I normally would have asked this in OMNI, but there's no OMNI, so I thought I'd ask here. Just to make this travel related, I will say that I don't get sick after flying nearly as often now that I get a flu shot...

With all of the stories that have come out today about flu shot shortages, my question is, should I forego a flu shot this year? I read a quote from a public health official that said that healthy Americans should be "good citizens" and not get flu shots due to shortages in available vaccine.

I'm wondering if I fall into the "healthy American" or "high risk" category. I am relatively young and generally healthy, but I have occasional asthma. When I get sick, I have a tendency to develop bronchitis (likely due to my weak lungs). Which category do I fall into? I've almost always gotten a flu shot. The 2 years of recent memory when I didn't get a shot, I got the flu, and developed bronchitis that stretched on for weeks. I'd like to get a shot to prevent a repeat incident, but I also don't like the thought that getting a flu shot will prevent an elderly person (who could potentially die, rather than just get very sick as I would) in my area from getting one.

Thoughts?

I think you should tell your doctor exactly what you told us and let the doc decide. Everyone is different...

Since this question doesn't pertain specifically to women, I'm going to move it to Travel Buzz.

I am getting a flu shot this Friday as I am traveling from LAX to VCE next month, where I will spend 2 weeks. It is not uncommon for me to get sick after having flown on long hauls, particularly during cold and flu season. Moreover, I am giving myself plenty of time to heal from the shot, as I am one who's arm is sore and swollen for a couple of weeks at the shot-site (some sort of allergic reaction)

Okay, I'll be the first negative response. Don't get one. If you had a high risk of death from flu, I'd give a different answer.

The flu vaccine is almost junk science (I said almost). Epidemiologists make an educated guess each year as to what strain of flue will be most prevalent. Most flu originates in birds and is transmitted to humans. The epidemiologists then decide which strain will make the jump. Their record has been about 50% over the years. In my opinion, that is not nearly enough to justify the discomfort, etc. if you do not have a high risk of getting seriously ill.

My wife is in the same situtation as you are. Without a shot, she gets the flu, and then bronchitis for weeks. Weeks of inhalers, etc. She has access to some of the top doctors on the planet, so it's not like she's making this up.

I'm making her get a flu shot. The only way I have been able to do that in the past is if I got one too, but this year I'll probably give up mine (I never get sick anyways).

Your experience I would believe puts you at risk. I wouldn't feel like you were taking it away from a baby or an elderly person, while there are many of them out there, they won't account for all the doses.

If you look at the numbers, many of them don't want it. Less then 5% of the babies got the shot in 2002 (4.4%), only 30% of kids with asthma got it, and over 40% of the eldery did not get a shot that year.

I believe they will test the supply that is not pulled and it will mysteriously (or at least part of it) be cleared for distribution, just like they did over the summer when this same company had contamination issues (sort of makes me glad I missed the clinic I wanted to go to yesterday before the news broke). They will also probably dilute what's left for healthy people.

I wouldn't risk it if I were you, just like I'm not letting the wife risk it. You have a need, proven in the past that there is a very good chance you will get sick, and can get very sick from it. I'm not in the same boat, and I believe I'm in a very big boat, that if I skip it the worst that will happen is I may get the flu for a few days. But when you start tossing in other conditions with the lungs, the you should have one.

I don't normally get the shot, cause I agree with Japhydog.

However, in your case, I would hustle to a doctor and get his thoughts. Bronchitis can develop into some pretty serious stuff. My brother's run-of-the-mill case of bronchitis developed into a particularly bad and drug resistant case of pneumonia within days. He was in the hospital for three weeks and for a couple of days it didn't look like he would make it. It's a long, slow recovery. His lung function probably will not return to normal.

Make an appointment with your doctor and discuss it.

I inferred from this, and confirmed elsewhere, that OMNI is closed.

Moderators, please don't let it re-emerge here.

Well OMNI is not going to re-emerge here, but what does that matter? The question is indeed a valid one & one I would have put in TravelBuzz anyway before Omni.

If you can still get the flu shot, get it. I lucked out - got it the day before the supply got cut in half. The only time I got the flu was the time I didn't get shot.

BTW - totally unrelated - I also got (in the past) Hep A & B cuz of travel. Better prepared than sick.

Cheers. Sharon

I hope you mean the shot and not the disease!

Anyway, if this were OMNI, I'd say, No -- tough it out and let the old and infirm get your flu shot instead. But since we're now in TravelBuzz, I have to wonder how much additional risk is borne by people who spend more time in planes?

I've pretty much decided to forego a shot until mid-November at least, when there's a chance they'll say that The Rest Of Us can get one...

Before I moved this thread here, I did a little surfing around to see just how travel related this topic is. There are quite a few sites that talk about people who travel in planes being at increased risk for colds and flu.

Here's info and a link to one of them. The site gives some suggestions for minimizing your risk.

http://www.drweil.com/u/QA/QA315144/

The socially responsible thing would probably be to forgo a flu shot, BUT, as others have pointed out, FF are probably more at risk than many other people. I have to admit that as soon as I heard about this problem, I had the strong urge to go and get the shot, even though I don't normally! Human nature, I suppose. Having said that, it probably isn't going to be as easy as simply requesting it: I suspect there's going to be a lot of "gatekeeping" going on at doctors offices.

Yup - I meant Hep A & B shots - not the disease!

Read in the paper today that there's a rush to get flu shots (human nature I suppose) because of the shortage. If I didn't travel so much, then I'd hold off & let the young/older get the shots.

But w/ the amount of travel we do, think it's prudent. I came off a long trip in Sept & managed to come down w/ cold/sinus infection & now abcess in ear canal & am on drugs to sort out all that. I'm hoping that will be the last of it for me for this year/winter.

BTW - an alternative for those btwn the ages of 18-49 is the flu inhalent rather than injection. Doesn't work for very young or old.

Cheers. Sharon

I had my first flu shot last year. I immediately got sick. I also had to fly from SEA-DCA that day.

It was not the most fun I had had in a while, however, the flu shot reaction was quite short. I got over it quite fast.

I have another friend who had the same thing happen to her.

Would I get a flu shot again, probably.

My taller half is in grad school -- a disease vector, she travels by train/plane every week.

Did I have a cold/flu/bronchitis after my flu shot? No. The first year in a long time.

lala

I would consider people with asthma, no matter how mild, to be in the group that should be getting shots, travel or not. Increasing your exposure by flying, and this year with lots more people who would not have had a shot, means your exposure would be many more times what it has been in the past.

To me for you this is a no brainer, get the shot.