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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 8:25:41 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 9:43:40 GMT -5
Perhaps it is just me but the article seems... incendiary and poorly researched.
Quote:
"A new study has found that people who received a flu shot before the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic were more likely to catch the swine flu virus"
"Dr. Skowronski was able to re-create the results in ferrets. Giving half the ferrets the 2008 seasonal flu shot and the rest a placebo injection, eventually all the ferrets were infected with the pandemic H1N1 virus."
First off, how awful for the ferrets. Secondly, duh. The flu vaccine is not perfect medicine and is designed for mutations of the previous years flu, its never 100%. H1N1 not being a 'normal' flu the vaccination would not have worked, hence why everyone was scrambling to get a H1N1 vaccination to the public. Thirdly, from the research it seems the ferrets were /just as/ likely, not /more/ likely.
I never got a flu shot before I worked in health care, I get them now because they are required. I don't encourage my family to get them either. Unnecessary medicine of any kind is unnecessary risk. My SO got one last year because his company was giving them for free, he had a mild seizure as a reaction, in a healthy 30 year old male. Personally, unless you are in a high risk position for contracting the flu I see no reason for it.
~Kelli
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 10:15:28 GMT -5
i saw this in the Province (my province paper for british columbia, canada) there was an entire half page artical on it but it wasnt so much about ferrets. just their effect after receiving the flue shot vs. not and how they reacted to receiving the H1N1 virus. They state that the ferrets who received the flu shot and H1N1 were "significantly sicker, however they all recovered" i wish we could do something  animal testing seems just so wrong and i can guarantee they dont get playtime outside of their cages and they dont eat meat. they probably eat that marshall's crap and they're probably all marshalls ferrets -.- |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 10:17:42 GMT -5
JUst say no to the flu vaccine. Big pharma propaganda/scare tactics. My dad is currently in the hospital and I am fighting them bc the first thing they want to do is give the already sick guy, a vaccine. Grrrrrrrrr.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 10:20:55 GMT -5
When I admit new patients I have to ask them if they have had a flu/pneumonia vaccination and then offer them one if they want it.  ~Kelli |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 10:37:43 GMT -5
Uhg, my boss was pushing me to get a free flu shot this year. (My work offers them for free). I said no thanks again and she said "oh really, but you don't want to be sick for a week like you were last year."
I was deathly sick for a week last December with either some sort of stomach bug/virus or a very bad case of food poisoning. Flu shot ain't gonna do anything for that. In the past decade I've had the flu all of twice. My immune system is usually pretty good.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 11, 2012 10:49:16 GMT -5
TBH, I used to get so very sick with the flu. Literally in bed twice a year. Until I started getting the flu shot yearly. If I DID contract it after that it was always a very mild case. For me, it did FAR more good than harm.
That said however- always keep in mind that even if you get the shot- you can still transfer the virus to others if you've come into contact with it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 11:33:50 GMT -5
No matter how accurate the article is, I'll bet everyone (not on here of course) completely overlooked the part where those poor ferrets were subjected to the shot and the flu. Poor poor creatures. I can't imagine how horrible that was for them. I've had a baby get really sick once and he was absolutely pathetic. I honestly don't know if he would have made it without my care (he couldn't even make it two steps to the litterbox without me). I can only imagine - an open cage with no hidey holes, probably no blankets, no one to hold them and care for/about them  My heart goes out to all the poor research ferrets and other critters. On another note, after finding out how vaccines are developed I'll never get another one again unless I'm forced. All the thousands of rats that get sick and die to develop one small vaccine. It's horrendous. |
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Post by acodlin on Sept 11, 2012 11:48:17 GMT -5
I have mixed feelings about animal testing. Some stuff shouldnt be tested on animals... makeup, cleaning chemicals ect.. but some stuff has to be tested to find out if its safe for human use. If theres no other way I'd rather it be a rat or mouse. That one small vaccine can save thousands of lives. The polio vaccine erradicated that disease. Pneumonia vaccine saves so many elderly lives every year. Flu shot too. Its god awful to think of any animal being tortured, made to be sick or have cancer.. but its a toss up, do we want to get rid of cancer or find treatments? or do we want to say good bye to our loved ones. Every medication ever made was tested on something. I don't think about it a lot because I can't change it. If I could change it, should I? If there is an alternative way then yes, if not then I don't know |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 11:52:49 GMT -5
Where I work, they offer us the vaccine for free every year. I refuse. My mom got the shot one year when she got it for free (after she'd NEVER had the flu for over 30 years), and less than a week later, she got VERY sick with flu-like symptoms.
