Flying and the Flu
Jan 16, 2013 | 10:06 am
#16
Join Date: May 2005
Location: various cities in the USofA: NYC, BWI, IAH, ORD, CVG, NYC
Programs: Former UA 1K, National Exec. Elite
Posts: 5,487
I fly every week (see my OpenFlights link in the sig) and my job (academic) requires me to interact with tens or hundreds of people per week. Mrs. ralfp works in healthcare. In retrospect it was almost unconscionable for me to wait until last week to get the flu shot.
Jan 16, 2013 | 10:24 am
#17
Original Poster
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 55,213
Was vaccinated in October.
That's the answer for my roundtrip flights between JFK and LHR. Just because one is vaccinated is no guarantee that one won't catch the flu. The spread of the flu is apparently very much out of control in NYC. Use it on the seat, arm rests, tray table, magazines, door knobs, etc.
As for sick passengers on board, not much anyone can do especially if they sneeze or cough without covering their mouths.
Originally Posted by onefasteuro
My wife got me in the habit of briging desinfectant and wipes... And rub the whole seat down.
As for sick passengers on board, not much anyone can do especially if they sneeze or cough without covering their mouths.
Jan 16, 2013 | 11:14 am
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: HH Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 10,613
I was vaccinated in October, caught something flu-like in early November and again in late December. I'm frankly tired of so-called experts saying that the vaccine was very effective and then quickly changed to "somewhat" effective. Frankly, they are simply making an educated guess with the flu shot.
Jan 16, 2013 | 11:27 am
#20
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: US
Programs: (PM)AA SPG (Marriott), Hilton
Posts: 1,040
See: http://gogreece.about.com/b/2009/06/...flu-camera.htm
Jan 16, 2013 | 11:47 am
#21
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: N/A (kid =! no travel :( )
Posts: 236
I was vaccinated in October, caught something flu-like in early November and again in late December. I'm frankly tired of so-called experts saying that the vaccine was very effective and then quickly changed to "somewhat" effective. Frankly, they are simply making an educated guess with the flu shot.
People who complain about the protective nature don't fully understand the numbers. There is always the chance the vaccine given was predicted incorrectly making it nearly 0% effective against whatever emerging strain is actually hitting the US (think swine flu a few years back). That brings the number down. Then you have a certain percentage of the population which have a compromised immune system and either don't generate neutralizing antibodies or a weak response. This brings that % effectiveness down. So we come to that 50 to 60% effectiveness number. Ever heard of herd immunity? Even at 50 something percent, if everyone got it then those who aren't protected won't have to worry about it as much as they are less likely to run into someone infected. It won't wipe out the flu (it still has animal reservoirs unlike polio and small pox) but it could consistently reduce the number of infections by hundreds of thousands of cases if not millions. Seems like a pretty big money game right there for businesses and people.
Considering how cheap, easy, and effective the vaccine is, I suggest everyone without an allergy or immune disorder get it. There is very little reason not to. And yes to your comment it may be an educated guess at effectiveness, but then so is most of life. If you had a 50% chance of winning the lottery, is it no longer worth it? And yet, somehow, the US is still at around 30 to 40% adult compliance. What a waste of a pretty awesome feat of science.
End Reading Rainbow - the more you know rant
Last edited by pattermj; Jan 16, 2013 at 11:53 am
Jan 16, 2013 | 12:20 pm
#22
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: US
Programs: (PM)AA SPG (Marriott), Hilton
Posts: 1,040
Jan 16, 2013 | 12:58 pm
#23
Join Date: May 2005
Location: various cities in the USofA: NYC, BWI, IAH, ORD, CVG, NYC
Programs: Former UA 1K, National Exec. Elite
Posts: 5,487
(except FlyerTalk would probably be a big slice)
http://xkcd.com/574/
xkcd is great.
Jan 16, 2013 | 3:32 pm
#24
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
As a graduate student working in virus pathogenesis and vaccine development (my work is with hemorrhagic but I did some with flu and encephalitic) I think I can respond to this. Do you have any idea the difficulty in making a vaccine? The flu vaccine that comes out every year is a pretty amazing achievement. They have to analyze an enormous amount of data from the satellite labs in Asia and try to predict out of all that data what is most likely to come here. This is months in advance. Can you tell me honestly everything that you are going to do and every person you will interact with in the coming months? From that point they need to start generating the vaccine (egg based still main supplier I believe), test it, and get it distributed before the flu 'season' here in the US. This is a fairly major accomplishment they do every year.
People who complain about the protective nature don't fully understand the numbers. There is always the chance the vaccine given was predicted incorrectly making it nearly 0% effective against whatever emerging strain is actually hitting the US (think swine flu a few years back). That brings the number down. Then you have a certain percentage of the population which have a compromised immune system and either don't generate neutralizing antibodies or a weak response. This brings that % effectiveness down. So we come to that 50 to 60% effectiveness number. Ever heard of herd immunity? Even at 50 something percent, if everyone got it then those who aren't protected won't have to worry about it as much as they are less likely to run into someone infected. It won't wipe out the flu (it still has animal reservoirs unlike polio and small pox) but it could consistently reduce the number of infections by hundreds of thousands of cases if not millions. Seems like a pretty big money game right there for businesses and people.
