80,000 Americans died of the flu last winter. Get your flu shot. - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.vox.com/2018/9/27/17910318/80000-americans-died-last-year-get-your-flu-shot Seasonal influenza is a killer, even in milder years. Lately, mild flu seasons tend to kill about 12,000 Americans, and more severe flu seasons kill up to 56,000. But 80,000 deaths is an unusually large toll. Here’s what led to the massive spike in flu mortality — and why you should get your flu shot.

Last years flu was terrible. I got vaccinated and still found my ass in bed for a couple of days, and the guys in my shop who weren't vaccinated were out for a week. It went around like a wildfire too, damn near everyone I knew caught it to some degree. 80,000 people is no joke when it comes to something so common, get your flu shots yo.

I sure hope my parents are willing to get us our flu shots even though they probably won't since they're anti-vax.

flus seem to be getting worse every year

It's always been a game of cat & mouse between the virus and the vaccination. Every time we get a good vaccination, the virus evolves to survive it.

If you're high school or something and I'm not mistaken I'm sure your school can help out with getting you a shot somehow. I know schools sometimes have clinics set up to give students shots.

lol and of course @windwakr would be against vaccines

flu injections here are free i believe for elderly and people more at risk. it's very good to keep getting the updated vaccine because each year the flu strain is different.

Yep, when I lived in the UK I got flu shots from my GP free of charge due to asthma. Even if you are not at risk, you can get a flu shot for less than £10 which is a worth while investment if you can afford it. Most pharmacists do them.

Actually there are a shit ton of different strains of influenza. Every year they have to predict what the next year's flu outbreak will be because it takes most of the year to manufacture the vaccinations. So when they predict correctly we have fewer deaths but when they get it wrong it means we have a lot more severe cases and deaths. Thay're pretty good at predicting what strain they'll have to counter but they can't be right every time. Then there's also the increasing anti-vax sentiment going around, epsecially in the United States, which exposes people to the virus they would otherwise be immune to via inoculation or herd immunity.

Fuck I wish that image was spoilered or hidden, I'm extremely uncomfortable seeing needles. Not that I don't agree, everyone should take their shots whenever possible.

Got my shot after a routine appointment, doesn't take that much more time out of the day, especially when there are several places willing to give them to you for free.

Even if you aren't really at a big risk of dying to it, it's still worth vaccinating for because it makes you feel like you're dying for a week.

I mean yes and no, when it comes to influenza it's actually mainly a bunch of existing strains that gets mixed and matched in pigs and birds - the problem isn't that the flu comes under evolutionary pressure from the vaccine, the issue is that the most prevalent strain changes from year to year. Every year, some prime scientists try to pick out which strains are likely to be dominant, and you put out a vaccine with maybe 3 or 4 of them. If your guess is off (like it was last year), you end up with a lot more people dying. Once in a while we get lucky, and the dominant strain ends up being a combination that older people may have experienced back in the 50's, and accordingly they still have immunity.

Last time my doctor asked me getting a shot, I was all lazy about it and gave a "eh sure why not" type of response. I'm glad that laziness didn't lean the other direction.

I'm out of high school and older than 18, so I don't think I'll need my parent's permission. Although, I'm not even sure to begin on signing up for a flu shot.

Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens all give the flu shot. All you need to do is walk in and go "Yo. I want my flu shot." At the very worst, they'll ask you to hang around for 15 minutes if you've never had one before.

The biggest reason that you should get a flu shot even if "you can take it" or "you haven't been sick in years" is because you can still carry the illness to those who are not just vulnerable, but so vulnerable that they can't get the shot. Then they'll be in a potentially life threatening situation because you didn't get your shot. Get your flu shot.

I had a pharmacist tell me about a month ago that they've actually discontinued the intranasal version a while ago. Looking it up, the CDC decided to reinstate it for this year but they also say that the flu shot is more effective than the nasal version (that may have been why they discontinued it I guess)

Also, most health insurance plans will cover it, as its considered preventative care, so no extra charge. My employer brings in a nurse from the local hospital so you can get the shot on your break (so pay attention if that's an option). The shot is crazy accessible to anybody. So there's really no excuse. I was one of the lucky ones last year. I got the shot and didn't get sick once, despite touching dozens of sick coworker's keyboards every day.

I gotta ask... why windwakr?

How the hell do you manage bloodwork or vaccinations? Jesus man, you should really work on getting rid of that phobia rather than closing your eyes to it.

Yeah even with the flu shot the virus was still very effective and killed people or got sick.

I imagine that he probably manages it by closing his eyes.

Last year's flu was fuckin crazy. I knew 2 of those 80k that ended up dying (both older men, friends of the family) and my mom was almost one of them too, she was bedridden by it for a solid 7 weeks, couldn't keep any food down and was dry heaving all the time. Left me scared as all hell, I had just lost my father less then a month ago and then she got so massively ill, thought I was going to lose her too. Only reason she's still alive is how strong her will is. And pedialyte. Lots and lots of pedialyte, in crushed ice cubes. Shit's a god send.

gotta @ him

yours should had been enough, but apparently he doesn't wants to come here

I got my flu shot last year and I still ended up being sick for about a week, one of my sisters was in the hospital twice for it, but she's ok now, and nearly everyone in my family got it last year to some degree. I hope the flu isn't anywhere near as bad as it was last year.

Idk about him but I usually try to distract myself with a phone and pray to god they don’t mess up. Usually it’s ok and just feels like a pinch, but I’ve had a couple of ones which went really bad, once in early childhood which traumatized me from needles for life, and one more recently from a hospital visit. When they mess up, it feels more like being stabbed by a fork than a slight pinch. It bled a lot, hurt like fuck, and caused enough damage that I couldn’t fully move my arm for 10 days without stabbing pain. People who aren’t squeamish to needles just got lucky.

I really hate the idea of getting a shot at Walmart