Many customers getting ripped off on Flu shots

[Lord Method Man]

Employer offers flu shots for free, I never get one.

[Neowinuser1991]

I feel weird it being completely free in Canada...

[Astra.Xtreme]

I could get it free through my employer, but I don't really care to have the virus injected into me.  Maybe I'll start getting the shot if I ever catch the flu.

[FriendlyBully]

I've almost never had a flu shot in the last few years. I almost never get sick, so I guess that's why. And When I do get sick, it's like a mild cold with light symptoms for like 3 days max. Guess i'm lucky.

 

I am the same way. I always get the flu when I get a flu shot. when I don't get one, I don't get sick in the season. To be honest, it doesn't matter anyways because the seasonal strain is always always different from the inoculation. Maybe people behave a little more recklessly because they think they are immune; e.g. washing hands, etc. 

[Joe User]

Skipping vaccinations for any major illness only does one thing. It helps generate increased revenue for funeral homes, undertakers, cemeteries and coffin makers.

 

The good news is, they make coffins in all shapes and sizes and funeral homes are very accommodating. So if you want that Doctor Who themed wake, it's a good idea to plan before you get sick.

[HawkMan]

Skipping vaccinations for any major illness only does one thing. It helps generate increased revenue for funeral homes, undertakers, cemeteries and coffin makers.

 

The good news is, they make coffins in all shapes and sizes and funeral homes are very accommodating. So if you want that Doctor Who themed wake, it's a good idea to plan before you get sick.

 

Again, not when it comes to the flu.

 

the flu has no flock immunization, and the flu shot doesn't protect against this years flu strains, it MIGHT protect against some of them. (at best 3 as that's how many is in the shot, but those are picked on a best guess from last year, and aren't the actual flu strains that will hit this year) 

[FloatingFatMan]

Again, not when it comes to the flu.

 

the flu has no flock immunization, and the flu shot doesn't protect against this years flu strains, it MIGHT protect against some of them. (at best 3 as that's how many is in the shot, but those are picked on a best guess from last year, and aren't the actual flu strains that will hit this year) 

 

You keep claiming that, but I've not seen you post any proof of that.

 

The flu shot contains the most likely strains that will be prevalent THIS season. There's no guarantee that they'd have guessed the right strains (it's not just a pick randomly from a hat you know, it's an estimation based on LOTS of factors), but there's absolutely no surety that they got it wrong either.

 

Please, either prove your claim, or stop making it.  You could be putting someone off the shot that it might actually save.

[HawkMan]

You keep claiming that, but I've not seen you post any proof of that.

 

The flu shot contains the most likely strains that will be prevalent THIS season. There's no guarantee that they'd have guessed the right strains (it's not just a pick randomly from a hat you know, it's an estimation based on LOTS of factors), but there's absolutely no surety that they got it wrong either.

 

Please, either prove your claim, or stop making it.  You could be putting someone off the shot that it might actually save.

 

This is different from what I said how ?

 

the flu sot this year has 3 strains. based on last years strains. they are as you said (likely) guesswork. and more so, there's always more than three flu strains. 

 

As for putting someone off the shot it could save, the only people who need it are the old and/or weak. they should get it anyway for the limited

protection it gives. 

 

Also how would I need to prove that particular claim you bolded. the flu mutates, the strain that will hit this year doesn't EXIST YET, unless the scientists are either time travellers or are making the flu themselves. The strain in the flu shot isn't the one that will hit this year, but hopefully close enough constructed by them to be similar enough to this years new strains to work. 

[FloatingFatMan]

Yes it mutates, but that doesn't mean it will be this years prevalent strain. Your facts are nothing but guesswork, and far less educated than the guesswork the people creating the flu shots work on.

[HawkMan]

you're missing the point, this years strain doesn't EXIST when they make the flu shot. they create a new strain in the lab by guesstimating how it mutates. 

 

either way, no healthy person needs the flu shot. giving the flu shot to healthy people doesn't reduce the flu spread. Look at the swine flu, interestingly a flu that turned out to e far less dangerous than that years regular winter flu strain...

[illage3]

They shouldn't be charging for Flu shots.  The flu has the potential to end the world, oh right that's all compaines care about ... money.  As long as they've got theirs they don't care if the world burns around them.

[Joe User]

Again, not when it comes to the flu.

 

the flu has no flock immunization, and the flu shot doesn't protect against this years flu strains, it MIGHT protect against some of them. (at best 3 as that's how many is in the shot, but those are picked on a best guess from last year, and aren't the actual flu strains that will hit this year) 

 

What's flock immunization? Seriously, it's not a term I'm familiar with.

 

Do you mean herd immunity? Which is a scientific theory that proposes mass immunity is a firewall against faster disease spread. Herd immunity has not been disproved, so I'm wondering just what you're talking about.

 

Also, let me leave this here:

 

http://gizmodo.com/setting-the-record-straight-debunking-all-the-flu-vacc-1455630807

[Joe User]

you're missing the point, this years strain doesn't EXIST when they make the flu shot. they create a new strain in the lab by guesstimating how it mutates. 

