Thread: 2020 flu season

Most people who downplay influenza as, "not that bad," or think the vaccine side effects outweigh it have either, never had the flu or as Steve said think a cold was the flu, or have only had type B which will make you sick but is not life threatening. If you've ever had type A you understand the hype. Type A is life threatening and you may feel like you're going to die. I sure did. According to my epidemiologist buddy Influenza vaccine does not cause flu. If you get symptoms you probably were infected already and even if it doesn't keep you from getting the flu it will diminish the severity. His words, not mine but I'll follow his advice.

Friends here are not finding senior doses anywhere. If available the lines are very long.

It just occurred to me that I mentioned OHIP and unless your in Ontario you might not know what I'm talking about.

The Ontario Health Insurance Plan is for residents of Ontario. We get sent an OHIP card that is renewed every five years.

The OHIP card gives use free hospital and for over 65 free medication including a reduced filling fee.

OHIP isn't 100% free as most of us pay toward it when we do our taxes but it's not very much all things considered. For example, insulin costs $4.11 for a senior. That's not $4.11 per box but $4.11 filling fee for as many boxes as the prescription stipulates. I'm not 65 yet so I have to pay for my drugs and insulin but that's OK because my drugs cost me about $50 every 90 days and a box of insulin cost me about $100 and last me about 3 months as well.

The shots are also covered by OHIP for everyone so there isn't really any reason not to get it and maybe protect someone vulnerable from a really bad time.

The other Provinces have their own version of OHIP but I don't know what they call it.

Just an FYI for the Brits here, I'm also from England and although OHIP is pretty good it has nothing on the National Health. You probably complain about the NHS (I did) but believe me, I miss it. If I need a life saving drug like insulin and I'm not old enough to get it free but can't afford it, guess what!

Evidence of effectiveness of flu vaccine is very feeble. I do not take it even though I can get it for free.

https://www.cochrane.org/news/featur...uenza-vaccines

Originally Posted by Kees

Evidence of effectiveness of flu vaccine is very feeble. I do not take it even though I can get it for free.

https://www.cochrane.org/news/featur...uenza-vaccines

I need a doctor to really explain it to me, but it looks like in children it reduces the chance of flu from 1 in 5 to 1 in 20 (18% to 4%). In adults it drops from 2.3% to 0.9% and in the elderly from 6% to 3.4%. So, it looks like it is very effective in kids. As for adults, if you consider the fairly low chance of infection, you can argue a 50% reduction is pretty good.

Originally Posted by planeden

I need a doctor to really explain it to me, but it looks like in children it reduces the chance of flu from 1 in 5 to 1 in 20 (18% to 4%). In adults it drops from 2.3% to 0.9% and in the elderly from 6% to 3.4%. So, it looks like it is very effective in kids. As for adults, if you consider the fairly low chance of infection, you can argue a 50% reduction is pretty good.

Yes, most government sites quote seasonal flu shots being 60% effective for adults iirc.

Bob

[QUOTE=cudarunner;1920874]Last year when I told my youngest daughter (an avid Anti Vaxer/neither
of her young children have had any vaccinations) that I'd gotten my Flu Shot she
exclaimed 'WHY?!?!?!?....it's not 100% effective and there's all kinds of side effects".

It has always puzzled me why someone who has acquired all the benefits would seek
to deny those same benefits to others.

[QUOTE=PaulKidd;1920933]

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Last year when I told my youngest daughter (an avid Anti Vaxer/neither
of her young children have had any vaccinations) that I'd gotten my Flu Shot she
exclaimed 'WHY?!?!?!?....it's not 100% effective and there's all kinds of side effects".

It has always puzzled me why someone who has acquired all the benefits would seek
to deny those same benefits to others.

I can assure you with 100% certainty if one of these folks got the flu and wound up as sick as a dog or in the hospital they will get the shot next year.

Another way to think about this is if you went into a convenience store and the clerk handed you a $100,000 lottery ticket and told you if you bought it for a buck there is a 60% chance of winning the grand prize. Would you buy it?

To me it just seems like a pretty simple way to maybe protect people I come into contact with, I have a father in law that's 101.

Even if I did still get the flu and i did cause someone else to be really ill, my conscience would be clear because i had done all I could to prevent it.

Originally Posted by STF

If I need a life saving drug like insulin and I'm not old enough to get it free but can't afford it, guess what!

You are right that NHS is better than OHIP from what I can see. From the little I know of the NHS regarding the flu immunisation 65 and over do not pay for it and some others under certain circumstances also get it free. The rest seem to pay about 8 GBP for it.

Yes, if under 65 in Ontario you are responsible for paying your own drugs, dental and eye care. For that there is private insurance coverage available. I had mine as a work benefit while working and into retirement. The other option is to pay for it yourself if you can. There are other options if you can't.

The guess what part of that is that is the Ontario Trillium Foundation and other government sources of financial support for those that need it. I had a close relative in their early 40s fight pancreatic cancer, who could not afford what was not covered by OHIP and Trillium was a great help. They paid what little they could afford and the rest was covered. They never lacked for treatment. It was not a case of too bad, so sad, go home and die.

As with most health care systems some people can and do fall through the cracks.

Bob