what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

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salayatananirodha
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what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by salayatananirodha »

i started getting the flu shot three years ago since i work with the public but now i'm rethinking it. it can be difficult to pin down non-politically charged facts. i get there are bad arguments against the flu shot but maybe there are some good ones? i think i have a good immune system maybe i am just fortunate or because i practice good hygiene i don't get sick often.
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Inedible
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by Inedible »

Maybe we should limit this to asking for people who have had problems after getting vaccinated. For people like me it is just an opinion either way.
SarathW
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by SarathW »

I took the flu shot about 20 years ago and suffered whole year.
So I did not take it since that. But I have people around me who sware on it.
They think the new flu shot are more advanced.
I think if you are old, and with preconditioned may be a good idea.
But I know an old person who took the flu shot and died.
Not sure how he died though.
:shrug:
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Caodemarte
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by Caodemarte »

Get your shots. Avoid the flu or passing on the flu. The odds of a negative reaction are so much less than that that there are no good arguments against it.
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DooDoot
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by DooDoot »

SarathW wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:03 am I took the flu shot about 20 years ago and suffered whole year.
But I know an old person who took the flu shot and died.
yet you start topics criticising people who are against corona vaccine
salayatananirodha wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:16 am i started getting the flu shot three years ago since i work with the public but now i'm rethinking it. it can be difficult to pin down non-politically charged facts. i get there are bad arguments against the flu shot but maybe there are some good ones? i think i have a good immune system maybe i am just fortunate or because i practice good hygiene i don't get sick often.
well it does not appear to work very well. i have never taken it ever and i rarely get flu. the last time i recall getting flu was 14 years ago because of a very sick neighbour at work in office who returned to work very sick and coughed all over me. see the link
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SarathW
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by SarathW »

DooDoot wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 4:24 am
SarathW wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:03 am I took the flu shot about 20 years ago and suffered whole year.
But I know an old person who took the flu shot and died.
yet you start topics criticising people who are against corona vaccine
salayatananirodha wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:16 am i started getting the flu shot three years ago since i work with the public but now i'm rethinking it. it can be difficult to pin down non-politically charged facts. i get there are bad arguments against the flu shot but maybe there are some good ones? i think i have a good immune system maybe i am just fortunate or because i practice good hygiene i don't get sick often.
well it does not appear to work very well. i have never taken it ever and i rarely get flu. the last time i recall getting flu was 14 years ago because of a very sick neighbour at work in office who returned to work very sick and coughed all over me. see the link
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greenjuice
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by greenjuice »

it can be difficult to pin down non-politically charged facts.
Rules of thumb to make it easier: ignore things propagated by conservatives, look at multiple liberal and progressive pages /groups /news sources, and multiple science-promoting pages /groups (such as Science Enthusiasts, Refutations to anti-vaccine memes, etc, etc) along with Wikipedia and RationalWiki to get the most reliable info.

Regarding this - just get your flu shot. Antivax talk is nonsense.
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Aloka
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by Aloka »

I always have a flu shot every year and have never had any side effects from it, nor have I had 'flu since I started getting the vaccination.


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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by binocular »

salayatananirodha wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:16 am i started getting the flu shot three years ago since i work with the public but now i'm rethinking it. it can be difficult to pin down non-politically charged facts. i get there are bad arguments against the flu shot but maybe there are some good ones? i think i have a good immune system maybe i am just fortunate or because i practice good hygiene i don't get sick often.
Vaccines contain mercury or other metals to stimulate the response of the immune system, as the vaccine itself (such as the inactivated virus) is not enough to stimulate the response of the immune system to start producing antibodies. It's those metals that are the problem.
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binocular
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by binocular »

Caodemarte wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 3:38 am Get your shots.
The odds of a negative reaction are so much less than that that there are no good arguments against it.
That's just it: Scientists and politicians look at diseases and medications from the perspective of large populations. For every medication, they have set what is an acceptable percentage of people who can die from the medication or who can get serious side-effects. From the perspective of large populations, this makes sense. But not from the perspective of the actual person.

The problem is that if only 3 % of the tested population got severe negative side effects from the medication, this doesn't mean than an actual person who is about to take said medication has only a 3 % probability of getting those side effects. This is not how to calculate probability for actual people. For an actual person, the probability can only be calculated theoretically, because for an actual person, the empirical data needed to calculate that specific person's odds for getting severe negative side effects does not exist and cannot be obtained. Meaning, it's 50 % that they'll get the severe negative side effects, and 50 % that they won't.

Throwing around those small numbers and saying "the odds are in your favor" is really just a misrepresentation of statistical data obtained from studying large populations, a "scientific" way to, at best, boost people's morale and give them faith, and at worst, a marketing ploy by the pharmaceutical and medical industry.

I'm on principle not against vaccines, I just wish that doctors and their supporters wouldn't treat us like we're total morons.
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binocular
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by binocular »

greenjuice wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 8:12 amAntivax talk is nonsense.
Until it's you who gets the negative side effects from the vaccination, and you're faced with the indifference of the medical establishment toward your situation that they caused.
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santa100
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by santa100 »

salayatananirodha wrote:i started getting the flu shot three years ago since i work with the public but now i'm rethinking it. it can be difficult to pin down non-politically charged facts. i get there are bad arguments against the flu shot but maybe there are some good ones? i think i have a good immune system maybe i am just fortunate or because i practice good hygiene i don't get sick often.
Taking a flu shot should be a no-brainer, especially if you have health insurance, since it's automatically covered under preventive health and you don't have to pay anything out-of-pocket. Life is a gamble anyway, but a smart gambler would know where to place and hedge his bets. By not taking the shot, you bet your entire life squarely on your own immune system; but by taking it, you hedge your bet with some extra help. Sure, there're instances of people experiencing nasty side effects taking the flu shot, but it's like saying just because someone's grandmother developing cancer while she's been doing exercises and eating healthy food all her life, you then should not exercise and eat healthy food!
binocular
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by binocular »

santa100 wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:08 pmSure, there're instances of people experiencing nasty side effects taking the flu shot, but it's like saying just because someone's grandmother developing cancer while she's been doing exercises and eating healthy food all her life, you then should not exercise and eat healthy food!
It's nothing like saying that.
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greenjuice
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by greenjuice »

Until it's you who gets the negative side effects from the vaccination, and you're faced with the indifference of the medical establishment toward your situation that they caused.
1 Anecdotes are not reliable source of data. 2 All medicine has a small chance of some side-effects, but the benefits incomparably outweigh the risks, and that's why they are used as medicine. 3 If you had a bad experience with some medical staff, them ignoring your symptoms when you come for help, or something like that, that has nothing to do anything else besides bad service in that instance.
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greenjuice
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Re: what are the downsides of getting a flu shot

Post by greenjuice »

Throwing around those small numbers and saying "the odds are in your favor" is really just a misrepresentation of statistical data obtained from studying large populations, a "scientific" way to, at best, boost people's morale and give them faith, and at worst, a marketing ploy by the pharmaceutical and medical industry.
Sounds like you are the one misrepresenting how statistics and medicine work, in order to promote opposition to science and medicine.
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