Flu jabs

[jeanlyon]

Sailing next Tuesday.  Just had our flu shots today in my local chemist.  You need 10 days or more to be safe from flu.  We are just about on target.   If anyone is sailing in the next 3-4 weeks, I suggest you get yours too!

[Harry Peterson]

Sound advice. Had ours a few days ago on the first day available. As always, no ill effects whatever. 

[jeanlyon]

Same here.  Really worth it.

[AndyMichelle]

45 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Sailing next Tuesday.  Just had our flu shots today in my local chemist.  You need 10 days or more to be safe from flu.  We are just about on target.   If anyone is sailing in the next 3-4 weeks, I suggest you get yours too!

Timely reminder, thanks Jean. 

I will give Michelle a nudge. 

Have a great cruise, 

Andy

[jeanlyon]

Thanks Andy.  Apparently 10 days before is better, but today was nearly as good.  We sail next Tuesday.

[ann141]

I had mine today too but not sailing until November.Had to pay but worth it after having had flu earlier this year.Hubby will have his next week at drs as his will be free

[Host Sharon]

Had mine last Saturday, sailing in 2 weeks. Used my local GP service though as it is important they do as many as possible to meet their targets and maintain their funding.

[emam]

We haven't a cruise booked yet but intend to get the jab for the first time. Unfortunately I currently have a cold.

[Pentlands]

Wish it did mean being safe from flu, but it does not. Depends on what strains they put in and what strains appear in the population.

 

Also when I ring my doctor and the first comment to me on their answering machine is "Next appointment to see a doctor is three weeks away", one wonders if the system ought to be scrapped anyway, so not interested in keeping up their numbers.

[Harry Peterson]

7 hours ago, Pentlands said:

Wish it did mean being safe from flu, but it does not. Depends on what strains they put in and what strains appear in the population.

 

Also when I ring my doctor and the first comment to me on their answering machine is "Next appointment to see a doctor is three weeks away", one wonders if the system ought to be scrapped anyway, so not interested in keeping up their numbers.

All the evidence points to the overall success of the programme, because usually the correct strains are anticipated.  My surgery (and most, I imagine) uses exclusively practice nurses to administer the injections, and each one takes around 3 minutes. They're delivered in a concentrated Saturday programme which doesn't affect ordinary surgeries, and my ability to see a GP pretty much always on the same day is never affected by the programme.

 

I appreciate that you may not have that luxury (if that's the word) but the flu jabs are probably saving your GPs time - not increasing it. It's successive Conservative governments' failure to plan for the future and provide enough GPs that's the problem - not the flu vaccine.

 

 

 

 

From the NHS website:

 

 

How effective is the flu vaccine?

Flu vaccine is the best protection we have against an unpredictable virus that can cause unpleasant illness in children and severe illness and death among at-risk groups, including older people, pregnant women and those with an underlying medical health condition.

Studies have shown that the flu vaccine will help prevent you getting the flu.

It will not stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary, so it's not a 100% guarantee that you'll be flu-free.

But if you do get flu after vaccination, it's likely to be milder and shorter-lived than it would otherwise have been.

There's also evidence to suggest that the flu vaccine can reduce your risk of having a stroke.

Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases, and flu strains often change.

So new flu vaccines are produced each year, which is why people advised to have the flu vaccine need it every year, too.

 

The flu vaccine for 2019-20

Each year, the viruses that are most likely to cause flu are identified in advance and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends which type of flu virus strains to include in the vaccine.

 

 

[jeanlyon]

Our surgery didn't have the flu vaccine this early, but our pharmacy did and so did Boots.  The pharmacist did the jab and sends the details to our surgery.  Much easier than trying to book an appt at the surgery.  with Boots, you can even make an appointment online.  I did that for my friend in London who is cruising with us.

[snaefell]

My Wife has been a Diabetic for many years & as such been given the flu jab,even though I didn't qualify some years ago,as my Wife was getting hers the doctor persuaded my to have one FOC,I agreed & regretted it the very next day,sore throat,itchy palette,sniffles,that went on for months until it broke out into a full blown cold,worst I'd had in years,that went to my chest & I coughed so much that I lost my voice & ended up on 'serious' anti-biotics which left me with an ulcerated throat.

Imagine my concerns when a couple of years ago I became of age & the docs insisted so persistently on my having the jab  that I eventually gave in,yesterday was the latest,after that first horror show so far no probs,fingers crossed!

