This season's flu is no joke - PSA for anyone whose kids have not had a shot yet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The flu shot is the wrong strain. Don't waste your time. You're better off wearing a mask in public for the winter.

Oh shut up

Are you a physican that studies infectious diseaes?

Shut up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised by all these people that get tested as soon as they get sick. Why? Whether it's flu or covid there's not much they can do. I wait until there's some secondary issue (usually there's none) like bronchitis and then I get antibiotics which treat the secondary.

I'm asking because I see all these people running around and it's spreading sickness more. We're all pretty sure we got sick from DH who caught it from urgent care where he was having his toe splinted (it was a bad break). What's crazy is that my veterinarian has us wait in our car until we're called in. Why can't they do that at urgent care?

Are you kidding? Tamiflu is nothing short of a miracle. At any sign of flu we test ourselves, i always have tests in hand. Why suffer for 2 weeks and risk pneumonia when you ca. stop it dead in its tracks? it’s great living in the 21se century!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I sometimes let myself think the DCUM set is more intelligent than average, but then a thread like this brings me back to reality. Get your flu shot every year. Even a poorly matched shot offers protection. This isn’t new information.

You do realize there is scant evidence for the flu shot’s effectiveness right? There is little statistical or anecdotal evidence despite this thing being given to hundreds of millions of people over 45 years.

It’s only people like you still supporting it. People who are particularly susceptible to marketing and think themselves smarter than they actually are. If they couldn’t advertise the shot anymore, people like you would never take it again.

Even a quick Google search pulls up any number of peer reviewed studies that show you're full of something. Hint: it's not knowledge.

In the realm of vaccines, the flu shot is not very effective.

But it's better than nothing.

One wonders how you define “effective” - effective in terms of preventing hospitalizations and death? Effective in terms of not being infected despite exposure? Effective in terms of turning your hair blue?
It matters.

The CDC reports that “early estimates of 2025–26 influenza vaccine effectiveness in England against influenza-associated hospitalization remained within expected ranges of 70%–75% for children and 30%–40% for adults, suggesting that influenza vaccination remains an effective tool in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations this season.”

So it’s definitely worth it.

It’s always estimates and never raw numbers. One of the vaccine makers favorite tricks.

You’re welcome to roll the dice on your own kid, sweetie.

A $25 shot with no lasting ill effects for nearly 99% of people, or a $250,000 ICU bill followed up by a $25,000 funeral, or worse, $100k in PT and lifelong supportive therapies. Your choice!

Ain't America grand get the choice today by 2028 no more choices dumb maga

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
People who took the shots die of the flu every year. Tens of thousands of them. They just never post the raw numbers so people think they are magic.

"They?"

What central authority is collecting "the raw numbers" in one place of everyone across the nation, but not publishing them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12 yo just had it and it was probably the sickest I've seen him since he was v young, and he had had the shot. I dont know what it would have been like without it. His ped does not do tamiflu but in retrospect i would have pushed for it. One night was esp troublesome.

This infuriates me. Our entire family just had Flu A and Tamiflu was a freaking godsend for the 3 of us who took it. However, like you, our pedi would ‘t give it to our son because “research shows it only shortens the flu by 12 hours and he might get a tummy ache”. Wtf! It literally stopped the virus in its tracks for the rest of us. Poor DS had it so rough and it could have been prevented. He had a positive PCR within 12 hours of symptoms starting. It was the perfect to give him Tamiflu. That said, I highly recommend asking for the pills if your kids can swallow them. Much easier to take (and much easier on the stomach) than the liquid.

+1. In my own personal experience, when taken that early, it stops the flu in its tracks. I’ve never seen anyone get over the flu naturally in 3 days, and yet my kid was fully recovered within 24 hours of starting tamiflu - 36 hours after symptoms started.

For a counterpoint, Tamiflu caused uncontrollable vomiting in my kid who then had to be hospitalized for IV fluids when he otherwise wouldn’t have needed to be. I would 100% never give him Tamiflu again; he ended up sicker than anyone in the family from the meds.

+1

Our family has had bad reactions to Tamiflu so it’s not an option. And our pediatrician no longer prescribes it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The flu shot is the wrong strain. Don't waste your time. You're better off wearing a mask in public for the winter.

