Get Your Damn Flu Shot and Other More Productive Responses to Anti-Vaxxers
Every year I am baffled by friends, coworkers and strangers alike that happily exclaim that for whatever reason, they don’t “believe in” or “need to get” flu shots. When you ask them why, they respond with one of two points. Either they have been lucky enough to never catch the flu so they see no reason to prevent against it or they got a flu shot once and still got the flu so obviously the shot does not work.
For someone like myself who grew up getting the flu shot every single year, I cannot wrap my mind around this. For most, the cost of a flu shot with insurance is a cool $0 (without insurance, the price varies from as low as $25 up to $100). The pinch of the needle is quick and relatively painless and you hardly have to go out of your way to get one as every medical practice, urgent care, pharmacy and drugstore offers them.
Before I talk about ways to convince the people around you to stop being idiots and just get the damn shot, it may be important to understand what you are advocating for.
In case you have been living under a rock — the flu in a nutshell.
Influenza, or known more casually as the flu, is a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system, which includes your nose, throat and lungs. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) classifies influenza as a “potentially serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death.” Can you think of anything with such serious consequences that we take so lightly? Nonprofessionals being allowed to buy and set off fireworks comes to mind, but I digress.
To put the seriousness of the flu into perspective, the director of the CDC and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, estimates that 80,000 Americans died during the 2017/2018 flu season. This sadly included 200 children, 80 percent of whom were not vaccinated. Part of this increase, as between 2010 and 2016 they saw anywhere from 12,000 to 56,000 people die, was because the vaccine did not work very well. That being said, experts still advocate for getting the vaccine because it makes the illness less severe even if you still contract the flu.
The symptoms of the flu include:
- Fever over 100.4 F (38 C)
- Aching muscles
- Chills and sweats
- Headache
- Dry, persistent cough
- Fatigue and weakness
- Nasal congestion
- Sore throat
It is important to note while the flu often starts off similarly to a cold, it does not continue as such. The symptoms of the flu progress quickly and will become far worse than the common cold.
What’s even better than the list of symptoms is how contagious the flu is. The virus travels through the air in droplets when someone who is infected coughs, sneezes or even talks. If you inhale the drops or pick up something they were in contact with, you can transfer the germs to yourself through your eyes, nose and mouth.
While simply avoiding people with the flu may sound like the easy solution, I have a wrench to throw in your plan. People with the virus are contagious the day before their first set of symptoms appear and up to five days after. Children and others with a weakened immune system may be contagious for even longer than that.
Like, what does a flu shot really do anyways?
A flu vaccine contains the inactivated form of the virus. According to the CDC, there is no live flu virus in a flu shot. The flu shot cannot cause the flu.
The vaccine encourages your body to create antibodies to the inactivated strains in the shot. These antibodies help your body fight off the infection if and when you are exposed to it.
I should note that some flu vaccines do contain a small amount (we’re talking can of tuna fish range) of a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal. However, before you go screaming about this at the internet, note that thimerosal is made with ethyl mercury, a different and safer compound than the more infamous methyl mercury — aka the element in seafood. If you are still needlessly worried, most flu vaccines do not contain thimerosal at all.
A flu vaccine provides protection against three to four flu viruses. Research is conducted in order to make educated guesses of which viruses will be most prevalent in the upcoming flu season.
The flu vaccine does three major things. It:
- Keeps you from getting flu
- Makes the flu less severe if you do get it
- Keeps you from spreading the flu to your family and other people
How to rebuff your friendly neighborhood anti-vaxxer.
Now that you understand a little more about what the flu and the vaccine can do, it is time to tackle some of the most common arguments people who don’t vaccine use.
“I have a good immune system.” This may be an accurate statement, as there are plenty of people out there that rarely get sick because of their top shelf immune system. You know what I have to say to them? What about those around you who don’t have what you have? A young child, elderly grandparent or an infant who cannot yet receive the shot are at serious risk if they come down with the flu. Those with compromised immune systems including transplant patients, cancer patients undergoing treatment, and individuals with immune conditions often can’t receive vaccines and depend on others for immunity. While it may be fine for you to play Russian roulette with your health, is it fair for you to play it with theirs?
The concept of vaccinating yourself to protect others if called herd immunity. When enough people within a community are vaccinated against a certain disease, the germs can’t travel as easily from person to person. Because of this, the entire community is less likely to get the disease.
“Last time I got the shot I got the flu.” As discussed earlier, there is no live flu viruses in the vaccine. It takes about two weeks for your body to build up the antibodies needed to fight off the infection from the inactivated form of the virus within the vaccine. Because of this, if you were already exposed to the flu or were exposed soon after you got the vaccine, you may still get sick. Like they say, timing is everything.
“I had the flu, it wasn’t that bad.” If you speak with anyone who has had the flu, they will wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. I played host to the swine flu virus many years ago and I have to tell you, that was the sickest I have ever been. The flu is no joke. Anyone who tells you they didn’t think it was so bad most likely had a cold. They may have even had a bad cold, but a cold nonetheless. As discussed above, the start of the flu is very similar to a cold. It is easy to confuse the two, especially if you get sick during the flu season.
The notion that the flu is something to be taken lightly seems ridiculous when you look at the numbers. To refresh your memory, the last flu season saw 80,000 people die. Remember the ebola crisis that had us worried? Between 2014 and 2016, there were just 15,261 confirmed deaths from the outbreak. What about the AIDs epidemic? During 1995, the worst year, slightly more the 51,000 people were killed by the disease.
Now that you are armed with some counterpoints, next time someone brings up one of these cockamamy reasons why they don’t get the flu shot, you can reason with them. And in case you were wondering, yes I did get my flu shot. If you are part of the #photooritdidnthappen crowd, here is photographic proof.
If you want my mom to be proud of you too, you know what to do. Find your local pharmacy and get your flu shot.