Why should you get the flu shot?

It is the flu season again! Many seasonal questions are being asked: Is getting the flu shot safe? Does the flu shot gives you the flu? I heard that flu shots cause autism in kids, is that correct? Does the flu shot immune you for the whole season?

Flu, in general, is a highly contagious disease that can infect a healthy individual through coughing, sneezing, and generally in contact with the respiratory secretions of an infected person. If infected, people may be subject to diarrhea, sinus and ear infections, cough, vomit, abdominal pain, fatigue, nausea, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, inflammation of the heart or brain, and maybe even death!

Have you heard about Spanish Flu, Swine Flu (H1N1 Flu), Bird Flu, and Seasonal Flu? What is the common between them? Well. All of them are types of flu, and they are (and some of them were) extremely dangerous!

From 1918-1920, the Spanish Flu infected about 500 million persons and killed from 50-100 million. Swine Flu was less severe. In the USA alone, the Swine Flu infected over 60 million, hospitalized over 270,000 and killed over 12,000.

Some people underestimate the severity of seasonal flu that Canada and the world face yearly. It is unfortunate that globally, from 291,000 to 690,000 persons die annually.

Below are several reasons that may convince you to vaccinate yourself and your family:

Each year and since the flu virus is highly adaptable, there is a probability that the obtained vaccine is effective against the existing strain of the virus. The numbers for this year are impressively high! And it is close to a perfect match with this year’s strain.

Also, Alberta Health Services allowed pharmacists to vaccinate kids 5 years old and above. That was not the case in previous years.

Flu shot does not give you the flu because the virus is already killed inside the vaccine. In addition, only one flu shot per person is enough to immune you and your loved ones against the disease.

Autism is known to be a broad disorder known to affect kids. It is linked to social difficulties, behavioural and communication problems, repetitive actions, rigid body movements, and other symptoms. There are many risk factors such as family history (genetic), environmental risks (some environments may increase the probabilities of getting it), advanced parent age, birth complications, and other factors.

But not flu shots or vaccinations!

Because it is a sensitive issue, huge body of research has been conducted on the effect of the presence of trace amounts of Mercury or Aluminum with no link proven.

Even more, mercury has been removed from kids’ vaccination, and autism was still being recorded across kids with no obvious effect of removing the mercury.

Many people heard about the Texan mom (she was a doctor) who just postponed the flu shot for her 4 years old kid to be scheduled with a medical appointment of his brother. Unfortunately, the kid died of flu 10 days before getting his flu shot. The mom pleaded to the whole world to not make her mistake and vaccinate their kids as soon the vaccine is available.

Antibiotics are only effective with bacteria, but flu is caused by a virus. There are a few antiviral medicines but they do not cover all viruses. Normally, medications are given to a flu patient to relieve symptoms till the immune system of the body take care of the virus (it is dangerous to depend on that though). Vaccination raises your body chance of fighting the viruses and decrease the probability of getting the whole bout of the disease.

Or to be accurate, it is paid for by your tax money! Canada has one of the nicest healthcare systems in the world. With your provincial health card, you can walk in to any pharmacy or medical clinic and get your flu shot. Simple and easy!

Most of the people do not feel the flu shot syringe when administered. The diameter of the G25 syringe is 0.5 mm which may give you just a funny sensation but in most cases not pain.

And anyways even a faint pain for half a second is far more better than nights of pain, lost wages, emergency visits, and other bad complications.

Our professional pharmacy staff at Chaparral Pharmacy – Remedys’Rx takes the flu season seriously. If you reside in Chaparral, Sundance, Walden, Cranston, Legacy, Seton or any other Calgarian community and have any questions regarding the flu shots, please call our professional pharmacists at 403-475-5544, and they would be happy to answer your questions and concerns.