Even if they don’t get a good match, the flu shot can help with complications from the flu. Most people who end up requiring hospitalization are immunocompromised or didn’t get the shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12 yo just had it and it was probably the sickest I've seen him since he was v young, and he had had the shot. I dont know what it would have been like without it. His ped does not do tamiflu but in retrospect i would have pushed for it. One night was esp troublesome.

This infuriates me. Our entire family just had Flu A and Tamiflu was a freaking godsend for the 3 of us who took it. However, like you, our pedi would ‘t give it to our son because “research shows it only shortens the flu by 12 hours and he might get a tummy ache”. Wtf! It literally stopped the virus in its tracks for the rest of us. Poor DS had it so rough and it could have been prevented. He had a positive PCR within 12 hours of symptoms starting. It was the perfect to give him Tamiflu. That said, I highly recommend asking for the pills if your kids can swallow them. Much easier to take (and much easier on the stomach) than the liquid.

+1. In my own personal experience, when taken that early, it stops the flu in its tracks. I’ve never seen anyone get over the flu naturally in 3 days, and yet my kid was fully recovered within 24 hours of starting tamiflu - 36 hours after symptoms started.

For a counterpoint, Tamiflu caused uncontrollable vomiting in my kid who then had to be hospitalized for IV fluids when he otherwise wouldn’t have needed to be. I would 100% never give him Tamiflu again; he ended up sicker than anyone in the family from the meds.

+1

Our family has had bad reactions to Tamiflu so it’s not an option. And our pediatrician no longer prescribes it.

Sorry to hear. Tamiflu was like magic for us (np). I just want to post because I had been discouraged from trying it by a nurse but our pediatrician said it was worth taking and it made a massive difference for the family members who got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12 yo just had it and it was probably the sickest I've seen him since he was v young, and he had had the shot. I dont know what it would have been like without it. His ped does not do tamiflu but in retrospect i would have pushed for it. One night was esp troublesome.

This infuriates me. Our entire family just had Flu A and Tamiflu was a freaking godsend for the 3 of us who took it. However, like you, our pedi would ‘t give it to our son because “research shows it only shortens the flu by 12 hours and he might get a tummy ache”. Wtf! It literally stopped the virus in its tracks for the rest of us. Poor DS had it so rough and it could have been prevented. He had a positive PCR within 12 hours of symptoms starting. It was the perfect to give him Tamiflu. That said, I highly recommend asking for the pills if your kids can swallow them. Much easier to take (and much easier on the stomach) than the liquid.

+1. In my own personal experience, when taken that early, it stops the flu in its tracks. I’ve never seen anyone get over the flu naturally in 3 days, and yet my kid was fully recovered within 24 hours of starting tamiflu - 36 hours after symptoms started.

For a counterpoint, Tamiflu caused uncontrollable vomiting in my kid who then had to be hospitalized for IV fluids when he otherwise wouldn’t have needed to be. I would 100% never give him Tamiflu again; he ended up sicker than anyone in the family from the meds.

+1

Our family has had bad reactions to Tamiflu so it’s not an option. And our pediatrician no longer prescribes it.

Sorry to hear. Tamiflu was like magic for us (np). I just want to post because I had been discouraged from trying it by a nurse but our pediatrician said it was worth taking and it made a massive difference for the family members who got it.

+1, and another data point. No stomach trouble, not even for my glass gut child.

However, I wouldn’t be so sure that your son wouldn’t have needed fluids without it. My father had horrible GI symptoms from last year’s flu A, and he had to be hospitalized. He almost died from the effects of the dehydration on his body. At any rate, my ped said if anyone barfed after taking Tamiflu to discontinue it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The flu shot is the wrong strain. Don't waste your time. You're better off wearing a mask in public for the winter.

Agree on the mask. But as far as vaccine being useful:

“Even a mismatched flu vaccine still provides some protection against severe illness. This is because the vaccines still train the immune system to recognize viral components that haven’t changed. Also, there is more than one flu strain circulating (not just H3N2). Preliminary data from the U.K. show that flu vaccination reduces hospitalization by 70–75% in kids and 30–40% in older adults.”

