Flu vaccination, yes or no.

[turnkey4099]

We are quarantined right now in our hospital. 5 confirmed cases out of a 25 bed unit. Not one person who got this years shot has gotten the flu. We are required to get the shot or wear a mask all winter. I don't like the shot, but I take it, makes my am hurt for a few days. I could not wear a mask. Only had the flu once , don't want it again

Got the shot this year, as always. Oddly the shot didn't hurt at all. That is the first time that happened, usually a sore arm for a few days.

 

[IslandTractor]

Got the shot this year, as always. Oddly the shot didn't hurt at all. That is the first time that happened, usually a sore arm for a few days.

Some years I notice the soreness for a day and other years I am shocked three days later to discover a bandaid on my arm where the completely forgotten shot was given.

 

[ultrarunner]

Question for Island Tractor?

Does the Titer Blood Test cost more than simply administering another round of MMR, Hep B, etc?

The reason I bring it up again is I had to stand my ground that I was not going to blindly get loaded up on vaccines I already had and provided proof of having.

The Titer showed I was good which is what I fully expected.

Also the provider made a big deal that I might as well get it all done since my employer is paying for it... that really doesn't make much sense except to fatten the bottom line of the provider.

Health Care is very much a business... lest we forget.

 

[IslandTractor]

Ultrarunner: A dose of MMR costs about $20. Measles titers (serology) can cost several times that amount but it's hard to tell what a hospital would pay from a lab like Quest as they probably have some special deals. If you walked into a Quest lab and asked for a titer it would probably cost between $50-100 is my best guess.

Cost of titers versus immunization is not really the driving factor in occupational health/infection control bias towards immunization though. The more practical matter is that they can be done in two minutes by vaccinating you while going the serology route requires blood draw, sample preparation, Fedex, follow up to insure the titers come back from the lab, interpreting the titers, communicating results both to the employee and to various occ health and infection control staff and special documentation so the same thing doesn't happen next time. Much easier to just jab you.:laughing:

 

[ultrarunner]

OK... got it.

I guess one day I will simply be more bother than I am worth... who know someone as mild mannored as me with never a cuss word could be so difficult...

Must have been all those pre-law classes I took all about not signing on the dotted line to things you disagree with or don't fully understand.

Thanks again!

 

[MossRoad]

...Much easier to just jab you.:laughing:

That's what drives me nuts... not just with shots, but with a lot of things. Doing something right VS doing something right for the bottom line. :confused3:

 

[MossRoad]

On another note, has anyone else ever had norovirus? It can be mistaken for the flu.

It came through my dad's funeral visitation 22 years ago. Don't know who brought it in, but I keeled over that night, curled up in the fetal position on the bathroom floor with tunnel vision. Lots of relatives said "Poor boy, he's just stressed." Nope! I knew my dad was gonna pass and was happy his suffering was over. I was SICK! Something ain't right! Had to go to the ER in an ambulance and missed my dad's church and cemetery services the next day. Priest keeled over before church. Had to get another priest. Brother-in-law keeled over at cemetery. Several siblings lost it that afternoon. Several relatives on way home to Wisconsin were down for a couple days. Several from Cincinnati got it, too, and one cousin went into complete renal failure and ended up getting a kidney from his sister! BAD STUFF!!!

Wash your hands and don't kiss, cry and hug each other if you don't feel well!!!

 

[chsdiyer]

I never get the shot except when we had our first child they made me get one. I got sick shortly there after. After we had our second child I avoided the subject and didn't get it. I think if you get the shot regularly you do better than those who get it once in a blue moon. It also doesn't work against every strand of the virus just the best shot at the most common strands of the virus for that year...or at least that's what i've heard.

 

[IslandTractor]

That's what drives me nuts... not just with shots, but with a lot of things. Doing something right VS doing something right for the bottom line. :confused3:

But honestly, the vaccination is the right answer! The other more complex route is a workaround that should only be taken when there is a good reason. Like gluten free cookies are not a good idea unless you happen to really have Celiac Disease. All the folks who just "prefer to be gluten free" are the ones who are doing something wrong. Our immune system has evolved to deal very effectively with antigens like those in vaccines. It's not a big stress. We get repeat vaccination with DpT every five years or so. There is no big downside to getting a repeat MMR vaccine. It's rather like changing your oil too soon because you forgot when the last time you changed it rather than sending out an oil analysis to guide your next move.

I spent many years as the medical director of infection control in a major teaching hospital. The occupational health nurses did most of the vaccinating and dealing with vaccine concerns but I'd be called if they couldn't solve a problem. I would sit down and figure out what the root concern was for the employee who resisted necessary vaccination and then address it. It was 90% just a matter of the employee having misinformation that required talking about. The other 10% was irrational fear and those cases we just handled as best we could. If someone is really frightened about a vaccine and data or tincture of time didn't help control the fear then we would use serologies to show the employee that they were susceptible. Generally however just patient explanation and debunking of some crap fear mongering they had read on the interweb or that they'd heard from the crazy lady down the street was all it took. We often were able to get consent simply by asking them to come back in a week after they'd thought about it.

One thing that I always found interesting was that we rarely had trouble with physicians declining vaccines and we rarely had trouble with maintenance staff or cafeteria workers etc. It was the nurses and respiratory techs and others who fit a category of highly skilled but not independent decision makers who seemed most likely to harbor fears and accept unfounded myths about risks of vaccination. My pet theory was that they knew just enough to get concerned and confused by the various myths floating around. The less trained healthcare workers just accepted what the occupational health nurse told them and the physicians usually understood the issues well enough to have looked up the real data by themselves if they had concerns. All nurses are not the same of course and many behaved just like the physicians or like the less trained HCW but there was a group in the middle that seemed to be the mostly likely to resist.

So, I don't think it was ever a matter of letting the bottom line overrule "what's right". As stated before, the "jab" was in fact the right answer all along. What took up a lot of time and added cost was making sure that those who were not willing to accept our standard recommendations were dealt with fairly and that we did so without creating a morass of "exceptions". We did in fact spend way more time and money on those who were reluctant for whatever reason. And virtually all eventually agreed to be vaccinated in accordance with CDC guidance.

 

[MossRoad]

Because the bean counters say its cheaper to just stick 'em again.... splendid.