Background:

Recently, the British government suspended the production of the flu vaccine for a company who happens to be a major supplier to the U.S. As a result, it's been reported that only 1/2 of the allotted vaccine will be available to the general public for the upcoming season.

To that end, the director of the Center for Disease Control, Dr. Julie Gerberdein, MD, recommends those who are not in a high risk category (the high risk being the Elderly, the youngest children, and those with serious chronic / troubling conditions) forego or delay receiving the vaccine.

However, the morning news today shows huge queues of people waiting for an injection. Yet, there's also been people who've been turned away, on camera, as they do not fit the high risk category.

So the question is this...

Is the flu vaccine shortage a controllable chaos or a real health concern?

My Position:

Personally, I deserve a flu shot because I have asthma, and the congestion that accompanies flu could potentially be serious for me.

On a larger scale, though... thousands die from the flu every year. Thousands will likely die this year, too. If the news reports show people become very irrational and emotional re: the flu vaccine shortage, body count from the flu, and people being turned away from clinics in large numbers, I believe there's potential for civil unrest, assaults against clinic staff, and even uncontrollable panic. People who are scared tend to do very irrational things.

I think the flu vaccine is a controllable chaos. I think that many people get the shot year after year, simply becasue it's there. I'm too worried about the situation because I already got mine. :D I think the medical facilities handing out the vaccine are doing a good job. If there are those who do not fit the high risk category, then they should not be allowed to receive the vaccination. Simple as that.

I think the flu vaccine is a controllable chaos. I think that many people get the shot year after year, simply becasue it's there. I'm too worried about the situation because I already got mine. :D I think the medical facilities handing out the vaccine are doing a good job. If there are those who do not fit the high risk category, then they should not be allowed to receive the vaccination. Simple as that.

Question one: Flu vaccine or shortage of vaccine is controllable chaos?

Question two: Are you really worried or not (I'm assuming not since you already had yours)

Question three: I agree with the medical facilities, but the way they turn people down can get nebulous... they may not have enough guidelines. One clinic may permit a low risk person to get the shot, whereas another clinic across town may be so strict, they don't allow people the shot, unless they "look" like they fit the high risk category. I am a relatively healthy looking fellow, but have asthma. That condition may not be as regularly visible as someone with acute breathing problems (i.e. requiring an oxygen tank wheeled around wherever he or she goes).

My strategy is to take my vitamins, keep my hands and face clean, and dress warmly. I'm a bit suspicious of the vaccine anyway.

Up in vaccinations, they give the disease to you, on a lesser scale of course, so that your body builds an immunity to it. All I can say is that the companies that make chicken noodle soup are going to benefit a great deal from this.

The shortage of the vaccine is not really a problem. It would be a problem if there was little or none, but there's enough to stop an outbreak.
As long as the people who don't have it keep themselves well generally, then there shouldn't be a problem should there?

In my line of work, we all NEED the vaccine. I work at a school and group homes, where the kids get sick real easy and are pretty much confined to their house or the school classrooms. They all come to school unless they have a pretty good fever, are throwing up or have the runs. I'm not sure we're going to get the vaccine this year. I have severe asthma, and can't really afford to get sick (being a single parent). I hope the FluMist people make more of the nasal spray, like they are considering. There are going to be many more people getting sick this year than usual.

:( Flu sux. I had it last winter. It took me a full 2 weeks to get better. I missed...2 weeks of basketball prac/games. I don't like/play basketball anymore, so eh. :o Ew. It was gross. I'm just thankful I didn't barf or anything. My eyes hurt like a mofo tho. :( Ok. I need lots of antibacterial soap and handsanitizer.

Note to self: Don't touch anything. :rolleyes: :p ;)

Ew...in my school, the halls are soooo narrow, everyone's touching and stuff. Seriously, shoulder to shoulder. It sux. Oh Gawd. This is gonna suck. :(


Pregnant people are high risk right? Jw...

yeah i heard this, they only want the elderly and childern to get it up were i live, flu capital of whatever. in mn we got 2 seasons freezin season and sneezin season, and your never quite sure which months it gonna run from

Pres. Bush's foregoing the flu shot this year and announced it during the debate last night. Young and healthy are not to get it. Save it for those who need it. (people with chronic illnesses like asthma, where the congestion can become life-threatening, and pregnant women, elderly, weakened immune systems due to HIV, and young children).

If you get a shot, could you live with yourself and a guilty conscience? (Where someone who needed the shot more than you doesn't get it... And dies?)

Pregnant people are high risk right? Jw...
Yes, pregnant women are high risk, for a couple of reasons. One, their immune systems are working for two, and sometimes it's not easy. If they do happen to get the flu while they're pregnant, the risk of complications skyrockets. And two, there is evidence that suggests a correlation between schizophrenia in the child and gestational flu in the mother. Children whose mothers had the flu in the first few months of pregnancy are more likely to wind up with schizophrenia later in life. And who wants that?

Honestly, I think it's blown way out of proportion. Elderly waiting in lawn chairs at 4AM (where they'll probably GET the flu) at this time of year, and (locally) shots being stolen. They're excellent to have, and I understand that they can be potentially life-saving, but really. All of this commotion seems a bit over-dramatic.

As my dad said: "They didn't always have them, and people still survived then!"

