To Flu Shot or Not??

[nurseinprogress2010]

I will be starting Nursing School in Jan 09 (yay!)

I went to get my immunizations in order.

When I asked about the flu shots, the nurses in the office said not to get it, it made them all sick.

What do you think? Should we get flu shots or not?

[Jaguar Boy]

I've heard that if you have had Guillain-Barré there's a small chance that the flu shot might cause it to reoccur.

The stat I've been quoted is something like a one in a million chance of developing Guillain-Barre...I understand it's also something that one could recover from.

We're required by our school to have a flu shot before we can be approved for clinical participation. I guess each school varies.

[OncologyRN23, BSN, RN]

We're required by our school to have a flu shot before we can be approved for clinical participation. I guess each school varies.

No my nursing school never required the students to receive the flu shot, they just "recommended" it.

[CuriousMe]

The stat I've been quoted is something like a one in a million chance of developing Guillain-Barre...I understand it's also something that one could recover from.

We're required by our school to have a flu shot before we can be approved for clinical participation. I guess each school varies.

According to the 2008 - 2009 VIS for the flu shot, anyone who has had Guillain-Barré should speak with their Practitioner before having the flu shot.

Here's the link to the VIS:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-flu.pdf

I'm guessing that if someone's Doc has said that the shot is contraindicated for them d/t past medical hx, that the school would have to accept that.

Peace,

CuriousMe

[D1914]

I received a flu shot last year and still came down with the flu. What's the point? Whenever the shot fails than it because of a different strain. When they come up with a shot that works for all strains than I will consider getting one.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

I received a flu shot last year and still came down with the flu. What's the point? Whenever the shot fails than it because of a different strain. When they come up with a shot that works for all strains than I will consider getting one.

That's silly - as someone on this forum you should know that the Flu virus is an RNA virus and mutates rapidly. There's no way to get all the possible variants into a single shot while maintaining a reasonable production timeframe. Instead, they make their best guess as to the three most likely to be circulating. If this is your rationale for not getting a flu shot, which can keep you from getting sick and passing on illnesses to your patients, then I have to question your critical thinking skills.

[wannabesedated]

I received a flu shot last year and still came down with the flu. What's the point? Whenever the shot fails than it because of a different strain. When they come up with a shot that works for all strains than I will consider getting one.

The flu shot takes about 2 weeks to kick in. Even if it doesn't protect you against a particular strain, evidence has shown that those in an LTC that were immunized against the flu and still got the flu (a different strain), had lower rates of complications/hospitalization than those not immunized.

As stated in my immunization guide, efficacy rates are 70-90% in healthy children & adults when the vaccine matches the circulating virus, and 30-60% when there are significant antigenic differences between the circulating & vaccine viral strains. You can find this information on http://www.naci.gc.ca

As nurses/future nurses, we should do all we can to protect ourselves and our patients.

[D1914]

I know that there is "no one size fits all flu shot"

It was just a facetious way of saying that I won't be getting a flu shot this year.

But thanks for the Microbiology lesson, BTW what does RNA stand for?

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

RNA = Ribonucleic Acid, as opposed to Deoxyribonucleic Acid, or DNA.

[New 2 iceeYouRN]

For the past few years I got the flu shot since I work in the ER. This time around I had decided not to get it. Normally winters are pretty brutal in the ER beginning around late Oct-March. By December we are in full on overload with wait times ranging from 4-6hrs just to get to the back. Now let me tell you, we have not had that happen YET!! We now have a rapid flu test in the lab and we have yet to have a positive test. Speculation is that the flu shot was right on this year. I got my flu shot yesterday, I do have a sore arm but honestly, I really believe they nailed it this year!!

[ElphabaRN]

I just finished 3 solid months of giving flu shots. What I know, is that yes it is a dead virus so the vaccine cannot cause the flu, but if you get flu symptoms, it is because you picked up something else while your body was building immunity to the vaccine.

Also, remember that sometimes the Flumist (nasal inhalation) is used for people afraid of needles, etc. and the Flumist is a LIVE attenuated virus. It does sometimes cause flu symptoms due to being a variation of the live virus.

