My Little Soapbox

You know what bothers me? Ads that tell me what to do. Well, I suppose that is the intention of ads, but you know what I mean. Some are far more in your face than others. With flu season around the corner, flu shot ads are already trickling out, Lord help us all, in fact my boss has already mentioned to me about getting hers & that she was able to get one without preservatives. (Though she is pregnant, so perhaps I can see her case a bit more.)

First of all, can I just say that I did not get the H1N1 flu vaccine last year & guess what, Im still alive! Oh there was a lot of hub-bub (my mother included). "Stefani, perfectly healthy people are dying. You have to get the vaccine." Im not some uninformed someone making a snap decision about my health. Im a health care student who researched the issue, weighed my options & decided against getting the H1N1 vaccine in its first year for these reasons:

*It was rushed out into the public with very little market testing done. (thats why so many people had a negative reaction to it)

*They did not, at the time, know all the effects of it (as stated by creators) because it was rushed.

*I was not aware of any preservative free vaccine available at the time

*I try to put the minimal amount of medicine/artificial anything in my body that is necessary

*I was in a semi-low risk group (age 23, healthy) & because of my job I knew that I would spend the winter months sitting inside of a house all day every day with limited contact to the outside world.

So now that the H1N1 shot is in its second year I should be willing to get it right? Well, there really is no reason to seeing as there is no longer a large national outbreak or local outbreak of H1N1.

Now onto the regular seasonal flu vaccine. I have always gotten this in past years because of my job caring for children. For some reason last year because of my schedule I could never get in to get it & it went undone. I dont recall getting the flu. I believe I caught a cold & a stomach bug was passed through the house somewhere in the spring but that is all I can remember. While last year I was inside the house a great deal more (with a newborn), this year I wont be as much. Also, I will be completing a level of my fieldwork in either an ADHCC or a Mental Health Care Facility, so I will be around more people. So I will probably get the vaccine this year as I will be exposed to more germs.

I feel that education is the most important thing. People seem to just jump into anything just because they are told to do so without researching & finding out what it is all about. We need to be proactive about ourselves, our health, & our lives & that begins with empowerment & education.

i.e. You dont have to get a flu shot just because the ads tell you to.