Very Bad Flu A going around

[Anonymous]

I had a physical yesterday in a large medical building.

Every single provider, support staff and patient was masked up. They were giving masks out at check-in and asking that they be worn to be seen and they are taking temperatures again.

I got this year’s flu shot and what is probably my 8th or 9th covid shot.

Unfortunately due to the President canceling the annual meeting where experts get together to decide which strains to focus on in developing this year’s shot, it has ended up not addressing the strain that has actually turned out to be most prevalent, which appears to be Flu A.

The Flu epidemic of 1918 was still just inFLUenza and it killed 20 million people worldwide. People forget how bad the “simple flu” can be.

The internet is currently filled with stories of people getting VERY sick with this year’s strain, or at least this season.

Mainstream news is saying this year’s flu season hasn’t been this bad in over 25 years.

Just a PSA, you don’t want to be one of those who gets sick. It’s apparently awful.

[Anonymous]

The uptick in Flu A is not due to the president. It is due to the NEW STRAIN that emerged after the vaccine had been made. Please, chill out and wash your hands.🙌

[Anonymous]

OP it’s a nice PSA, but have you been living under a rock for the last four weeks? This has been all over the news. Seemingly healthy young adult adults and children have been dying.

[Anonymous]

The flu is bad this year, but this years misalignment of the shot has zero to do with the current administration. The makeup of the shot is established many months out, and some years they pick wrong or the dominant strain is a recent mutation. This is one of those years. It remains to be seen how the shenanigans over the meeting you referenced will affect next year’s flu shot, which is what it was designing. But for this year, it was just a bad alignment with the shot and which variant of the flu became dominant. The shot should still give you some protection against very severe illness, even if you feel like crap when you get sick.

[Anonymous]

Flu A was all over the schools last year too, at least in FCPS. I’m starting to wonder why we even bother getting the shots every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The flu is bad this year, but this years misalignment of the shot has zero to do with the current administration. The makeup of the shot is established many months out, and some years they pick wrong or the dominant strain is a recent mutation. This is one of those years. It remains to be seen how the shenanigans over the meeting you referenced will affect next year’s flu shot, which is what it was designing. But for this year, it was just a bad alignment with the shot and which variant of the flu became dominant. The shot should still give you some protection against very severe illness, even if you feel like crap when you get sick.

Of course it has something to do with the current administration, which denies the value of mrna technology. Continuing to rely on conventional vaccine technology is largely responsible for the current mismatch, since it is slow and done too far in advance. I can't wait until we have an administration that respects science rather than tin foil hat conspiracy thinking with little basis in reality.

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/could-mrna-vaccines-end-brutal-flu-seasons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The flu is bad this year, but this years misalignment of the shot has zero to do with the current administration. The makeup of the shot is established many months out, and some years they pick wrong or the dominant strain is a recent mutation. This is one of those years. It remains to be seen how the shenanigans over the meeting you referenced will affect next year’s flu shot, which is what it was designing. But for this year, it was just a bad alignment with the shot and which variant of the flu became dominant. The shot should still give you some protection against very severe illness, even if you feel like crap when you get sick.

Of course it has something to do with the current administration, which denies the value of mrna technology. Continuing to rely on conventional vaccine technology is largely responsible for the current mismatch, since it is slow and done too far in advance. I can't wait until we have an administration that respects science rather than tin foil hat conspiracy thinking with little basis in reality.

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/could-mrna-vaccines-end-brutal-flu-seasons

This year’s shot still has nothing to do with this administration. If next year’s is a disaster then you have a point. I’m not trying to minimize the extreme medical malpractice that this administration is starting to do against American public health, but this bad flu season isn’t one of them.

[Anonymous]

The trivalent shot (which is the norm) covers 2 strains of A and one of B. Just not the right variations of A I guess.

I’ve seen way more people masked recently. I plan to wear a mask on my upcoming flights this month. I wore one on flights to the west coast in December, for the first time in several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flu A was all over the schools last year too, at least in FCPS. I’m starting to wonder why we even bother getting the shots every year.

Because it usually shortens the duration if you get it. My 5th grader had Flu A and B last year, a month apart. He missed only one day of school for each - bounced back quickly. Several of his friends were out for a week. One was out for two weeks. His teacher was out for two weeks. At one point 40% of his grade was out.

And the rest of us at home didn't get it. Thank you flu vax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flu A was all over the schools last year too, at least in FCPS. I’m starting to wonder why we even bother getting the shots every year.

90% pediatric flu deaths last year were unvaccinated children. Thats why.

[Anonymous]

Op- have you heard about the CDC’s latest vaccination recommendation? The TDS shot is available at your local CVS and your age, demographic and mental state put you at the top of the eligibility list.

[Anonymous]

Surely your 9th COVID shot will protect you!

[Anonymous]

My teen is in the throes of it right now. 5 days of fever and counting. We received the vaccine in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen is in the throes of it right now. 5 days of fever and counting. We received the vaccine in November.

Me again. Get tested as soon as symptoms start! We tested on day 3, and it was too late to get Tamiflu.

[Anonymous]

Our ER is full due to flu. If you love hanging in the ER (and maybe dying!), sure, don't get any vaccinations.