Considering how cheap, easy, and effective the vaccine is, I suggest everyone without an allergy or immune disorder get it. There is very little reason not to. And yes to your comment it may be an educated guess at effectiveness, but then so is most of life. If you had a 50% chance of winning the lottery, is it no longer worth it? And yet, somehow, the US is still at around 30 to 40% adult compliance. What a waste of a pretty awesome feat of science.
End Reading Rainbow - the more you know rant
People who complain about the protective nature don't fully understand the numbers. There is always the chance the vaccine given was predicted incorrectly making it nearly 0% effective against whatever emerging strain is actually hitting the US (think swine flu a few years back). That brings the number down. Then you have a certain percentage of the population which have a compromised immune system and either don't generate neutralizing antibodies or a weak response. This brings that % effectiveness down. So we come to that 50 to 60% effectiveness number. Ever heard of herd immunity? Even at 50 something percent, if everyone got it then those who aren't protected won't have to worry about it as much as they are less likely to run into someone infected. It won't wipe out the flu (it still has animal reservoirs unlike polio and small pox) but it could consistently reduce the number of infections by hundreds of thousands of cases if not millions. Seems like a pretty big money game right there for businesses and people.
Considering how cheap, easy, and effective the vaccine is, I suggest everyone without an allergy or immune disorder get it. There is very little reason not to. And yes to your comment it may be an educated guess at effectiveness, but then so is most of life. If you had a 50% chance of winning the lottery, is it no longer worth it? And yet, somehow, the US is still at around 30 to 40% adult compliance. What a waste of a pretty awesome feat of science.
End Reading Rainbow - the more you know rant
Jan 16, 2013 | 9:41 pm
#26
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: AA Plt, BA, SPG Plt
Posts: 231
As a graduate student working in virus pathogenesis and vaccine development (my work is with hemorrhagic but I did some with flu and encephalitic) I think I can respond to this. Do you have any idea the difficulty in making a vaccine? The flu vaccine that comes out every year is a pretty amazing achievement. They have to analyze an enormous amount of data from the satellite labs in Asia and try to predict out of all that data what is most likely to come here. This is months in advance. Can you tell me honestly everything that you are going to do and every person you will interact with in the coming months? From that point they need to start generating the vaccine (egg based still main supplier I believe), test it, and get it distributed before the flu 'season' here in the US. This is a fairly major accomplishment they do every year.
People who complain about the protective nature don't fully understand the numbers. There is always the chance the vaccine given was predicted incorrectly making it nearly 0% effective against whatever emerging strain is actually hitting the US (think swine flu a few years back). That brings the number down. Then you have a certain percentage of the population which have a compromised immune system and either don't generate neutralizing antibodies or a weak response. This brings that % effectiveness down. So we come to that 50 to 60% effectiveness number. Ever heard of herd immunity? Even at 50 something percent, if everyone got it then those who aren't protected won't have to worry about it as much as they are less likely to run into someone infected. It won't wipe out the flu (it still has animal reservoirs unlike polio and small pox) but it could consistently reduce the number of infections by hundreds of thousands of cases if not millions. Seems like a pretty big money game right there for businesses and people.
Considering how cheap, easy, and effective the vaccine is, I suggest everyone without an allergy or immune disorder get it. There is very little reason not to. And yes to your comment it may be an educated guess at effectiveness, but then so is most of life. If you had a 50% chance of winning the lottery, is it no longer worth it? And yet, somehow, the US is still at around 30 to 40% adult compliance. What a waste of a pretty awesome feat of science.
End Reading Rainbow - the more you know rant
People who complain about the protective nature don't fully understand the numbers. There is always the chance the vaccine given was predicted incorrectly making it nearly 0% effective against whatever emerging strain is actually hitting the US (think swine flu a few years back). That brings the number down. Then you have a certain percentage of the population which have a compromised immune system and either don't generate neutralizing antibodies or a weak response. This brings that % effectiveness down. So we come to that 50 to 60% effectiveness number. Ever heard of herd immunity? Even at 50 something percent, if everyone got it then those who aren't protected won't have to worry about it as much as they are less likely to run into someone infected. It won't wipe out the flu (it still has animal reservoirs unlike polio and small pox) but it could consistently reduce the number of infections by hundreds of thousands of cases if not millions. Seems like a pretty big money game right there for businesses and people.
Considering how cheap, easy, and effective the vaccine is, I suggest everyone without an allergy or immune disorder get it. There is very little reason not to. And yes to your comment it may be an educated guess at effectiveness, but then so is most of life. If you had a 50% chance of winning the lottery, is it no longer worth it? And yet, somehow, the US is still at around 30 to 40% adult compliance. What a waste of a pretty awesome feat of science.
End Reading Rainbow - the more you know rant
I too am fastidious with hand sanitizer when I travel (well, also when I'm not traveling). Use paper towels to open restroom doors and then, back at your seat, sanitize. I always use cutlery, not hands for eating, even sandwiches. I've also done some travel in place where MDR TB is pandemic and wore a respirator (looks like a hospital facemask) routinely in public. If I was traveling this flu season, which is reportedly early and sever in the US, I would wear a facemask on my flight, especially in a high density situation like economy or on a bus/train. This seems to be more socially acceptable in Asia, but I would definitely encourage anyone who feels even slightly febrile or 'fluish' to get some disposable facemasks from a drugstore to protect others.