shelikespretties:

cream-and-stars:

• for the sake of the transplant patient riding next to you on the bus,
• for the sake of the barista who makes your coffee and takes immune suppressants for her crohn’s disease,
• for the sake of your grandpa on chemo,
• for the sake of your cousin’s tiny new baby,
• for the sake of the old lady you passed on the way to work,
• for the sake of your friend who (mazel tov!) is newly pregnant,
• for the sake of that guy from accounting who has an egg allergy,
• for the sake of the many people you will pass this week who have HIV and don’t know it yet,
• for the sake of little kids who will be properly messed up by missing a week in school and their parents who can’t afford to take the week off,
• for the sake of those who have poor health, can’t get insurance, and can’t afford the vaccine for themselves,

please get a flu shot in the coming few weeks. keep yourself safe from the flu while bolstering herd immunity for those who need your protection.

how to get:

• if your employer has a nurse or clinic, your least expensive option is likely to go with them.
• if they don’t and you have insurance, your next best option is to get it from your doctor.
• if you don’t, your county may have free or reduced cost influenza vaccines via a public clinic.
• if not, you can receive a flu shot at a pharmacy. costco and sam’s club are cheapest; a pricing schedule is posted here. call to confirm prices and that they actually have the vaccine in stock. i know $32 is a lot to rustle up, but if you’re at all able to, this is important.

things to consider:

• if you are afraid of needles, there is a nasal spray flu vaccine available! you can’t have it if you’re pregnant or immunocompromised but everyone else should be good to go.
• the flu shot (that you get in the arm) is unable to give you the flu. it is an inactivated viral vaccine. you cannot get the flu from the flu shot. (it is technically possible, though extremely unlikely, to get the flu from the nasal spray flu vaccine). you CAN feel some redness/ tenderness at the injection site, and (again very unlikely but possible) feel a bit run down the day after getting the shot. this is not illness: your immune system needs to be active to learn from the vaccine and develop an immunity to the flu. these effects are the effects of immune system activation. (if anyone wants a quick immunology primer to better get to know what this means/ how it works, let me know and i’ll write a post! otherwise, though, not going to get into a huge talk about memory b cells here.)

more than 200,000 people in the us are hospitalized and about 23,000 die of the flu every year. not only for yourself (though it’s awesome to not be home sick for a week!), but for everyone else, please consider getting a flu shot.

thanks.

Flu is way more dangerous and life-threatening than Ebola.