GET THE FLU SHOT!!! (its not too late!)

Posted by ERV on January 11, 2013
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My boss and I are very busy people. Weve got big stuff going on.  BIG STUFF.  So we didnt have time to get the free flu shots the university offered like 500 times last fall.

About three weeks ago–

Bossman: Meh, Im feeling kinda sniffly. Im gonna go get pho for lunch.

Me: Cool!  Im going to stay here and work through lunch like a good grad student *angel halo shines*

(about an hour later, Bossman is hacking and coughing)

Bossman: I still feel like crap. Im going home.

Me: Okay! Feel better!

Later that night–

Email from Bossman: Im not coming in tomorrow. 103 degree temp

Email from me: Okay! Feel better!

Couple days later, just before break–

Email from Bossman: At the docs, just got influenza confirmed. GET THE VACCINE  NOW!

Email from me: OH GOD! OH GOD! ITS TOO LATE!! I JUST STARTED FEELING SICK! I KNOW IM ALREADY INFECTED!!  OH GOD WHY??????

Virology classmate: Any outsider, watching the conversation between two virologists saying “GET THE VACCINE!!” “NO IT’S TOO LATE!! OH GOD WHY!!” right before the supposed apocalypse, would be slightly disconcerted.

While I did not get the flu as bad as I remember when I got it when I was little, it still sucked.  For a week I was full-on sick (mild fever, body aches, hacking/coughing, runny nose, sneezing, BLECH).  For the next week I just felt like CRAP.  And for the last week Ive just been coughing like a chain smoker, for no apparent reason (I feel fine lalalalalala CRAZY COUGHING FIT). All because ‘I didnt have the time’ to get the vaccine this year.

Literally everyone has gotten it at work… except, ironically, the influenza PI.  She has has never gotten the vaccine and never gotten the flu…

Anyway, I was ‘lucky’ in that I got sick right before Christmas break. I already had most of my projects ready to be in hibernation. I could take the time off without losing money or feeling guilty because the uni was shutting down anyway.

But now Christmas is over.

Unless you want to waste two weeks worth of sick leave and vacation days the first of January, GET THE FLU SHOT.

GET IT.

THE FLU SUCKED.

I couldnt even get my head together to give Ethan some advice about GMOs, and you know how I get going on GMOs.

 

This years influenza season is going to hit you, SO GET THE FLU SHOT!

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Comments

  1. #1 qetzal
    January 11, 2013

    A teacher at my granddaughter’s school came down with the flu last Tue. Went to the ER a few days later feeling very heavy in the chest. Diagnosed with pneumonia secondary to influenza. DIED THAT NIGHT! She was in her early 30s!

    Anecdotal, I know. Get the shot!

  2. #2 jre
    January 13, 2013

    I agree 100%, but would caution that the vaccine (especially this year) is not a magic shield. We stayed with much-loved stepson & family over Christmas. MLS is a Mercola acolyte, and so of course none of his family get the flu shot. Three of them came down with flu while we were there, and I (despite having gotten the shot in October) followed a couple of days later. I was laid out flat for a week, and am just now finishing a round of antibiotics for secondary bacterial infection. Moral: get the shot, but remember that it is only about 62% effective this year, so minimize your exposure to the infected, wash your hands and encourage others to wash theirs, and if you are among the older or immunocompromised, see a doctor at the first symproms.

  3. #3 eddie
    January 13, 2013

    I guess I’m just not cool enough to not have time to get it last october :-( I also got an anti-pneumonia shot at the same time.

    Last two days I’ve had common cold from some lesser known rhinovirus which, when we’re all immune to flu, is gonna have it’s day in the sun :-/

  4. #4 Kevin Bonham
    January 13, 2013

    I berated my students over and over to get the flu shot… some actually listened, and now I’m going to look like a goddamn genius (it’s hitting Boston particularly hard).

    Or they’ll get norovirus, think it’s the flu and say the shot didn’t work… meh.

  5. #5 ERV
    January 13, 2013

    This is the year I skip it, and this is the year it slams me. At least if I got the shot and I still got sick I know its just chance, but as it stands I got sick and its ALL MY FAULT. I DIDNT EVEN GIVE MY IMMUNE SYSTEM A CHANCE. UGH. STUPID!

  6. #6 Julian Frost
    NOYDB
    January 14, 2013

    I’m a blood donor and I donated on Saturday. SANBS is short of blood because it’s just after the holiday. When I was seated, the nurse told me that a number of the clinic’s regular donors had contracted flu and had to be deferred for four weeks.
    I think I’ll get jabbed.

  7. #7 miko
    January 14, 2013

    Flu shots are awesome, I’ve been getting them for a few years now and I can totally tell the difference (and yes, at least 2 weeks not spent in bed aching)

  8. #8 Dave
    Infection Section
    January 14, 2013

    Nope, its too late.

    Tried to get one, but whenever I had the option, there was a big line and I was in a rush, so, “Ill do it next time.” Oldest spawn came down with it a few days ago, just starting to get over it now, and today I find myself clearing my throat and sucking back snot. Im fucked.

  9. #9 Leslie
    Houston
    January 16, 2013

    The reason you got sick when you were young is because back then they were using a “live virus” in the shot. For decades now the flu shot contains a killed or “dead virus” so there is no chance of getting the flu from a flu shot. The only time you get a live virus now is if you get the nasal spray.

  10. #10 William Wallace
    Earth
    March 4, 2013

    The fact that the flu shot would have protected you against the other two, and you still didn’t get the shot after you recovered, speaks volumes. Ditto for your boss.