 

either way, no healthy person needs the flu shot. giving the flu shot to healthy people doesn't reduce the flu spread. Look at the swine flu, interestingly a flu that turned out to e far less dangerous than that years regular winter flu strain...

 

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/vaccination/virusqa.htm

 

As for your second point, healthy people should get vaccinated.  Giving them the shot does help reduce the spread of the virus. You need to stop spreading misinformation.

[Growled Member]

They shouldn't be charging for Flu shots.  The flu has the potential to end the world, oh right that's all compaines care about ... money.  As long as they've got theirs they don't care if the world burns around them.

 

I agree. That's the world we live in now, though. Money is all they think about.

[eXtermia]

I am American and my work provides it for everyone in my immediate family for free, I guess they see it as cheaper then everyone getting sick and missing on productivity.

[eXtermia]

I am American and my work provides it for everyone in my immediate family for free, I guess they see it as cheaper then everyone getting sick and missing on productivity.

[Joe User]

They shouldn't be charging for Flu shots.  The flu has the potential to end the world, oh right that's all compaines care about ... money.  As long as they've got theirs they don't care if the world burns around them.

 

Will you be donating the vials? How about the needles? No? Ok, shipping costs then? Refrigeration? Well, at least you're going to pay for the doctors who took the time to create it, right?

 

Strange, it's almost like it costs money to make and distribute vaccines.

 

If they were charging $900 a shot, I would complain, but $30? No, they're not getting rich on this.

[Bryan R.]

Will you be donating the vials? How about the needles? No? Ok, shipping costs then? Refrigeration? Well, at least you're going to pay for the doctors who took the time to create it, right?

 

Strange, it's almost like it costs money to make and distribute vaccines.

 

If they were charging $900 a shot, I would complain, but $30? No, they're not getting rich on this.

Do people get rich off cheaper things? Yes. All it takes is a bit of truth stretching and debatable "facts" to have billions of people spending $30. There is valid logic against getting the flu shot as well as for it.

[eXtermia]

sorry for my double post that I now seem to not be able to delete,

 

Just wanted to say most of us actually didn't get shots we had a nasal flu "sniff" ? or under the tounge

[Joe User]

Do people get rich off cheaper things? Yes. All it takes is a bit of truth stretching and debatable "facts" to have billions of people spending $30. There is valid logic against getting the flu shot as well as for it.

 

I challenge you to find a valid reason for an average person to not get a flu shot, because there really isn't one.

[Lizardslap]

Only thing I see wrong with this story is the person putting the insurance information in may not have entered it correctly may not know how to do the override they somtimes need or have an outdated card         

 

 

I wouldent count on them intentinally trying to rip people off expecially when they bill your insurance the same price there telling you as a cash price

[blerk]

I could have the jab free, but I know more people who said they got sick after getting it than those who felt it had been beneficial.

Side effects after vaccines are well known. Nausea, headaches, pyrexia are not unexpected, and any person giving vaccines should have warned you. And as such, this "illness" is part of the normal immune response. So if this really concerns you, then it's a matter of weighing up the possibility of general mild side effects against more serious illness.  

 

Vaccines are pretty unnatural.  

What's so "unnatural" about vaccines that stops you from having them? The science behind vaccines is not any more unnatural than say, the transformation of medicinal plants into pharmaceutical compounds. 

 

 I exercise and generally eat healthy and take care of myself.

Good :D

 

I'll just deal with the occasional illness and not risk anything funky going on.

Bit of a weird argument here. You'll not risk "funky" things (like what...?), but you'd risk more serious illness?

 

Save the jabs for the really serious things.

It's not like having a flu shot will sacrifice your abilities to deal with other more nasty infections. If you have this year's flu jab, you'll still be as well protected against Hep A for instance, should you choose to get that vaccine later.

 

What will weaken your body's immune system is ... the flu... so having influenza can increase the risk of other, 'more serious' infections, and it can lead to the worsening of chronic problems.  

[Skin]

I got a flu shot a week or so ago. These are optional so are not covered by our NHS.  Cost me ?7.50 at my local supermarket pharmacy, that's $12.15 US.  You guys are seriously ripped off...

 

Isn't the tax and how they take the money on the front end all balanced out?

[Pharm88]

A couple of points..

The flu does kill healthy people.

There are several flu vaccines this year including a quadravalent vaccine that contains 2 A and 2 B influenza subtypes. The trivalent vaccines contain 2 A and 1 B strain.

While the influenza strain does mutate, typically it does so slowly (antigenic drifting) so the vaccines likely still cover the most common strains. When there is a major antigenic shift such as the h1n1 pandemic, we cannot predict it and react to it after the fact (separate vaccine was introduced the year after the h1n1 virus appeared. The H1N1 actually killed more young healthy people in comparison.

[Torolol]

and spanish flu too, that ancient WW-1 virus kills more young healthy people than elderly.