Wednesday 11 November 2009

Shot or no shot?

Okay, so now it has happened, my first appointment that was cancelled because of the Pig flu.

The person in question will be getting back to me next week when feeling better. And if not feeling better by next week, then who am I to turn to?!?

I wonder if this Pig flu really is as dangerous as the media wants to make us believe. A pandemic it is that is for sure and some have died of it, but then some people die of the normal seasonal flu as well and any flu medication is a high seller at present, among tissue paper and anti-bacterial washes.

The major discussion topic among people here in Finland now seems to be whether to or not to, take the flu shot, that is. And there are pro's and con's in both choices.

Getting the vaccination, well there are side effects and the queueing, as people have waited in line for hours for their shots. By the way, how are you to know when it is your time? Does anyone tell you when to go? Still it takes about two weeks for the antibodies to form and you getting a resistance for it, maybe, for the flu in question as this is a viral flu, and as you might have heard viruses do constantly mutate. So in a worst case scenario there might be no point in taking the shot, as it has already changed and does not work against the new strand of the flu.

Okay, what about not getting the shot then? Well, I guess keep it your own secret, you better not tell anyone about not having it to avoid getting ostracized.

Anyway, a quite big school in the vicinity of the capital had their flu shots, and this against the general guidelines of the flu vaccinations from the health department. As there are guidelines on who is to get vaccinated first, elder people, young children etc. One can wonder if there maybe might have been some children to some prominent politician, or maybe even in plural as in politicians, attending to that very school...

5 comments:

  1. I've been very curious as to the media coverage of the Swine Flu in other countries. In the US, the media is making a huge deal over it, that's for sure. My family typically doesn't do flu shots and won't do swine flu shot, either. Not enough testing, in my opinion. Hope you stay healthy and don't have to deal with swine flu.

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  2. Hello LJ,
    Here's a link for you to the Finnish national TV's homepage English news version:
    http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news//
    There you can see what they write about the pig flu among other topics. And thank you very much for your concern, I do wish you the same, that you and your family also stay well and don't catch the pig flu!
    Wishing you a nice day,
    Mona

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  3. Wow, thank you very much for the link. I am seeing very interesting news stories on Finland's dealings with swine flu and other subjects as well! I noticed that I can also view this page in Finnish. It'll be a challenge in the future to try and read it in Finnish(I'm trying to learn the language on my own.) Thanks, again!


    -LJ

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  4. Dear LJ,
    I wish you good luck with learning Finnish. How come you want to learn it? Do you have Finnish ancestry or relatives?
    Wishing you a nice day,
    Mona

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  5. I have Scandinavian heritage, but it's of Swedish origin. I'm just truly obsessed with Finland and it's culture and language for whatever reason. I have been since childhood. I have an adopted father and half of his family is Finnish, perhaps that's the reason. I think Finnish is a beautiful language. It's very hard to learn, though.:)

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