What is the absolute dumbest reason you have heard someone say for not getting a flu shot?

Gosh, @gobears, from what I’ve seen on Fluther in the past, don’t you think that any reason for not getting a flu shot is the dumbest reason?
Just my impression from how you’ve approached the topic before.

Any reason Jenny McCarthy and her science-doubting ilk give.

@canidmajor of course not. A few people get bad local reactions. That’s a perfectly acceptable reason to avoid the shot, or to request preservative free.

It’s hard to say what the dumbest is; there are so many of them.

Having said that, I have only gotten flu shots once in the last 25 years or so. I guess my issue is that there’s no way to measure effectiveness – how do I know that I didn’t get the flu because of that shot? There were many years where I didn’t get the flu and I also didn’t have the shot.

My other ‘excuse’ – and this is really stupid, I realize – is that I am practically NEVER sick. I mean that I have accumulated hundreds of sick days at work which I never have used. So in a twisted sort of way, I wouldn’t mind getting the flu to have a couple of days to sleep with no responsibility.

You would have lost your sh*t if you were involved in the Facebook conversation I was in last week. A “gentleman” was offering his services as an ordained minister to sign off on “religious exemption” forms for hospital employees in my area who didn’t think they should be “forced” to get a flu shot—that asking hospital employees, who work around sick people who count on them to help them get healthier and not die, to take reasonable virus precautions—is tantamount to government sponsored rape of their immune systems.

I had to leave the thread, stating that I was fervently hoping I never became immunocompromised while living within ambulance distance of their hospitals.

You’re right. I would have lost my shit. I’m glad you didn’t point me to it.

“I’ve never gotten the flu.” So, you want to continue to play Russian Roulette the rest of your life?

“It might give me the flu.”

They reuse needles. The needle causes autism.

@elbanditoroso I guess my issue is that there’s no way to measure effectiveness – how do I know that I didn’t get the flu because of that shot?

The average person with a college degree is wealthier than those without. But Bill Gates became the Earth’s wealthiest man without a college degree.

So clearly the college degree is waste of time and money, right?

“Germs don’t mess with me. I’m meaner than they are, and they’re scared of me.”

Well, that’s what I tell people!

@canidmajor That’s my impression as well, and the general vibe I get from this site about this topic, that you’re a heartless, soulless, monstrous moron if you don’t get a flu shot. I know very few people who actually get them, and the last time I got one was 7 years ago.

It’s the same with being an organ donor, which I am also not. I’m just a very loathsome person :)

“I’m afraid it will hurt”

Flu shots, where I live, are pretty pointless. Not an accuse, but an actual fact. I have gotten a flu shot when it was recommended, because of the H1N1 that was spreading, but the yearly flu shot is an inoculation against the flu that was going around last year, and the lovely virus that is going round in the current time has evolved. It’s what viruses do.

@DominicY If you ever have an urge to be called “a heartless, soulless, monstrous moron,” tell people that you don’t like or want children. Along with all those lovely adjectives you’ve mentioned, you’ll also get “selfish,” “greedy,” and “inhuman,” plus a lecture about how you’ll someday regret not having had kids.

If someone’s not a good match for children and doesn’t want to become a parent, staying childless is an act of kindness. Every child has the right to be wanted and loved. It’s unspeakable to have kids, only to resent, neglect, mistreat, or harm them.

How is this post related to flu shots? Well, it isn’t. I always enjoy the evolution of these message threads, as conversations follow their natural flows.

Oh… did I mention. I work in daycare with children from 1 to 5 years old.

One is that I never get sick.

@cazzie You’re so right. There’s such a hard-sell on flu shots, most people don’t learn that they’re not magic, and that there’s no one-size-fits-all. Each autumn’s flu vaccine protects against the influenza viruses that research indicates might be common during the upcoming season. If a person is exposed to another virus, that flu shot won’t help.

They’ve done studies here and they don’t help, generally. We pay attention when there are actual pandemics at risk, but general flu viruses…. we sort of take a Viking stance and say…‘Bring it on!’

@cazzie. Three years ago we had 6 people in the ICU with the flu, two of them young women, and two nearly died.

Just sayin’

@jaytkay – actually your snide assertion is totally wrong. There is plenty of hard evidence that going to college does in fact lead to higher income. So your retort, snarky as it was, is simply bogus.

The dumbest reason has to be this. The article is floating around FaceBook and some people now believe it is possible that a virgin teen who received a flu shot became pregnant due to the vaccination.

