Dear Fake Dr. Tommy:
Do you believe in flu shots? There are some crazy folk with needles coming to my office building next week and they want me to be voluntarily injected with the flu virus. There's something a little creepy about that.
From Anonymous
Fake Dr. Tommy replied:
Yes, I absolutely believe in flu shots. However the science of flu shots isn't exact. As we all know, there isn't an antibiotic that kills viruses. And it turns out that the flu is a virus. So we are required to use immunizations to try and build up the body's defenses to fight the disease that way. In fact, the flu is many different variations of one virus, which makes things difficult. So a bunch of microbiologists and infectious disease doctors get together each year and attempt to determine which bunch of serotypes or variations will be most prevalent in the population for that particular year. Then they call the flu shot companies with their recommendations, and the flu shots get made. So basically it's a crapshoot, because while the population will be immunized against whichever cocktail of viral variations are in the shot, but if you get infected with a different variation, your body doesn't have immunity. That's why there's a myth that the actual shot can give you the flu, which is malarkey. What probably happens is that someone gets a shot and then by coincidence (see my blog for definition) gets infected with a different variation of the flu virus.
So in summary, I absolutely recommend that you get a flu shot, especially if you are a health care worker, immunocompromised, or are continually exposed to disease (you have kids in daycare). The shot is good for normal folks too.
Do you believe in flu shots? There are some crazy folk with needles coming to my office building next week and they want me to be voluntarily injected with the flu virus. There's something a little creepy about that.
From Anonymous
Fake Dr. Tommy replied:
Yes, I absolutely believe in flu shots. However the science of flu shots isn't exact. As we all know, there isn't an antibiotic that kills viruses. And it turns out that the flu is a virus. So we are required to use immunizations to try and build up the body's defenses to fight the disease that way. In fact, the flu is many different variations of one virus, which makes things difficult. So a bunch of microbiologists and infectious disease doctors get together each year and attempt to determine which bunch of serotypes or variations will be most prevalent in the population for that particular year. Then they call the flu shot companies with their recommendations, and the flu shots get made. So basically it's a crapshoot, because while the population will be immunized against whichever cocktail of viral variations are in the shot, but if you get infected with a different variation, your body doesn't have immunity. That's why there's a myth that the actual shot can give you the flu, which is malarkey. What probably happens is that someone gets a shot and then by coincidence (see my blog for definition) gets infected with a different variation of the flu virus.
So in summary, I absolutely recommend that you get a flu shot, especially if you are a health care worker, immunocompromised, or are continually exposed to disease (you have kids in daycare). The shot is good for normal folks too.
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