<p>You can always request a theomersial-free vaccine when you get your flu shot. Most places will have them in addition to the multi dose vials.</p>
<p>There is limited availabilty of some vaccines without mercury, but some kinds dont contain it at all.
[Thimerosal</a> in Vaccines](<a href=“http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228]Thimerosal”>Thimerosal and Vaccines | FDA)</p>
<p>Niquii77, if you don’t get a flu shot, I hope you are careful never to be in the presence of babies, small children, people with chronic illnesses, or elderly people. You could be starting to come down with the flu and not know it, and you could be endangering their health far more than your own.</p>
<p>Thanks to this thread for its reminders about vaccines. Saw my doctor last week for routine health maintenance stuff and got my flu vaccine AND my TDaP (tetanus, diptheria, and pertussis) booster. I spend a lot of time in horse barns (training dogs) so the tetanus matters, and the local whooping cough epidemic has me spooked.</p>
<p>I asked about the MMR booster, but I had mumps and rubella as a child, and if you were born before 1957, 98% chance you have measles antibodies, so that vaccine is unnecessary. The vaccine is less effective than a worldwide epidemic, apparently. Who knew?</p>
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<p>Yikes! Terrible typo. Sorry. :o</p>
<p>Marian, I’m not not going to be in the presence of those people.</p>
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<p>Unless you NEVER go out in public, you most certainly are going to be in the presence of those people. </p>
<p>Niquii77, I’m not sure you understand the influenza virus (which, in spite of widespread misinformation, is the only illness which is really “the flu”) very well. While many people who get the flu do get very very sick, not everyone does. Maybe you have truly had a mild case of the flu. What you need to understand is that if you passed on your flu to others, it is NOT given that they would also have the same mild case you did. It’s more likely that they would get REALLY sick. The kind of sick where no amount of “willpower” can get them out of bed. Others could end up in the hospital with secondary pneumonia and other complications and die. That’s why people are insistent that if you have flu symptoms, you need to stay home for the sake of your fellow man. The flu is EXTREMELY contagious and you do not have the ability to dictate that your mild version is actually what you are passing on to others, because it is not only a function of the particular strain with which you are infecting others, but a very large function of that person’s immune response to the virus you impose on them.</p>
<p>Nuiqui77, be sure you don’t take a plane, train, or bus then. And you may very well have acquaintances in school or work who have chronic diseases or are unable to get vaccinated for actual medical reasons (vs. those who just have imaginary heebee jeebies and put the rest of us at risk). People don’t usually share those details with people who are not their immediate families, so you really have no idea. So… if you live alone and don’t plan to go out into public, feel free to skip it. Otherwise, you are contributing to a public health risk.</p>
<p>Niquii77-
I might have been the person behind you at the grocery store the year I went through chemo. It was 6 weeks before I lost my hair so you would never have known that the germs you left behind on the pen could have killed me.</p>
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I understand that the influenza virus is the flu. </p>
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Yes, I already understand this. </p>
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Yes, I already understand this. </p>
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Yes, I already understand this.</p>
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I guess I am contributing to the public health risk. </p>
<p>And, Sue, no I would’ve not known and you wouldn’t have known it was me either.</p>
<p>So you understand but just, frankly, do not care?</p>
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<p>So it’s okay to endanger other people’s lives as long as you don’t get caught?</p>
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Yes, that is what I said. </p>
<p>I’m not not going to be in the presence of those people.</p>
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No. My point is: I didn’t know that I was endangering someone’s life and you didn’t know that I was endangering your life. Both sides didn’t know.</p>
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<p>No, I’m not convinced you do. If you understood this, you would never have made the comment about willpower. You would never have stated that you would never be around babies, elderly, or the immunocompromised. I’m not believing that you live in your bedroom and never venture out in public or that you have no exposure to elderly in your family or in your day to day ventures. </p>
<p>Based on your posting history, I find it hard to believe you don’t care about people, so the only other option is that you truly don’t understand the influenza virus beyond a very surface level.</p>
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My comment about willpower was in the context of varying strains of the influenza. </p>
<p>I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to be in the presence of the “at risk” groups.</p>
<p>You are correct, I do care about people.</p>
<p>I think I’ll choose to believe that Niquii77’s account has been hacked rather than that he or she simply doesn’t care about killing old people, cancer patients and babies.</p>
<p>I watched several young people die from H1N1 several years ago. These included a bodybuilder, 2 healthy young women, and several other individuals with minor health issues. If I didn’t see it for myself, I would have guessed that only the elderly and chronically ill died from influenza. Very quickly, the anti vaccine advocates lined up for their shots.</p>
<p>I believe adults should be free to choose to vaccinate themselves or not. However, for the diseases that can harm children, these children shouldn’t be allowed in the schools (including college) and these un-vaccinated adults should be barred from caring for patients. They pose a great risk to the public.</p>
<p>Several years ago I finally read the article that started the vaccination-autism frenzy. I am ashamed as a physician that such an article was published. This article never concluded a link between autism and vaccination and yet the public ran with the wrong information.</p>
<p>If your teenager hasn’t had the Meningitis immunization yet, please consider doing so. To see what has happened to a 18 year old from Orange County area in CA - having all four limbs amputated because of this devastating illness is simply devastating.</p>
<p>Sue22…you may just be right. However, I’m guessing that perhaps he/she may not yet have had the life experiences that age brings, which helps one develop empathy for those who are ill, or for those whose path in life is filled with difficult issues.</p>
<p>shellz-
You may well be right but for my own peace of mind I’ll go with my ■■■■■ theory. :)</p>