The flu shot is one of those things - if you get it, you do. If not, you don't. To each their own.
As far as animal testing goes, I do find it necessary for certain things. For this, though? I don't know. :/
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 12:02:04 GMT -5
I was often of the same thought and mindset as you Acodlin, so I truly do understand where you are coming from. And to be truly honest, without a fair amount of the vaccines we receive as children I'm unsure as to what the fate of the modern human race would be. However, I've started to shift my opinion of things here recently. Now I think along the lines of - should we really even try to cure and treat everything??? I know this may sound rather harsh to many people, and it is a hard pill to swallow this way of thinking, but what would happen to us, to the world if we were to find cures for everything - no one would die until they became to old to live anymore and the world would implode with the population surge. As hard as it is to understand, diseases and illnesses have their place in this world and we don't have any right to irradicate them all. Please understand that this is an extreme situation I'm describing, but it shows my thought process. Also, to purposely breed creatures to only torture them while attempting to irradicate disease is unacceptable in my eyes and shows humans to be the monsters we often are. I'm not saying that I haven't benefited in some ways from these methods, as I'm sure we all have even if unknowingly, but there ARE other ways. The human race survived and thrived for hundreds of years without such measures before us, so why do we now feel that harming animals in the name of science is the ONLY way to live???
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Post by shiftyferret on Sept 11, 2012 14:53:42 GMT -5
I think the Flu shot has it's place. People who are high risk or with compromised immune systems definitely SHOULD get the shot. My work offers them for free as well, and I refuse. I'm relatively young and fairly healthy. I see no reason. If I get the flu... yes it would suck. I'd be miserable and sick for a week, and then I'd recover. That's fine with me(I might not feel that way DURING being sick, but before and after I'd be fine with it!  ). I'm against EVERYONE getting the shot. If every one gets the shot, then the virus mutates all that much faster and evolves into something they have to quickly get a new vaccine for. Which puts all the people who actually do need this protection at risk all over again! Personally, I would rather skip the shot and get the flu... recover, than help it mutate faster and put some one who is at risk and cannot recover as fast or easily as I can at risk. Also... I think I convinced my guy to forgo the vaccine this year too! He did last year, and I was kinda disturbed by it. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 15:15:52 GMT -5
Acodlin--generally, ANYTHING tested on animals has to be tested on humans as well, because we have different biology. So the testing on animals is basically pointless (imo), because either way further testing is going to have to be done.
As far as flu shots go, I rarely get flu shots and I don't even remember last time I got the flu. With the job I have now though I have to either get a flu shot or wear a paper mask around the patients.
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Post by shiftyferret on Sept 11, 2012 15:40:36 GMT -5
Yeah, if you are working around patients... it would make sense for you to get the shot. You are directly dealing with people who may not be able to fight off the flu on their own.. or who could get very very ill from it. Definitely folks in the medical field should get them.
I work in a big box hardware store. Yes, I'm in contact with lots of people...but not such a delicate situation.
As far as ferret/animal testing. I know they often use ferrets because they happen to get sick in much the same manner we do. Which is why we can actually pass the Flu virus to our ferrets at home.
It makes sense, but it's horrifically saddening.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 15:58:46 GMT -5
I think if you tell them you have an egg allergy they won't give you one. That may have changed though but worth a shot. (get it? get it?)
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