and slim, non smoking, completely healthy. I was in bed for a week with a temperature coming close to 41C at times and I developed viral bronchitis as a complication which kept me off work for a month. Flu is a serious illness even when it's 'mild'.

And yes, it's possible to have asymptomatic flu. That doesn't make it less dangerous, it makes it more dangerous because it means you're walking around passing it on to people who may be very seriously ill with it.

We had a nurse in one of my last workplaces who refused to get the flu jab, despite the fact that she worked in health research with a lot of face to face contact with frail elderly people. I have no idea how she lived with herself.

My aunt has injections in her eyes every couple of months to reduce the effects of macular degeneration.
She says you do kind of get used to it.

The 1918 flu pandemic killed all ages. From the CDC history website "Mortality was high in people younger than 5 years old, 20-40 years old, and 65 years and older. The high mortality in healthy people, including those in the 20-40 year age group, was a unique feature of this pandemic."

It's just as well we don't have a Covid variant that's as bad for the under 5 or 20-40 age group.

Yes im a little concerned too.

This is an odd question? Vaccines have been around a long time... vulnerable people are used to taking the flu jabs every year and wouldnt hesitate to get them for travelling such as diphtheria and polio and yellow fever etc. What is this different?

Yes I’ll be prepared to take them so long as a few months have passed in between, or an especially nasty variant comes up. In that case, I’d take it as soon as it’s offered. I understand your concern, but I believe Covid is much more of a risk, weather that is from death or from life changing ongoing health problems.

I haven’t had any vaccine yet. I’m not an anti vaxxer. I just haven’t felt comfortable with it as yet. I’ve had Covid twice now. So have my children and my mother. We all recovered without any obvious side effects. I’m sure at some point I will have the vaccine as much for convenience as anything else but I’m the thalidomide generation and I have reservations. The idea of a booster every time a new strain is discovered is a bit off putting though …..

[quote Flyonawalk]@NeverDropYourMoonCup That is a good point. Is it the same strain of TB that infects humans?[/quote]
Just noticed this.

There are several strains that infect humans (and other animals)

Bovine (bTB) - Mycobacterium bovis - is one - and was the strain used to develop the BCG vaccine. Named for cattle, but all infects Bagers, deer, possum,

M. africanum is believed to be a human strain, but has also been found in other animals, such as Chimpanzees, so that's suspected to be something we've given to them, not the other way around.

M. canetti is possibly an ancestor bacteria but has only been identified since the late 60s and is very rare, so they aren't sure either way if that's be passed across the species barrier from animals or to animals.

M. caprae - from goats, sheep, antelopes, cattle, pigs, deer, wild boar and bison. Infects humans.

M. microti - field voles and other small rodents, as well as cats and llamas. Infects humans.

M. pinnipedi - seals. Have found a very closely related one in human remains. So it infected humans at least at one point.

M. orygis - oryx, rhinos, cattle, Rhesus Monkeys, humans.

There are other versions - but seeing as those listed all infect animals and only one doesn't have a record of doing so, going by my perfunctory googling - it really, really isn't something that can be assumed to ever be anything but a very real risk.

TB's a bastard. Especially as it can lurk in the body for decades just as easily as attacking visibly straight away, just waiting for the right circumstances to make its presence known.

[quote Campfirewood]@Valhalla17

I pay for the flu vaccine, no requirement to have it.

I have had flu though, and that was fucking awful.
My friend (Doctor), watched a fit, healthy, young Mum die in her A and E last year with flu. Flu can actually be really serious.[/quote]
Indeed. I had flu once, in my 20s, and it was the worst I have ever felt. Get it annually now as over 60. No problem having Covid vaccine - have had my 3 and expect a 4th next year sometime. I may be lucky that I had very minor side effects, but even if teh side effects were worse, I'd still go for it: Covid is much much riskier!

Definitely. They don't spend vast sums to make vaccines that harm us.

mrspetty

1. Thalidomide was not a vaccine
2. Because of Thalidomide, research processes were massively tightened up and improved, and have been improved even further since. We are no longer in that situation.

I’m not concerned at all with having vaccines whenever I can to prevent hospitalisation and death. I need to be well and at home to do my DD’s medical care. DH and I have had both vaccines and booster. DD is 13 and has had one dose. She Is eligible for the second but it’s very difficult to get a second dose in this age group at the moment. Im trying.
It’s quite clear that the alternative is ‘are you happy to be in hospital at the moment?’
My DD has a central line (not important if you don’t know what one of those is) which means she is hospitalised with ANY high temperature. I’m doing everything in my power to keep her out of hospital this winter and will continue to do so. If she does need an icu bed with central line sepsis, and there are none free because they’re all full with covid patients who thought it wouldn’t affect them so they haven’t been vaccinated, you can kind of imagine how upset i’ll be.
Even getting an ambulance for her at the moment would be touch and go.
Healthy non-vaxxers, anti-vaxxers etc are VERY privileged in my opinion….and seem to have no concept of how they might feel when their family member needs hospital care and can’t get it.

I’ve also worked in pharmaceutical development for years and trust the MHRA to make decisions on safety because they have so much integrity. I might not have trust in government but I trust the MHRA.

I would take any injection offered if it could help protect against any disease ,not just Covid. I think as a Country we are so lucky to have the NHS and having access to preventative medication. Where my brother lives,if you can't afford medication,you don't get treated.