speed65 wrote on Nov 6^th, 2009 at 6:06pm:

I'm with Gerbil on this one. I've never gotten a flu shot and I've rarely if ever gotten the flu. I've had friends who have gotten the flu shot and gotten sick as a result. Whethor their sickness was a direct result of the vaccine itself or whethor it was the result of the vaccine overworking the bodies defense system and thus making it more susceptible to other illnesses I don't know. But in either case had the person not received the vaccine they wouldn't have gotten their sickness. Now it can also be argued that the vaccine prevented them from coming down with the flu that they were vaccinated against but were they better off because they came down with one illness instead of another?

Sirius wrote on Nov 6^th, 2009 at 7:11am:

I remember being a freshman in college and taking a class in logic. The fallacy you cite is called post hoc ergo propter hoc(after therefore because).
Here's an example:
I drank a glass of milk for the first time in years and the next day I was sick. Therefore I conclude that drinking milk made me sick. Of course there may have been a bunch of other foods that you ate or fluids that you drank or you may have gone swimming in a lagoon or visited a hospital, etc.

I think I'm gonna trust my doc on this one and not Gerbil   

Sure. Just because the doctor has 12 years of higher education and years of medical training you trust him. 

(I have a friend who headed Admissions at a major medical school.  He was present when some people debated the difference between doctors (highly paid) and nurses (not so highly paid.)

The Admissions director said that after reviewing hundreds of applications the differences he saw were about 1 point in GPA (4.0 versus 3.), 500 points on the SAT and 8 years of formal training.

Grisostomo wrote on Nov 6^th, 2009 at 8:32pm:
Getting a cold because you got the flu shot is more preferable to getting the flu. Also, getting the flu shot isn't just for you, it's called herd immunity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

It's part of the reason Smallpox is pretty much extinct.

Quote:

You had a class in logic? That's awesome, I don't think they offer one, it's probably just absorbed into other classes.

Sirius wrote on Nov 6^th, 2009 at 8:56pm:


Current H1N1 is a live virus and even with dead viruses,those with auto immune deficiencies are often encouraged not to be vaccinated unless they are at high risk for infection

I haven't had the flu shot since grade school and rarely get sick.  I get the annual cold but rarely the influenza.  This year, I caught a very mild flu that lasted one full weekend.  The last time I had the flu before this year was in 1997.

speed65 wrote on Nov 6^th, 2009 at 9:03pm:

How weak is the virus? My understanding was that even with immune deficiences the virus is too weak to do harm to an individual. Also, wouldn't having an immune deficiency be considered a high risk for infection?

absfan30 wrote on Nov 6^th, 2009 at 5:47pm:


It seems that Dodahday must now revise his honorific. It is now The Doctor Master. 

Sirius wrote on Nov 6^th, 2009 at 7:41pm:

To you, maybe!