3006 Did you get your flu shot?

We got ours Sunday at church. I haven't had a bad case of the flu--the achy, breaky, two weeks and flaky kind since the epidemic of 1957 (Asian flu--about 70,000 died) when I was in college. But I do now get a flu shot. Some people don't believe in vaccines. I do.

I read in the paper that there will now be a vaccine, Zostavax, for shingles for people over 60. I will definitely get this. It is a terribly painful and debilitating condition. It emerges from dormant chicken pox in blisters and a rash, and it can turn into severe neuralgia or chronic nerve pain. My dad had it for awhile on his scalp (it is also ugly and leaves scars), and my Aunt PeeWee (yes, that's what we all called her) became a shut-in from it. Sometimes an outbreak is brief, a few days or weeks, and sometimes it can drag on for years.

"There are an estimated one million new cases of shingles in the United States each year, and the risk of contacting the disease rises with the aging of the individual. It is estimated that one out of every two individuals over 85 is at risk for getting the disease. About half of all cases occur in people over 60, but the risk is also extremely high for younger people with immune problems, AIDS sufferers and people with cancer." TheRubins.com

Read the FDA notice here.

Zostavax
Shingles
vaccines
flu vaccine