Flu shots for old people | Golden Skate

Flu shots for old people

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
I have been researching the various types of flu shots for old people. It boils down to the high capacity shot for three strains and the Quad shot with normal capacity...2 A strains and 2 B strains, if I am understanding things correctly.
Since old people like myself suffer from A strains more than B strains, my pharmacist says to get the high capacity tri shot for best protection as more antibodies will be made for A strains. He also said there was a "miscalculation" in which flavors to put in the shots and they are just now getting caught up....if you have heard differently, I would like to hear from you but I am hunting down a high capacity tri shot.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Spousal unit has already gotten the high dose “tri” shot from his physician, and we didn’t hear about a miscalculation. We are on the East Coast, I don’t know if that matters :confused:
 

NanaPat

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Country
Canada
I have heard of flu shot "mismatches" before, but never of "catching up" whatever that means.

As I understand it, it takes months to produce the flu vaccine in usable quantities, so they have to predict months in advance which strains to include. Some years vaccines are a good match for what materializes, some years not so much. But once they decide, that's it.

Here's an article about mismatches:

https://www.healthline.com/health-n...shot#Recent-flu-trends-in-Southern-Hemisphere

In Canada we show up and get a shot, no choices of type that I've ever heard of. But if you're 65+ or are a caregiver for a vulnerable person, they're free, so there's that.

ETA: I just found out that in BC the free shots are the regular ones: you can get the high-dose shots at a pharmacy but have to pay.
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
I have heard of flu shot "mismatches" before, but never of "catching up" whatever that means.

As I understand it, it takes months to produce the flu vaccine in usable quantities, so they have to predict months in advance which strains to include. Some years vaccines are a good match for what materializes, some years not so much. But once they decide, that's it.

Here's an article about mismatches:

https://www.healthline.com/health-n...shot#Recent-flu-trends-in-Southern-Hemisphere

In Canada we show up and get a shot, no choices of type that I've ever heard of. But if you're 65+ or are a caregiver for a vulnerable person, they're free, so there's that.

ETA: I just found out that in BC the free shots are the regular ones: you can get the high-dose shots at a pharmacy but have to pay.

Thanks! Very interesting article.....I think my pharmacist meant that they had to change the makeup of the shot late....but whether or not they got it right is another issue.
The A(H3N2) vaccine component was updated from an A/Singapore/INFIMH-16-0019/2016 A(H3N2)-like virus to an A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2)-like virus. Both B/Victoria and B/Yamagata virus components from the 2018-2019 flu vaccine remain the same for the 2019-2020 flu vaccine.Sep 16, 2019

Things just get stranger and stranger.....read this!
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2019-2020.htm

In the US, I have never paid for a shot. Over 65, medicare covers them, Under 65, my health insurance does. IIRC, the county health clinic just gives them out to all county residents whether they are insured or not.
I am digging deeper into this hot mess of correct components and if there are 3 or 4. The truth is out there.

I asked 3 times at WAlmart if this was the high dose version, which is hard to find, and they said yes, but they only had 14 doses left and they expected those to be gone by the end of the day. I felt a bit out of engery today after the shot but feel fine now.
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
I am trying to find the viruses in the high dose.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2019-2020.htm

OK, found it

Fluzone High-Dose is standardized according to United States Public Health Service requirements
and is formulated to contain HA of each of the following three influenza strains recommended for
the 2019-2020 influenza season: A/Brisbane/02/2018 IVR-190 (H1N1), A/Kansas/14/2017 X-327
(H3N2), and B/Maryland/15/2016 BX-69A (a B/Colorado/6/2017-like virus,

The high dose is tough to find due to the changes noted in post 6.
 

Jaana

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Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
Here in Finland I have been putting my trust on healthy & diverse food combined with a daily multivitamin pill. Many of my friends have been getting those flu shots though.
 

hanyuufan5

✨**:。*
Medalist
Joined
May 19, 2018
Here in Finland I have been putting my trust on healthy & diverse food combined with a daily multivitamin pill. Many of my friends have been getting those flu shots though.

US doctors, drugstores, clinics, etc. push them like crazy, and some doctors will even make you sign a waiver if you refuse one. As someone who almost died from a vaccine, it's getting harder and harder not to answer, "Would you like/have you gotten a flu shot?" with, "I don't enjoy risking anaphylactic shock, so no."
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
US doctors, drugstores, clinics, etc. push them like crazy, and some doctors will even make you sign a waiver if you refuse one. As someone who almost died from a vaccine, it's getting harder and harder not to answer, "Would you like/have you gotten a flu shot?" with, "I don't enjoy risking anaphylactic shock, so no."

I don't blame the doctors for asking for a waiver; I would, if I were one. That's a no-brainer in a society where malpractice lawsuits are so common. :shrug:

The flu is serious, the flu ain't trifling, and if you are older or immunocompromised, the flu can kill. Just like anaphylactic shock:(

It is of course up to every adult person what types of shots they should have. And after research, study, and all that other good stuff, my vegetarian, nature loving self gets a flu shot. I refuse to be treated by medical professionals who have not had a flu shot.

That ain't Big Pharma or Big Anything talking. Just me and my own self. And when I'm old enough for the high dose, I'm getting that one too.:)
 

NanaPat

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Country
Canada
I don't blame the doctors for asking for a waiver; I would, if I were one. That's a no-brainer in a society where malpractice lawsuits are so common. :shrug:

The flu is serious, the flu ain't trifling, and if you are older or immunocompromised, the flu can kill. Just like anaphylactic shock:(

It is of course up to every adult person what types of shots they should have. And after research, study, and all that other good stuff, my vegetarian, nature loving self gets a flu shot. I refuse to be treated by medical professionals who have not had a flu shot.

That ain't Big Pharma or Big Anything talking. Just me and my own self. And when I'm old enough for the high dose, I'm getting that one too.:)

British Columbia requires health-care workers to either get the flu vaccine each year, or wear masks while caring for patients during the flu season, which typically lasts approximately four months. The employees grieved it, but the policy was upheld.
 

Ducky

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 14, 2018
US doctors, drugstores, clinics, etc. push them like crazy, and some doctors will even make you sign a waiver if you refuse one. As someone who almost died from a vaccine, it's getting harder and harder not to answer, "Would you like/have you gotten a flu shot?" with, "I don't enjoy risking anaphylactic shock, so no."

Do you know what you were allergic too that caused that reaction? Because you can always ask if they have a version of that doesn't have your trigger? (And it's fine telling people that you can't get it because you're allergic to something in the shot itself).

Case in point: my mom is allergic to eggs. I know, weird. Not even sure how that one works because she can eat food that has egg in it as an ingredient but eggs by themselves are a no go. So it used to be that the virus for the vaccine was incubated in an chicken egg and so my mom couldn't get the flu shot because she would have a really bad reaction. They've changed the way the shot has been produced and now she can get them.
 

Ross74

Medalist
Joined
Oct 8, 2015
Just got my shot. Hope it works better than last year when both dh and I came down with Type A two months after getting the shot.
 
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