-Your local epidemiologist

“This week, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania posted a preprint — a paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed — reporting that in a small cohort of people tested about a month after getting this fall’s shot, 39% had antibodies that recognized subclade K viruses at levels that would suggest they were protected. Before vaccination, only 11% had antibodies recognizing the new viruses.
“Our study highlights the benefits of receiving influenza vaccinations, even in seasons that include circulation of variant viruses,” the researchers wrote”

-Stat News

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had the shot but still got really sick with the flu

But you didn’t die.
That’s the flu shot working.

People who took the shots die of the flu every year. Tens of thousands of them. They just never post the raw numbers so people think they are magic.

Seatbelts aren’t magic either, but that doesn’t mean I skip buckling up. Even when the belt irritates my skin.

The “raw numbers” show that the people who are dying and being hospitalized with the flu are overwhelmingly unvaccinated. Kids are nine times more likely to die of the flu if unvaccinated. It doesn’t mean a vaccinated person won’t die or be hospitalized, sadly there are always going to be elderly and immunocompromised people who are going to struggle with any virus, but their odds of survival are greatly improved. Considering how rampant flu is why take an unnecessary chance? If your body tends to overreact to flu vaccines with inactivated virus, the odds are very good your body will also overreact to the real deal which it will absolutely encounter multiple times in the wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
People who took the shots die of the flu every year. Tens of thousands of them. They just never post the raw numbers so people think they are magic.

"They?"

What central authority is collecting "the raw numbers" in one place of everyone across the nation, but not publishing them?

The CDC collects data on how many people die of flu each year: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/flu.htm

The CDC also collects data on how many flu shots are given each year: https://www.cdc.gov/fluvaxview/dashboard/vaccine-doses-distributed.html

But they have no idea what the overlap in a venn-diagram between these two groups looks like. So for 2023 you have 45,000 deaths and 157 million doses, but how many of those 45,000 deaths had a dose? No one really knows. I'm guessing no one really wants to know either. Makes it easier to push the shots. Because who would take it when it turns out something like 30,000 of those deaths were vaccinated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also think the flu shot is helpful. Every year, one person in our household gets the flu, but the rest of us stay well. I attribute this to getting the flu shot.

And I believe that even if this year's flu shot is a miss, previous year shots, every year, provide some protection against a mismatch for the current year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12 yo just had it and it was probably the sickest I've seen him since he was v young, and he had had the shot. I dont know what it would have been like without it. His ped does not do tamiflu but in retrospect i would have pushed for it. One night was esp troublesome.

This infuriates me. Our entire family just had Flu A and Tamiflu was a freaking godsend for the 3 of us who took it. However, like you, our pedi would ‘t give it to our son because “research shows it only shortens the flu by 12 hours and he might get a tummy ache”. Wtf! It literally stopped the virus in its tracks for the rest of us. Poor DS had it so rough and it could have been prevented. He had a positive PCR within 12 hours of symptoms starting. It was the perfect to give him Tamiflu. That said, I highly recommend asking for the pills if your kids can swallow them. Much easier to take (and much easier on the stomach) than the liquid.

+1. In my own personal experience, when taken that early, it stops the flu in its tracks. I’ve never seen anyone get over the flu naturally in 3 days, and yet my kid was fully recovered within 24 hours of starting tamiflu - 36 hours after symptoms started.

For a counterpoint, Tamiflu caused uncontrollable vomiting in my kid who then had to be hospitalized for IV fluids when he otherwise wouldn’t have needed to be. I would 100% never give him Tamiflu again; he ended up sicker than anyone in the family from the meds.

+1

Our family has had bad reactions to Tamiflu so it’s not an option. And our pediatrician no longer prescribes it.

This is my fear as well, as my DS is prone to vomiting. We don’t want to do Tamiflu so we usually don’t drag him to the doctor early on while he feels awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just took my fam of five in this morning, this is a bad season. Everyone should always get it every year of course.

If you're so good about getting the shot, why did you wait until January?

Yeah that’s way too late.

[Anonymous]

doctors offices should be masking right now bc you go with one thing and leave with the flu or covid.