[Pentlands]

17 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

All the evidence points to the overall success of the programme, because usually the correct strains are anticipated.  My surgery (and most, I imagine) uses exclusively practice nurses to administer the injections, and each one takes around 3 minutes. They're delivered in a concentrated Saturday programme which doesn't affect ordinary surgeries, and my ability to see a GP pretty much always on the same day is never affected by the programme.

 

I appreciate that you may not have that luxury (if that's the word) but the flu jabs are probably saving your GPs time - not increasing it. It's successive Conservative governments' failure to plan for the future and provide enough GPs that's the problem - not the flu vaccine.

 

 

 

 

From the NHS website:

 

 

How effective is the flu vaccine?

Flu vaccine is the best protection we have against an unpredictable virus that can cause unpleasant illness in children and severe illness and death among at-risk groups, including older people, pregnant women and those with an underlying medical health condition.

Studies have shown that the flu vaccine will help prevent you getting the flu.

It will not stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary, so it's not a 100% guarantee that you'll be flu-free.

But if you do get flu after vaccination, it's likely to be milder and shorter-lived than it would otherwise have been.

There's also evidence to suggest that the flu vaccine can reduce your risk of having a stroke.

Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases, and flu strains often change.

So new flu vaccines are produced each year, which is why people advised to have the flu vaccine need it every year, too.

 

The flu vaccine for 2019-20

Each year, the viruses that are most likely to cause flu are identified in advance and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends which type of flu virus strains to include in the vaccine.

 

Thank you for making my case. The op said " You need 10 days or more to be safe from flu".   And you pointed out "

Studies have shown that the flu vaccine will help prevent you getting the flu.

It will not stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary, so it's not a 100% guarantee that you'll be flu-free."

 

So the vaccine does NOT make you safe from flu, might help, but does NOT make you safe.

 

As to doctors surgeries, it is another postcode lottery and where one loses out it is also impossible to move surgeries. Should do away with small surgeries and make larger complexes that can deal with patients in a timely manor and deal with more than just 10 minute waste of time appointments and have more facilies. Yes we might have to travel, but that is better than a three week wait for some people. (My friend just had to wait 3 weeks and she had a severe dose of shingles).

 

PS I never suggested it was anything to do with vaccinations, I was reacting to the op who said they went to the doctors surgery for flu jab because it helped the surgery with money to keep going. NEITHER of us suggested that jabs was the reason for some of us finding it impossible to get an appointment, and it was just as bad when we had a Labour government.

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Pentlands

[Harry Peterson]

8 hours ago, Pentlands said:

So the vaccine does NOT make you safe from flu, might help, but does NOT make you safe.

 

and it was just as bad when we had a Labour government.

 

You need to read the whole thing, rather than just the bits you’re selecting to try to prove your theory. It’s a highly effective programme, and it saves lives. If you don’t want to participate, don’t.

 

And it certainly wasn’t as bad under Labour. They introduced a new pay mechanism for doctors which made recruitment hugely better. The Conservatives have reversed all that and now we’re paying the price, just as we are with crime and police cuts, and roads falling apart. And education too. You name it, they’ve wrecked it.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

You need to read the whole thing, rather than just the bits you’re selecting to try to prove your theory. It’s a highly effective programme, and it saves lives. If you don’t want to participate, don’t.

 

And it certainly wasn’t as bad under Labour. They introduced a new pay mechanism for doctors which made recruitment hugely better. The Conservatives have reversed all that and now we’re paying the price, just as we are with crime and police cuts, and roads falling apart. And education too. You name it, they’ve wrecked it.

I don't believe the late availability of the flu vaccine has anything to do with politics, the suppliers attempts to ensure that the jab protects against the most up to date strains of flu will always mean the supply is on a knife edge. And if memory serves me correct wasn't it Patricia Hewitt who gave massive rises to GP's in return for very little extra effort, no wonder the cupboard was bare in 2010.

Edited September 27, 2019 by terrierjohn

[Harry Peterson]

21 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

And if memory serves me correct wasn't it Patricia Hewitt who gave massive rises to GP's in return for very little extra effort, no wonder the cupboard was bare in 2010.

That increase solved the problem of an increasingly difficult GP retention and recruitment situation. It was essential, and it worked. Since then, Conservative cuts have put things back the way they were and we’re now suffering again from a serious GP shortage. The NHS always falls apart under the Tories.