I'm hypothesizing that there wouldn't have been nearly as many people trying get them if there wouldn't have been a shortage. Hmm, I think sense a connection...

People just start to become spastic and begin to practically convulse when they hear the word 'shortage'. They automatically associate the word with certain death, it seems.

It all just seems a bit outrageous to me.

This flu shortage thing sucks. That flu shot is about the only way that my grandma lives through the winter and if she gets sick i will be the first to start something over it. The British government had to know what they were doing when they did that. Someone needs to go over there and take care of this problem or a lot of people will die this year.

I've never had a flu shot, and I don't believe I've ever had the flu. I must point out, since nobody has mentioned it, that this whole "shortage" issue was caused to protect us from a contaminated stock of the vaccine, yet it seems to be making things worse. :cool:

Yes, pregnant women are high risk, for a couple of reasons. One, their immune systems are working for two, and sometimes it's not easy. If they do happen to get the flu while they're pregnant, the risk of complications skyrockets. And two, there is evidence that suggests a correlation between schizophrenia in the child and gestational flu in the mother. Children whose mothers had the flu in the first few months of pregnancy are more likely to wind up with schizophrenia later in life. And who wants that?



Hmm..interesting...

Well...I wouldn't want my future niece or nephew to suffer from any type of illness later in life all because my sister got the flu. Thanks for the info!

Now it's being blown out of proportion. The news just said that if people distributing the vaccination gave it to people who weren't high risk, they would get up to 6 months jail time. Holy Crap!

Honestly, I think it's blown way out of proportion. Elderly waiting in lawn chairs at 4AM (where they'll probably GET the flu) at this time of year, and (locally) shots being stolen. They're excellent to have, and I understand that they can be potentially life-saving, but really. All of this commotion seems a bit over-dramatic.

As my dad said: "They didn't always have them, and people still survived then!"

I'm hypothesizing that there wouldn't have been nearly as many people trying get them if there wouldn't have been a shortage. Hmm, I think sense a connection...

People just start to become spastic and begin to practically convulse when they hear the word 'shortage'. They automatically associate the word with certain death, it seems.

It all just seems a bit outrageous to me.Then you have no idea of the swath of death the flu used to cut across the world. Your dad is half-right. Some folks survived, but alot didn't 'Chelle.

"The Spanish Influenza of 1918 killed over 20 million people within a period of a single year, twice the number of people killed in World War I in that same year."
( http://asthma.about.com/library/weekly/aa092500a.htm (http://asthma.about.com/library/weekly/aa092500a.htm) )

That was during the Great War when it spread from soldiers. They called it the Spanish flu because neutral Spain decided to let the world know how sick the Allies were. There were no vaccines then.

"Influenza types A or B viruses cause epidemics of disease almost every winter. In the United States, these winter influenza epidemics can cause illness in 10% to 20% of people and are associated with an average of 36,000 deaths and 114,000 hospitalizations per year. Getting a flu shot can prevent illness from types A and B influenza. Influenza type C infections cause a mild respiratory illness and are not thought to cause epidemics. The flu shot does not protect against type C influenza."
( http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/fluviruses.htm (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/fluviruses.htm) )

what makes it worse is that it migrates back and forth from animals (usually pigs, I.E. Swine Flu) to humans, recombining genes until its a monster. With the huge amount of global air travel going on today, a bad bug could circle the world in a matter of days.

Its outrageous that the present American Administration is going to buy flu vaccine from Canada after Bush just accused us of having unreliable drugs.

There are millions of folks with respiratory problems whose lungs could be permanently damaged by an influenza infection, some enough to be killed needlessly.

The Flu shot is free in Canada by the way.

Andy

My brother has severe asthma. As rainy as it's been this year, we have had a few close calls. Now I don't mean to be nasty, but my brother NEEDS this vaccination. And no, not all places are getting the shots, mom works at a nursing home, and they have not gave them out.

A lot of older folks need it too, and it's a lot less expensive than catching the flu and spending all that money on medications and maybe having to call in sick to work.

It will become a health crisis if certain conditions are fulfilled. When news gets out about something like a shortage of the flu vaccine, all the middle-aged people say "there's a shortage of flu vaccine, I don't know if I need it, but I'd better get it before it runs out." Then, it does run out, leaving a lot of the children and elderly who really do need it vulnerable to a potentially deadly flu virus. I was going to post pretty much what Elric already said about the flu epidemic of 1918. The stuff can be deadly, and there should be some control on who gets it (who needs it).

There've been some rules / fines put in to place around my region, recently

1) In Tennessee, you have to show a photo-id, and a prescription bottle to prove your "chronic disease". Doctors who administer the vaccine to "healthy" people face fines.

2) In Mississippi, doctors who administer to healthy people risk having their medical license revoked.

3) In Arkansas, it's been reported that people are on the 'honor system'. Adults can say they have a chronic disease but they do not have to prove it. And doctors cannot ask, and do not risk punishment if they give the shot to healthy individuals.

I can see the need to put "consequences" into place. so doctors don't waste the vaccine on the "low risk category" (though I don't recall seeing any bills passed in these respective state capitals). But again, the rules are not clearly defined, and vary greatly... from region to region... state to state... and this could get out of hand should people start questioning the rules and run up the demand for shots in states with no consequences.