Not sure how to present this, given the heated debates about COVID vaccines.
I just wanted to remind folks about getting your flu shot, soon. The most effective dates are now until late October. Most places giving them (US/Canada) will be at no cost to you or your loved ones. We all (most) have seen how masks, distancing, and hygiene has been effective, not only on reducing COVID transmission, but Influenza and even the common cold.
I checked the current available vaccines for this “season” which is US centric because I reside here. Britain, EU, others may differ. Anyway I offer one a certain medical geek with this link.
I’m scheduled for my flu vax Friday.
Awesome! mine is tomorrow. My PCP got annoyed when I asked if will be Flucelvax Quadrivalent or something other. Yeah, I probably sounded like a smart-ass.
I have to get my shingles follow-up next week and I’m going to ask for the flu vax at the same time. Should be an interesting evening.
I’m due next week, as are the whole family. I had my pneumonia vaccine a couple of years back as well so I’m pretty well covered.
We don’t usually see flu shots here until October. At some point I need to see my GP and talk about Shingles and Pneumonia vaccines too.
They are available here (west coast Michigan) at CVS and the local hospital.
They’re available here now, but my employer is offering an on-site clinic in a couple of weeks, so I’ll probably get it then.
How did they decide which strains to include this year? As I understand it, they usually pick the strains that were most common in the opposite hemisphere’s most recent flu season, but the Southern Hemisphere’s most recent flu season was nearly nonexistent.
I have a doctors appointment tomorrow for something else, but hopefully they’ll offer that or my booster. I’m not sure if I should do both at one time.
Oh I just noticed they want me to get a pneumonia shot. I doubt I could do all three at once. But I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.
I’m scheduled for next Wednesday, Flu and first Shingles Vaccine.
I think all American flu vax are quadrivalent this year and last year. And I think that the strains are standardized by the FDA, so all 9 companies are equivalent in that respect.
Also, I think that the strains are standardized in ??? March ???, before the Southern Hemisphere winter season, so even if there had been a SHWS this year, it wouldn’t have had any influence on your flu vax.
(welcome to contradict me if I’ve got any of that wrong).
I’m in the Moderna COVID vaccine trial, and I’m expecting a call any day now to schedule the new booster they’re testing. I don’t want to delay or complicate things, so I’m going to hold off on getting the flu shot until a couple weeks after I get the booster. I’m also holding off on donating blood again for the same reason. (I almost didn’t make it into the trial because I had just donated, and had to be a month out.) But I have reminders in my calendar to follow up on both. I really hope we get a lot of takers for the flu shot this year. There are probably a fair number of once-healthy people who now have lung damage from COVID and would be hit harder than before by the flu, and our ICUs are already bursting at the seams.
Do it! It’s been a few years since I got the shingles and pneumonia vaxes (vaces?), and they warned me about feeling shitty for a few days afterward. That didn’t happen. IIRC, I didn’t have any after-effects beyond the usual minor soreness at the insertion point. YMMV.
Note, in case anyone here hasn’t looked into it: The Shingles shot is a two-shot sequence. Both shots are the same, given four-to-six months apart. The older Zostavax is obsolete and long gone, the new and better one is Shingrix.
The Pneumonia shot is also a two-shot sequence, given a year apart. The two shots are different, and given in a specified order. One of those shots has been around longer and many people had that one in the past. For people who had that one in the past (as I had), and a whole bunch of other special cases, there is an elaborate flowchart for whether you need it again and the timing. Here is a PDF with the protocol:
Will be getting my flu shot in the next week or so. A friend of mine who works for a big hospital network tells that, from what he is hearing, they are being advised that it could be a bad flu season, on top of the COVID situation.
Last year, my HMO did drive-thru flu shots so nobody had to wait in a crowded line or waiting room.
Getting mine at noon today. Usually I just walk in to a CVS and ask for one, then stand around for a long time waiting while they fill in online forms and such. This time I went online and saw that you can schedule an appointment for a flu shot, and you get to fill in all the tedious insurance data yourself and save time. I just did so and we’ll see if it makes a difference today in the wait time.
This makes it so I might spend my Saturday feeling crummy, but so be it.
Flu shot at 8:00 AM. Arrived 7:55, taken back 8:04, out the door by 8:07. Now chillaxing with hydration and a Motrin.
My next scheduled doctor’s visit is the first week of November, so I will get it then.
All vaxxed up for flu. Yes, filling out all the consent and other data online was a big time-saver. I was in and out in five minutes.
This is an advantage of ‘single insurer’ systems, even mixed-only-partly-single systems like Australia. For a flu vaccine, I walk in, show my card, and they copy down the number.