#%@&$ Flu Shot!

RoxanRN · Oct 27, 2006

Never had the flu shot, don't plan to ever get one. I'm too much like my dad.... He took the flu shot for years. And every year, 7-14 days later, he'd come down with the flu. When he quit taking the shot, he quit getting the flu. Go figure.............. (and I have yet to have the flu)..............

:twocents:

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Oct 27, 2006

...(but if it was MANDATORY, then I guess I would obey)....

They need us more than we need them...

Mandatory overtime is WRONG...

so are mandadatory injections...

Even George Orwell is rolling over in his grave!!!

Use the nursing shortage to your advantage...YOU are the boss!!!

The patient and you are the focus...Not the doctor...NOT the hospital...

ERNP · Oct 27, 2006

I would be eating egg salad and telling them I am allergic to eggs.

allnurses Guide · Oct 27, 2006

I get a flu shot every year and seem to stay healthier each winter and not get all the crud going around. This year however, I got really sick within 24 hours of getting my shot and was sick, and felt really crummy, for over a week. That's never happened before.

You probably picked up a virus from the shopping cart handle at Safeway or from the door handle at your job or the lock on the bathroom stall at Burger King . . . . people forget that getting sick after a flu shot would probably have happened even if you hadn't gotten a flu shot and lived your life exactly the same as if you did.

This is the time of year for "colds". And for flu shots. Of course they will coincide. And the flu shot doesn't work for all "flu" viruses . . only the most deadly. So, we will get sick with other viruses.

It is my understanding that the virus is dead - so there is no risk of getting the flu from the shot.

Having said that, I have been lazy and have not gotten the shot in the last two years.

steph

allnurses Guide · Oct 27, 2006

If you get sick w/in 24hrs of getting the shot, it wasn't the shot. You caught something.
If you work in areas like NICU, oncology, etc., TPTB can tell you to get immunized or don't work there! In those areas, you're getting the shot to protect the patients. Any benefit to you is just a bonus! (@ least that's their point of view!)
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Ah, I missed your post - you said it so well. If you get sick with a virus, it wasn't the shot . . . you caught something.

steph

hkmrn · Oct 27, 2006

In years' past, we were encouraged to get flu shots. This year it is mandatory. I never got them before because the only time I did I was feverish and sick for a couple of days afterward. I have only gotten the real flu 1 time in the past 20 years! So, yesterday I dutifully went for my flu shot and here I am with a fever and feeling sore and miserable. And, yes, they expect me to go to work tomorrow. Hopefully the fever will be gone. I HATE flu shots!!!:angryfire

Like some other posts to this message, I don't understand how any vaccine can be "mandatory" for anyone. That is forced medication...

On our unit, we have to sign a form if we would rather decline the flu vaccine. This is precisely what I plan to do.

To those of you who had little or no side effects from the vaccine, that is great.

I am a person who rarely gets sick. A few years back I decided to take the flu vaccine..never again. 3 days after recieving the vaccine I had terrible stomach pains. I ended up throwing up everywhere! The flu vaccine is my only explanation on why I felt so terrible.

As many of you do, I work in OB where the clientele is generally healthy. If I worked with more compromised patients, I may reconsider. Util then, I'll pass on it.

allnurses Guide · Oct 27, 2006

Like some other posts to this message, I don't understand how any vaccine can be "mandatory" for anyone. That is forced medication...
On our unit, we have to sign a form if we would rather decline the flu vaccine. This is precisely what I plan to do.
To those of you who had little or no side effects from the vaccine, that is great.
I am a person who rarely gets sick. A few years back I decided to take the flu vaccine..never again. 3 days after recieving the vaccine I had terrible stomach pains. I ended up throwing up everywhere! The flu vaccine is my only explanation on why I felt so terrible.
As many of you do, I work in OB where the clientele is generally healthy. If I worked with more compromised patients, I may reconsider. Util then, I'll pass on it.

3 whole days after receiving the shot, you picked up a stomach virus or you got food poisoning. It was merely a coincidence.

As to the mandatory nature - I think that if you work with the elderly in LTC or in an NICU, it should be mandatory.

steph

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Oct 27, 2006

3 whole days after receiving the shot, you picked up a stomach virus or you got food poisoning. It was merely a coincidence.
As to the mandatory nature - I think that if you work with the elderly in LTC or in an NICU, it should be mandatory.
steph

The debate about if the flu shot causes "ill effects" will never be won...

But to let your employer make personal health decisions is akin to the Chinese government forcing women to be implanted w/ "Norplant"

No, not an equal scenario, but it's at least a slippery slope...

Even parents objected to vaccinations can enroll their kids...

allnurses Guide · Oct 27, 2006

The debate about if the flu shot causes "ill effects" will never be won...
But to let your employer make personal health decisions is akin to the Chinese government forcing women to be implanted w/ "Norplant"
No, not an equal scenario, but it's at least a slippery slope...
Even parents objected to vaccinations can enroll their kids...

I don't think comparing working with LTC/NICU patients and having the flu shot to the government mandating Norplant is an equal equation.

When you sign up to work in LTC and NICU, your employer can mention that you will need to have a flu shot. You don't have to take the job. It is optional, therefore, to have the shot or not.

I know what you mean about not winning the war against the misinformation regarding the flu shot causing the flu . . . .but it is frustrating that this comes from folks in the medical realm.

steph

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2006

No, not an equal scenario, but it's at least a slippery slope...
...

OzNurse69 · Oct 31, 2006

As to the mandatory nature - I think that if you work with the elderly in LTC or in an NICU, it should be mandatory.
steph

In my NICU we have a choice as to whether to receive the pertussis, rubella, hep b and flu shots.

If we choose not to, we also choose another unit to work in.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Oct 31, 2006

It is not required in our NICU, but we do have to sign a waiver. I cannot have anything with Thimersol in it, I have a pretty bad reaction to it, even my TB test has to be preservative free. Our hospital sometimes gets it in and sometimes it doesn't it. If they were to make it mandatory, they better get the preservative free. I think people feel like crap after the shot because our immune systems are kicking into high gear. Last year a lot of people complained of headache and aches the day after, and I don't think that all those people getting the same symptoms would have picked up the exact same bug 24 hours later.