Flu vaccine

[wingstoo]

Have a read of all the information from reputable (or otherwise) sources to make an informed decision as to whether it is worth you taking it up...

Just one of the sources of information I found recently...

https://www.drclaudiaanrig.com/research/Flu/Article 26-07.jefferson.pdf

Very important to do back ground checks on the bias that some of these sources of information come from, like "Natural news" and "Mercola" are not good sites to use, where as the BMA and BMJ are likely to be a bit better.

 

[Paul_B]

30%effectiveness if that's the strain you actually have. Mutations, variability, effectiveness. The effectiveness figures are guesswork. Pure and simple guesswork.

There's a simple fact that medical establishment has no solution for flu. They have absolutely nothing to help ppl with it. It's viral so ABs won't stop the virus.

However the medical profession works on trust. Patients have to trust the doctor for a solution to their condition. The doctor really has no solution to flu so a vaccine is offered. Placebo anyone? It's something the doctor can offer so they look like they're doing something positive.

On the back of this medical insecurity / weakness pharma companies are selling a vaccine. Imagine if Ford sold a car that might work 30% of the time of they actually got lucky and built a car not a snowmobile because they guessed it was snowing when you came to buy the car. But hey the salesman tells you that you need the snowmobile just in case it does snow.

Any other industry than medicine the idea would be laughed at. Mind you illness is more serious obviously. Medicine is about educated guesswork about some things.

If it's a choice of pharma business's and doctor's guesswork or my guess that I'll not get a serious dose of flu then I'll go with my gut feeling. 40 plus years of success in guessing compared to no years of doctors guessing right as far as they can prove.

It's basically a choice because you vaccine isn't on any way effective compared to other Vaccines. No herd immunity. No carry over beyond the season. No guarantee.

 

[Toddy]

I think there's a horrendous danger here though. It must be clearly stated that while the flu vaccines are up against a constantly changing virus, and can only tackle one version at a time, other vaccines are very, very effective.
To conflate the two issues is most definitely a bad thing.

Good on you Janne; anyone working to kill off that hellish crippling disease is doing mankind a huge service.
My husband's cousin has suffered with a crippled hip and leg since he was seven years old....polio is a scourge. He has worn callipers all his life, and he got good health care, those in the third world mostly don't have that option.
No more 'iron lungs' no more callipers, no more children with withered crippled limbs, not from something that we can eradicate.

Like rubella (which is making a comeback because too many now refuse to vaccinate and the herd immunity is crashing) which leaves babies born blind and deaf. No excuses.

We did it with smallpox, and most of us carry the vaccination scars lifelong, but our children have none They don't need it

M

 

[santaman2000]

I'm not sure "big pharma" is making fortunes off of flu vaccines. Somebody upthread mentioned that it's only 8 pounds at Boots. That would be full retail price and I'm sure the NHS isn't paying that much. It's generally free here to the patient, which means either a government agency or insurance company are paying for it (they also don't pay full retail which is listed as $10)

Yeah Paraceemol (called Acetaminophen here) is cheaper than dirt and almost as effective (on me) as candy Vaccine or not, if I actually catch the flu I'll see a doc for a script for a z-pack or something more effective.

 

[santaman2000]

Oddly, now in my 60s, my smallpox scar has finally disappeared.

 

[santaman2000]

The fact that the virus mutates so easily and rapidly is scary with or without a vaccine.

 

[Toddy]

Oddly, now in my 60s, my smallpox scar has finally disappeared.

Strange, my elderly relations still had their own scars well into their nineties.

I don't think big pharmaceutical companies sell anything at a loss, I really don't. Sheer numbers make even pennies add up to a lot of money.

The paracetamol is only to reduce the fever, aspirin works too, so does willowfine or our meadowsweet. So long as you can take it safely, and it works for you, fair enough.

We've got snow again. If it keeps folks indoors and their flu to themselves, then it might be a good thing

M

 

[Janne]

I have been thinking since a few decades:

We do everything on an individual level to combat diseases and try to live long, healthy long lives.
Yet, the Earth (Nature) battles us, to get our numbers down. We are winning, at the moment, as our number is increasing (uncontrollably?)

One day, we will be hit with a mutated virus we can not combat.

 

[Paul_B]

There's been many films around the premise of some lone techie in a bank writing a program that took all the fractions of pennies deals that get rounded down and adds them up then moves the money to hard to trace accounts. The idea being there are so many money transfers made that each tenth of a penny adds up to millions of pounds.

An £8 vaccine bill but the vaccines are made in a large scale production. Actual cost to manufacture is little. It's research that often costs. Even though that £8 has sufficient profit and volumes to make serious money. Plus you've got a very good, well embedded sales force in the form of the NHS GP network.

 

[Janne]

Jackpot is to discover a new med, not to make an old one.
Astra became big when they discovered Lidocaine. Not big. Huge.

 

[santaman2000]

Jackpot is to discover a new med, not to make an old one.
Astra became big when they discovered Lidocaine. Not big. Huge.

That's partly true. A new med will be higher in demand but as PaulB said, research costs money. It'll take a while for the sales at premium prices to pay off the costs of that research; it's only after that when the sales become profitable.

 

[santaman2000]

Not directly about to vaccines but closely related

 

[santaman2000]

Yeah, I know what the paracetamol is supposed to be for. Neither it nor aspirin, nor ibuprofen have any real effect on me unless I take massive doses. At least not that kind of effect (I do take a daily 81mg baby dose of aspirin as a vasodialator)

 

[Janne]

As a bloodthinner.

I did the same for a week. First 100mg. Made my usually silent stomach and thin intestine inflammation blow up.
Then 50mg, same result.
I have one beer a day instead.

On Friday I will be stabbed twice by my GP friends German nurse.
Flu and Testosterone.

I need to try to see if she smiles when she pushes the blunt needle in!

 

[santaman2000]

.....On Friday I will be stabbed twice by my GP friends German nurse.
Flu and Testosterone.

I need to try to see if she smiles when she pushes the blunt needle in!

Sounds like the med-tech giving the GG shots back in desert Storm. We called her Harpoon Hilda.

 

[Janne]

Got the Influvac today. Good jab, painless!
It was done by my friend the Doc.

 

[Toddy]

I thought this 'flu was supposed to be incredibly infectious ? Both my younger son and one of my neighbours (they don't interact in any way) have had the 'flu, but I was talking to the neighbour's wife yesterday and no-one else in her family has come down with it and neither has anyone else in ours. She and I both 'nursed' the invalids, yet we're fine.....we've quietly decided it's a Man-Flu

 

[snappingturtle]

Dose nobody use tansy for cold or flu?

 

[Janne]

Should be fine if you are ‘normally’ sick with the influenza but then tea with rum and honey is fine ( and tastier!) too!

If you get severely sick you want to be properly medicated.

Tansy is slightly poisonous, I frankly speaking would not take it if my system was run diwn due to Influenza.

 

[Toddy]

No, I don't. It's not in leaf or flower just now anyway. I know where it grows though so I can get roots, but it's historical use is to clear out worms. It was made into a pudding in Springtime and given to children.

It is considered 'contra-indicated' nowadays. Thujone is very toxic if you get the dosage wrong. Not much prescribed by modern herbalists I'm told.

It's one of those plants used to cause miscarriage, to bring on menstruation, increases bloodflow so it eases bruises and sprains, rheumatics and the like.

There are an awful lot of other herbs out there that are a lot safe than Tansy to use agin fever.

M