On the BBC Americans can find their results last flu season with the Flumist vaccine. (It was a lot better than the American's shot)
All the academic chest pounding and endless delays to release a nasal spray version of the Flu vaccine, will cause harm to many children.
“a conversation with the editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick, and others, at the New School”
It can never be said enough. You know you’re REALLY into "New York Today" when you read that in the column and think “It’s so nice that Noah Remnick’s dad is keeping busy at the New School.”
:)
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@Freddie
Some people think that the children of the powerful do all right.
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Lifelong - Aww, I was just making a joke.
Intelligence and talents do necessarily come from genetics, and maybe what we do with them come from examples we see? Or not? :)
But wasn't it Forbidden Broadway that gave us, in the classic number "Who Do They Know?": "Ya know, Judy and Liza were more than just friends."
The only time I got the flu close to 30 years ago I remember 3 straight days in bed, moaning. Since then I have gotten the flu shot almost every year and have not gotten the flu again.
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“I was feeling a little queasy on my way back to the office after lunch, so I ducked into the Rite-Aid at the corner of 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.”
Tune of “I Want A New Drug”
I want a few drugs
‘Cause my tummy feels wrong
Drugs that don’t need a doctor’s note
Or make me wait much too long
I want a few drugs
So I stop in the store
But I see there is one cashier
For twelve people or more
Lines that get me nauseous
Not knowing what to do
Lines that make me feel
Early symptoms of the flu.
Ooh - free shots by aisle 2!
Shots by aisle 2!
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Billy from Brooklyn, I'm not superstitious generally, so I usually don't believe in the Fiddler on the Roof "tempting the evil eye" dangers of announcing good fortune - but the story linked about the Mayor boasting about the first shooting-free weekend in (I think) 25 years -
"Mayor de Blasio took a victory lap over the statistic, crowing to an NYPD graduating class Monday morning, 'I have to tell you, this is a winning team for sure. And to give you some evidence, about as recent as it can get, this last weekend — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — there was not a single shooting in all of New York City. Isn’t that amazing?'
followed very soon after by a Monday early-afternoon shooting (which it turns out was in the ankle, luckily), suddenly makes me wonder! (Maybe we should spit on the ground three times, like Golde and Yente did.)
Seriously, the worst regular plain old flu I ever had came 9 or 10 days after I had a flu shot. It sounds like a cliche, but when I went back to the doctor after seeing it wouldn't go away on its own, the doctor said the flu I had wasn't the kind the shot was for. And I swear he said the kind of flu I got, which everyone in my office building seemed to have gotten, there was no shot for yet.
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I dunno, I've never had the flu in my almost 69 years, and have never taken the vaccine. So why not leave well enough alone? If the vaccine is to put a small amount of influenza into my body--a body that has never had occasion to build resistance to it, I would bet good money that I'd soon be as sick as a dog (woof)!
So sound logic or not, I'm going to take my chances without it. Wish me luck.
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@Billy from Brooklyn
So the vaccine contains inactivated viral particles that don't infect your cells. It's just so the immune cells in your body can come into contact with protein-patterns that are associated with the current strains. But really getting the vaccine isn't about keeping you healthy. It's about contributing to herd immunity so the people who are immunocompromised (elderly people, children, cancer patients) will be less likely to be exposed since they're the ones most likely to die.
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If you're infected with the flu virus at age 69, there are very different & potentially severe consequences than if you are infected during your younger years. There is a reason for professional recommendations, especially for the older, younger, & pregnant or compromised patients.
On another note, has anyone heard rumors of Alexandra & Jonathan leaving NYToday? That will be a loss worse than the flu! I know there are hundreds of thousands of us all over the world who tune into their column every morning. Is anyone else feeling sad and upset about this? A real loss, if that is true.
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@Wendy
I look forward to the NY Today column every day.
Alexandra has such a lively, engaging writing style and has so clearly raised the bar for great writing at the Times. If it is true, I'm shocked to hear that they would let a young rising star like her go.
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