Hai, y'all!
Remember this time last year? Remember H1N1? People were dying from complications of the flu, and many of them were young and healthy before they got infected. The government was scrambling to produce a vaccine against H1N1. Two shots were required, one for the expected seasonal flu and one for the H1N1 flu.
Those were scary times for public health officials. Because flu is a respiratory illness, hospital ICU's were filling up with patients requiring assistance with their breathing - requiring ventilators - until their lungs began to heal. Well, guess what? Ventilators are not an unlimited resource. Physicians and nurses and respiratory therapists are not unlimited resources.
Please get vaccinated.* It's the progressive thing to do.
Just about any question you've got about this year's flu season is answered at cdc.gov/flu so go there first. There's even a "flu IQ" widget you can download to test your knowledge.
This year's flu vaccine is a triple-header offering protection from H1N1, H3N2, and an influenza B virus. The vaccine is in plentiful supply but, like past vaccines, takes about two weeks for full immunity to develop.
New recommendations are that everyone over the age of six months get the protection. I got my shot three weeks ago from my pharmacist, my nineteenth flu shot, and it was the first one that didn't make my arm sore. Yay! It may be that he's just a genius with a syringe, but I thought I'd tell you about it in case you're needle shy.
There are two reasons why you should get vaccinated: The first is to protect yourself, and the second is to protect everyone else around you. Don't become a vector! And please, if there's the slightest possibility you'll come in contact with an infant this season, do it for the babies.
If you're completely needle-phobic you may be able to get the flu vaccine via a nasal mist containing live virus, provided you are not a member of one of the following groups:
•persons with a history of hypersensitivity, including anaphylaxis, to any of the components of LAIV or to eggs;
•children aged younger than 2 years, because of an increased risk for hospitalization and wheezing observed in clinical trials;
•children aged 2--4 years whose parents or caregivers report that a health-care provider has told them during the preceding 12 months that their child had wheezing or asthma or whose medical record indicates a wheezing episode has occurred during the preceding 12 months;
•persons with asthma;
•persons aged 50 years and older;
•adults and children who have chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular (except isolated hypertension), renal, hepatic, neurologic/neuromuscular, hematologic, or metabolic disorders;
•adults and children who have immunosuppression (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by HIV);
•children or adolescents aged 6 months--18 years receiving aspirin or other salicylates (because of the association of Reye syndrome with wild-type influenza virus infection); or
•pregnant women.
Source
*Some people should not get a flu shot:
[Flu vaccine] is contraindicated and should not be administered to persons known to have anaphylactic hypersensitivity to eggs or to other components of the influenza vaccine unless the recipient has been desensitized. Prophylactic use of antiviral agents is an option for preventing influenza among such persons. [Emphasis added.] Persons with moderate to severe acute febrile illness usually should not be vaccinated until their symptoms have abated. Moderate or severe acute illness with or without fever is a precaution for use of flu vaccine. Guillaine-Barre syndrome within 6 weeks following a previous dose of influenza vaccine is considered to be a precaution for use of influenza vaccines.
Get your shot, wash your hands, stay hydrated, sneeze into your elbow, and eat your fruits and veggies. Why?
You can't GOTV if you've got the flu, that's why!
PS: Does anyone live in Boone, NC? Sara R is making a community quilt for stumpy and it would be doubly special if a Kossack could deliver it to him in person. Please contact Sara R if you can help.