The government puts tracking nanobots in the vaccine as well as RFID chips as part of the mark of the beast, and the vaccine doesn’t work since it is part of a big government sponsored conspiracy to keep Americans ill, fill hospital beds, line the pockets of big pharma and inject the American sheeple with exotic new infections in an attempt to control population growth and help usher in a New World Order.

@ibstubro I love Crislip. I listen to all of his podcasts.

That the shot gives the person the flu.

Another is when people say they don’t get the shot anymore, because they got one one year and still got the flu. I’m not even sure those people did get the flu, because people call colds flu and don’t know the difference. Plus, of course, you can get the flu even if you had the shot.

Having said all that I don’t take the shot myself, and I do say things like, “I have only had the flu twice in my life.” However, I agree not having caught the flu many times is no guarantee of anything. The next flu I do catch could put me near deaths door or worse (God forbid) you never know. What I do mean, is even though I don’t like the idea of the vaccine, my husband has had 3 flus in the last 6 or 7 years, and I told him I think he should consider the shot maybe.

My personal belief is if the shot has not changed there is no point in getting it a second year in a row. I don’t know how long the immunity is supposed to last, but I assume it’s more than a year. My assumption, but I have not looked it up, is that this year’s shot in America is a new combination, because of the mutated strain last year. At least I hope it is.

The pregnancy and gun thing is hysterical. I’ve never heard such a thing.

Helpful and on topic. Hmmm, on topic.
HAAAAAAAAAhahahahahahahahahahaha. I love these posts! I am having a good time reading them.
How about, “They are running low on vaccine, and I am neither child nor elderly.”?

@gobears I don’t live where you live. If I lived in a cesspool, I’d get every inoculation against things I could. Just sayin’

“If the introduction of a destructive animal virus such as cow pox into the blood of a human being was only an innocent error of the human mind causing no injury it might left alone till time would throw it also aside among the rubbish like so many other medical errors But vaccination is not only an absurdity before reason and an illusion in a scientific point of view but also an enormous imposition on humanity”
The American Phrenological Journal, 1869

@ibstubro That’s the winner.

That they don’t want to get sick. That coming from my boyfriend a few years ago. And a week later said….I never get sick.

Fast forward to Christmas 2013 he was sick for 2 weeks in the hospital. I had no car to get to see him. But spoke to him everyday.

“If the introduction of a destructive animal virus, such as cow-pox, into the blood of a human being was only an innocent error of the human mind, causing no injury, it might be left alone until time would throw it also aside among the rubbish, like so many other medical errors. But vaccination is not only an absurdity before reason, and an illusion in a scientific point of view, but also an enormous imposition on humanity.”

Sorry the copy-paste didn’t provide necessary punctuation, and was taken from a free Google books preview so not likely linkable.

“The flu is not so bad” or some stupid comment conflating food poisoning or a GI bug with the flu.

I’ve heard more than a few people claim that all vaccines were a racket set up by pharmaceutical corporations in order to make tons of money. The problem with that logic is that the flu shot is available at a steep discount or free depending on where you live. They make little to no money on the vaccines. If pharma wants to rake in the bucks, they can sell cancer drugs for zillions of dollars a pill. Vaccines are practically worthless from a monetary standpoint.

for some reason, I can’t edit my post, even though its been less than two minutes since I made it. I have no idea what’s up. I find it interesting someone who works in a hospital is able to refuse the flu shot. In my area, ALL hospital employees—even the janitors and people who work in the gift shops—ALL are required to get flu shots or lose their jobs. My husband doesn’t actually works in the hospital, but he works in a mental health clinic affiliated with the hospital. He and all of his coworkers had to get the flu shot or look for new work. I am sure they make exceptions for people who have immune or allergy issues, but as far as I’ve seen, it’s get the shot or get a new job in our network.

@Cupcake I always think they are confusing the flu with a cold. You are probably right that some people confuse it with the 24 hour flu. I never understand it. I guess maybe they have been lucky enough to never have had, or don’t remember, the real deal flu, knock you on your ass, can’t get out of bed for at least 4 days, hard to keep your fever down, flu.

I hear people talk about how they always go to work, even with the flu. No they don’t. They just don’t have the flu.

@JLeslie And what about people who can’t understand the difference between viruses and bacteria? “I have a really nasty cold. I need to get some antibiotics.”

^^That’s annoying too. Although, I would say there has been such a strong backlash against antibiotics, sometimes they aren’t given when it’s reasonable.

@keobooks check Meta about Edit problems.

I’m not so sure that any answer anyone gives is a dumb answer. When people do not want to do something they will come up with a million ways to get out of it.

I haven’t gotten my flu shot this year. I keep forgetting to get it done. Is that a stupid reason?

Tie a string around your finger, @keobooks.