Well, if the US employers force their employees to get it to avoid 2 weeks of downtime, that would suggest that there’s evidence that it works. If the employee got the shot - but got the flu anyway (wrong strain, or it truly didn’t work), the employee would be in NO condition to get to work.
When Moon Unit was 1, I had had a flu shot. That year, a lot of people who got the shot, got the flu anyway. I was one of them. I felt like crap for 5ish days, though that improved once I got antibiotics for the secondary respiratory infection. The worst day was when I was lying in bed, covered by all the blankets we owned, shivering, as my temperature spiked. Had someone burst into the house waving a rifle just then, I’d have been happy to see him. It was at least a full week before I felt even remotely human.
Naturally, the kids had the same thing (in fact, my son gave it to me). As they were being cared for at home by a nanny, they ignored the nanny and wanted MOMMY. When Mommy wanted to be left alone to die in peace. No such luck.
Your husband is being a jerk. I’d suggest that if he’s sick with the flu, he still has to take care of the baby. That’ll teach him! (of course, you’ll have to step in during the worst of it; I could not have cared for the kids when my temp was spiking).
First off, thank you for posting about the flu shot. The CDC recommends that
If your baby isn’t going to be getting a shot, because he/she’s too young, your husband better damn well get his. Even if your baby does get a shot, like hubby says, they’re not guaranteed.
As a new father myself, I have to say that your husband needs to man up and do the little things to protect his baby from harm. FTR, making him take care of the baby while he’s shedding flu virus all over the place, I’m not thinking that’s a hot idea.
I’ve never gotten a flu shot nor do I intend to unless I’m over 65 and/or immuno-compromised. I’m rarely sick, but when I am, my husband picks up the slack and has even taken off work when I was too ill to care for our children. When he’s sick, I pick up the slack, including his chores. That’s what people do when you’re lucky enough to have someone to share these responsibilities with.
You’re two adults who work full time while taking care of a home and a baby. Your circumstances aren’t extraordinary and I’m puzzled why you say you’re barely getting by. People juggle the house, jobs, and kids – sometimes even more than 1 child and sometimes with no spouse – all the time.
You can’t bear a repeat of the three of you battling COLDS at the same time? Oh, my. Let me bust your bubble: earaches, fevers, strep throat, colds, vomiting, they’re all in your future, guaranteed. And you can and will deal with it when it comes. Because that’s what parents do.
Part of me wants to tell you to suck it up. But I’m wondering if it’s possible that you might have postpartum depression? Because the thought of a cold, or your husband acting like a bachelor for 2 days, shouldn’t fill you with such dread. Nor should the common cold cause you to go mad.
Well, then, maybe you need to lower your standards a bit when he’s sick.
Or do something like get a small trash can that can be put by the bed or couch for his used tissues and food wrappers- the problem may just be that he’s not feeling up to getting up to throwing things away. A small trash can or two that he can reach from the bed or couch seems like a simple and obvious solution here.
Don’t sweat the magazines and DVDs, unless someone is likely to trip on them or break a DVD. Having them out of place and looking a little messy for a few days isn’t going to do any permanent harm to anyone (unless they were somewhere where someone might trip on them, and even that’s not likely to cause permanent damage).
It does suck to be one of the couple people that can still work for two weeks and you have to cover four people’s jobs. This is the only problem I have with getting a flue shot.
I have told people the same exact thing.
I have had the flu exactly once, back in 1968. Two weeks, 20 lbs of muscle mass lost, and I could barely move.
I would wake up in the AM feeling actually feeling pretty good. then I moved some thing besides my eyelids.
I would get out of bed to go to the bathroom. I would be crawling by the time I got there (maybe 20 feet from my bed)
Could just be lucky. I only started getting flu shots over the last several years via work, yet I’ve only had influenza once in my life (barring any early childhood bouts that I may have forgotten). That leaves a couple decades’ worth of no yearly vaccinations. Personally, once was enough for me!
People with chronic upper repiratory problems such as asthma, COPD, etc (and the people with whom they share close contact) should be vaccinated.
It’s not a panacea, and you might not need it, but it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Hubby needs to get a flu shot and stop wallowing around like a self-absorbed weenie just because he has a cold. But I’m just some dude on a message board; I could be wrong.
Unless there is a shortage, anyone can get one that wants one. (I am in the US). I am a “healthy adult” and I have gotten for the past several years. They have flu shot clinics in drug stores and grocery stores. I got mine this year in my Vons, “Get shot while you shop”
My old employer used to offer them free to any employee that wanted one. The paid to have a nurse come in and give out the shots during the workday. That was a nice benefit. But even now, to me, it is worth paying $30 to avoid getting the flu…
Depends on what you mean by “supposed to be for”. The doctors I know strongly recommend them for the old and immunocompromised because of the fair chance of death from flu for these groups. For healthy adults, it’s more a question of how much you care about being moderately to severely ill for a few days to a month. If you can afford to miss some work, or if you’re a just a hardass who can work while sick, then maybe saving the 20 bucks is the best option. Personally, the 3 times I’ve had the flu, I would have gladly turned over my wallet to anybody who could have made it go away. So the shot is cheap, imperfect insurance for me.
I’ve only had “real” flu twice. Probably the Asian Fluas a kid. Another variety as a young adult. For many years I got no flu shot–but didn’t get the flu, either.
My current employer offers the shot free. I’ve already gotten this year’s. Flu is far worse than the rotton cold that most of us get every winter; I’ll gladly reduce my chances of feeling like that again.
And I’ll contribute to “herd immunity.” To help protect the sissies who are scared of shots!
I actually went to work for a week before my husband dragged me to an urgent care facility, and I was diagnosed with the 'flu. The dr. said it had almost completely run it’s course. I felt horrible and sick, but since I only get sick once every two or three months for about an hour, I thought it was either a stubborn cold or a sinus infection.
