Today at work I decided to go ahead and get poked in the arm to protect myself against H1N1. This was not a decision I made very quickly. I thought long and hard for a few weeks whether or not I would as I have always refused seasonal flu vaccines. There were a few reasons that made me take the plunge.
1) I have asthma and this flu hits your respitory system quite hard
2) I work in retail pharmacy and interact with persons with the flu all day long
3) I will be travelling in planes and to new countries in the next few months
4) I am in the at risk age group and gender type
5) I trust my pharmacy team and the information provided to me
So far my only reaction is really bad arm pain. It reminds me of the tetanus shot I had last year but it probably won't last 3 weeks like that one did. Ouch! Other than that I'm fine and once BF qualifies to get vaccinated he will be getting the shot as well. At that point I'll reconsider the seasonal flu vaccine as well as my boss will do us both at no charge.
BC has given pharmacists the option to become liscensed to give injections and two pharmacists at my store have have already been accreditted. Between my boss, his wife (at another store) and another pharmacist working at our store we have the only pharmacists currently doing injections mid island. I'm happy to see this service offered. They do charge a $10 injection fee for most injections though.
The H1N1 vaccine and Tamiflu are being covered by the government for everyone so there is no charge at all, but seasonal is $25 through a pharmacy. Tamiflu is the drug prescribed to treat the flu and we gone through a ton of stock the last two months. It really doesn't phase me anymore to take in prescriptions from people wearing masks. It's sadly very common right now.
Overall, I'm confident in my decision to get vaccinated. Have you been vaccinated yet, or plan to?
5 comments:
I am still up in the air about this. I was pretty sick at the beginning of the month with a cold, but it didn't turn into flu. I have never had the flu, do not have any respiratory problems and kind of feel that more research should have been done with the shot. That said, now that pigs are flying (swine flu...get it?? hahah), I may change my mind when its offered at work.
I got mine a few weeks ago as I was in my province's priority group. It totally made me super tired and achey. I didn't even go to work the next day.
I don't know yet, I keep changing my mind!!! I know a couple people who got the vaccine and still got very sick. But then I know a couple people who got the flu twice! (somewhat sick then really sick 10 days later).
I work with the public, handle money and other stuff that people touch a lot, so I'm definitely exposed to germs. Plus my sister works with infected patients on a daily basis (at least 4-6 positive cases at all times).
I just got my H1N1 shot for similar reasons - and my only reaction was a reallly low fever for about an hour that night. Surprisingly my arm wasn't sore at all!
My reasons:
1) I have asthma as well
2) I work with college kids who come in to participate in our studies and who often don't know when to stay home if they are sick
3) There have been confirmed cases at this college - including a few close friends/classmates
4) I am the at risk age and gender
5) It was no charge
My boyfriend won't get it - he just misses the "at risk" age cut-off (25) and thinks we will all turn into zombies (i.e. I am Legend) so doesn't want to get it. :-p
I also had a fever and felt a little yucky but besides that I was fine. Most people around me had arm stiffness and fever.
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