 

By the way, the cupboard was bare because of the international economic crisis, during which Labour prevented a UK banking collapse at great cost. Tory propaganda conveniently forgets that. And the cuts were for political reasons - not economic.

[terrierjohn]

29 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

That increase solved the problem of an increasingly difficult GP retention and recruitment situation. It was essential, and it worked. Since then, Conservative cuts have put things back the way they were and we’re now suffering again from a serious GP shortage. The NHS always falls apart under the Tories.

 

By the way, the cupboard was bare because of the international economic crisis, during which Labour prevented a UK banking collapse at great cost. Tory propaganda conveniently forgets that. And the cuts were for political reasons - not economic.

I would love to debate these political issues with you at length, since we seem to hold polar opposite views, but I suspect we will see our posts deleted as inappropriate for this thread.

I will leave you with one wonderful saying from an old workmate who quoted his father, both of whom were Labour voters, as saying "Under a Labour govt. wealth is always more evenly divided, but under a Tory govt everyone is better off ".

[Harry Peterson]

5 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I would love to debate these political issues with you at length, since we seem to hold polar opposite views, but I suspect we will see our posts deleted as inappropriate for this thread.

I will leave you with one wonderful saying from an old workmate who quoted his father, both of whom were Labour voters, as saying "Under a Labour govt. wealth is always more evenly divided, but under a Tory govt everyone is better off ".

One small point though......since the Tories took control in 2010, everyone has been worse off. Except the very rich.

[jeanlyon]

I am not worse off at all.  And I am certainly not very rich!

 

Didn't know my little flu jab post would end up political!!

[terrierjohn]

11 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

One small point though......since the Tories took control in 2010, everyone has been worse off. Except the very rich.

We will agree to differ again Harry, even with Sterlings depreciation more people than ever are enjoying holidays abroad.

[Harry Peterson]

9 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I am not worse off at all.  And I am certainly not very rich!

 

Didn't know my little flu jab post would end up political!!

Are you perhaps a pensioner? About the only group that has done OK, to the detriment of the young. And I speak as a pensioner.

[Eglesbrech]

And back to Jeans topic, steering well clear of politics.....

 

A flu jab before a cruise is a sensible precaution as being in close quarters with others is a sure fire way to catch any numbers of “bugs” via the air conditioning, picking up tongs and cruet etc. Ships are not as bad a planes but bad enough.

 

Mine is booked in 💉

[jeanlyon]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Are you perhaps a pensioner? About the only group that has done OK, to the detriment of the young. And I speak as a pensioner.

 

Yes but a pensioner who is still working.   Don't get me talking about the young.  I do realize that house prices have soared but I oflten feel if they spent less money on eyebrows, tattoos, gadgets, phone contracts, they might be slightly better off.

 

Stands back and awaits flack!

Edited September 27, 2019 by jeanlyon

[Harry Peterson]

35 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

 

Yes but a pensioner who is still working.   Don't get me talking about the young.  I do realize that house prices have soared but I oflten feel if they spent less money on eyebrows, tattoos, gadgets, phone contracts, they might be slightly better off.

 

Stands back and awaits flack!

I appreciate the point about spending, and I agree with you.  I think they've given up though because of the huge impact of student loans and rocketing house prices and rents.

 

I graduated in 1970, left university with no debt at all (all fees were paid for students then, and there were also maintenance grants to cover living costs).  In 1972 we bought a maisonette in outer London for £9500 (current price £325,000).  In 1974 we bought a 3-bed semi in the same area for £14,500 (current price £550,000).

 

How on earth are young people (bearing in mind that we were in our in our early twenties at the time of these purchases) expected to fund this sort of property now? These were pretty basic properties - nothing remotely grand - and they were affordable for 'ordinary' young people without parental support. What do they do now? It's no wonder there's an inter-generational conflict building up, while the young see baby boomers like us so well off, leaving them to pay for the pensions, while having their own pensions curtailed.

[Ranchi]

Oh dear! Beer, LPs, football tickets, concerts, Levi’s and a maintenance grant to help.  Didn’t get on the housing ladder until I was 29 but I do feel for the young with their uncertain pensions (‘Where would you like us to invest your pension contributions this year? & that’s from a very well known firm’s pension scheme,) and a state pension disappearing over the age hill faster than an Azura train.  If I’d had the option of eyebrows, gadgets & iPhones perhaps my waist measurement might be a few cm less. 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Ranchi