Also, to whoever asked when they will get the perfect vaccine that covers all strains? That is impossible to determine. As you know, viruses mutate, and what is prominent this year could change entirely by next years flu season, which is why flu shots are recommended every year. And is also, why, in some or more years, the strains in the vaccine don't match what we are exposed to throughout the winter. It is a crapshoot in trying to develop vaccines, prior to the virus mutating. They develop the US vaccine based on strains in the southern hemisphere, as well as the previous years US strains. This year it was Uraguay, Florida, and Brisbane for the shots I was giving. So, if those exact strains are what we will see, then the vaccine will do it's job. If there are mutations, well, that is when we can pick up the mutated version or a new strain entirely.

The other fear alot of my patients had was the thimerisol preservative that is in the vaccine and all the hoop-la around that. If that is the case, the vaccine can also be packaged in a prefilled, thimerisol free syringe for those people that think they may have an allergy to it, or are concerned about autism possibility, which isn't even a proven things. It is just suspected. Thimerisol often used to be in contact lens solution, so people used to use it and have no problems associated with being exposed to it. But then all the anti-thimerisol people got the bad press out there and it has spread like wildfire, and there was not much I could do as a flu clinic RN, other than to state the risk of reaction or problem is exceedingly small, and they would be much better off to get the shot.

And, as always, remember to wash your hands every chance you get, use alcohol gels, sneeze into your elbow, use masks as appropriate.

May you all be well this flu season :)

[hunydew2262]

My husband and I went together when we got the flu vaccine for the first time. I watched the RN, an old school chum, draw up the two injections from the same vial. (Yeah, this was back in the olden days before single injection syringes.) I got mine first, then my DH. By the time we paid for our care and got to the car, my arm was so sore I couldn't drive. I did become ill, but it was not as severe as the flu. I think it might have been a general immune response to the dead virus. Even though you won't catch the flu, your body will still rev up to fight a foreign pathogen.

I decided against the vaccine the following year and caught the flu, then the family had it, then I had another bout of something that sure resembled the flu. I don't know if it was something else, the same influenza virus, or another strain of influenza, but I felt nearly dead by the time all that passed. It took me months to regain my strength. znow, I get my flu shot as soon as they become available.

My husband had no side effects from the influenza vaccine. Crazy, huh?

[lavendarwolf]

What a touchy, touchy subject! I have never had a flu shot and I have only had the Flu once when I was 16. I am 29 now and other than migraines am fairly healthy and rarely get sick. The thing we all need to keep in mind is that everyone's body is different. Our threshold's for pain and sickness are never the same and vary from person to person. Vaccinations contain mercury, (yes mercury, they say it has been pulled out but there are still very low levels of it & mercury is not safe for the Human body on any level), other toxins that I could go on and on naming, and the way in which we receive them is just plain silly. By putting anything alive or dead directly into our blood stream we by pass our first line of natural defense which is the mucous membranes. One's body will ask itself, " How did this toxic crap get in this way?" I guess our first line isn't working anymore so lets not use it anymore!" This can cause many auto immune disorders such as autism, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and various others. These conditions happen later and are not present directly after vaccine injection. I have never read any history books or heard stories of anyone who had all these new diseases that we have now. Maybe because our vaccination schedules were not as rigorous as they are today. Or maybe not. This is just an opinion. When Edward Jenner protected people form smallpox in the 18th century by rubbing a cow poc into an open wound he did not use preservatives and other "stuff." Yes, more people are susceptible to death this way but how do we measure the effects, by slow onsets of various disease and eventually death or by immediate death? Maybe if we had a system where we ordered the vaccines and then they were produced and we got them locally and they were not mass made and preserved. Who really knows? It is all speculation at this point right? I mean 1 in 4 boys with Autism shouldn't be called an epidemic right? All I know is...the people who get the Flu shot and other vaccinations are doing what they feel is right and so are the ones who don't and as long as we keep pursuing health for all maybe we will come to a good conclusion. LOVE TO ALL! ESPECIALLY THE NURSES!