One of my Facebook friends just posted an article from a dubious source with the headline “Vitamin D is More Effective Than Flu Shots, Studies Show.” I responded that the headline is misleading and don’t trade in your flue shot for vitamin D supplements just yet.
Water is better at keeping us alive than food is, but they’re both pretty necessary.
Get your flu shots and take recommended doses of vitamin D.
What the study ACTUALLY said was that individuals who are vitamin-D-deficient get more benefit from vitamin d supplements than a flu shot alone. Obviously, the flu shot isn’t sufficient if you are malnourished or otherwise unhealthy.
Regarding the measles outbreak now at two airports (Newark and O’Hare) - My understanding is that measles vaccination + booster is only 97-98% effective. Does this mean that for every 1000 people coming through affected airports, a couple dozen vaccinated people will still contract measles? That’s pretty scary. I don’t know the numbers; how many people go through an airport in a day?
It’s not going to be THAT many. People passing close to the infected person or to a place where the infected person was during the past 2 hours can be exposed. That’s still a lot of people, but not remotely close to everyone in the airport.
98% effective means that 98% of people who get the vaccine, timed appropriately, will develop full antibodies to the disease. So 2% of vaccinated individuals do not mount a full immune response. That does not mean that 2% of all people in an airport at the same time as an infected person will contract the disease. You have to be exposed to the virus.
And then there is this mutton head of a father: http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2018/01/florida_boy_6_dies_of_rabies_a.html
So sad and stupid
Also, there are unvaccinated people in the airport, so if there are 10 cases, they may all be the unvaccinated people and even the 2% vaccinated whose shots didn’t really take might escape getting sick.
My daughter went to the doctor today and asked for a mumps shot. This was a gyn clinic, and they said to ‘see your regular doctor.’ Well, this was to be her ‘regular’ doctor. Guess not.
OMG, what a stupid man. He read it on the internet!!! Now, the kid is dead and the family pets “have been tested” aka killed.
Shouldn’t MMR be readily available at pharmacies, so if her physician’s office does not offer it, she can get it at a pharmacy?
Two, if your D doesn’t have a pcp, now’s as good a time as any to establish a relationship with one.
I thought that’s what she was doing, signing up for an adult doctor. I always used my obgyn as a primary, and it was fine. She’s outgrown the pediatrician, so made this appointment. It is really unlikely she’ll go to the doctor again for a year. If she gets sick, she’ll go to the clinic at the college or a CVS type clinic. Last year she went to the urgent care when she cut her hand, and I think they spent more time asking her questions than the gyn today.
There’s a certain politician in my home state that is well known for blocking people on FB (if they don’t agree with him). He did a FB poll this week wondering if he should challenge hospitals mandatory flu shot requirements. His biased poll showed that 67% of his readers believe the hospital is out of line in requiring a flu shot for continued employment.
^^I believe this is being challenged in court – elected officials blocking people on social media.
OMG. What a fool. A tragic fool. He didn’t bring his 6-year-old to the ER because the kid cried about getting shots?? My grandmother had a saying: Better they cry now than you cry later.
My brother has been blocked by MANY politicians. It is a little game he plays to see how long he can lasts. He never yells at them or swears, he just asks the hard questions.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: We’re drifting a little too far off topic.
Federal court says elected officials cannot block followers:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/07/28/federal_court_rules_public_officials_cannot_block_social_media_users.html
Also, there’s a lawsuit again Donald Trump for blocking people on social media:
https://knightcolumbia.org/content/knight-institute-v-trump-lawsuit-challenging-president-trumps-blocking-critics-twitter
This can be fixed easily at the service provider level: if you set up a social media account as a politician. “block” button is not active. Betcha it can be programmed in.
But back to topic. I cannot believe a google search “what to do after a bat scratch” would bring up that kind of bad advice the father claims he got… no Webmd? No other pages? How far did he have to scroll down to find the advice he chose to follow?!
The rabies story was horrifying. My mother was bitten by a dog when she was about the same age. It was during the Depression and the elderly lady who owned the dog ran away with it. By the time they found her, at a “Dirty Dancing” type hotel in the Catskills, my poor mom had undergone 6 shots in her little baby girl belly! The dog did not have rabies when they found it, so mom was able to forego the rest of the series of shots. That father is an idiot… HE was the parent. No kids like shots, but they need them, especially if they come into contact with potentially rabid animals. Poor child. I hope he didn’t suffer too much.