So...ok people are idiots. Chances are that they're well meaning idiots but idiots none the less. Lets get a few things straight right off the bat for the foilhats around here.
1.The vaccine is not going to kill you. Nor will it take over your mind, cause cancer, inflame your brain tissue or turn you into a mindless consumer slave bent on buying as many Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy sets as possible.
2.The big scary list of side effects are not all going to effect you, in fact chances are that none of them will. People, for whatever reason, tend to look at the possible side effects as though they are a list of what WILL happen, not what possibly could in a tiny percentage of people. Basically, look over the list of things that may make you more likely to have side effects (the main one is a allergy to eggs) and chances are you will be fine. The actual percentage of people who experience truly dangerous (and even then usually only temporary) side effects is well below a 1%.
3.If you're scared of needles then get the mist. It's more effective and in no way more dangerous. It's required for many health care workers so that should let you know how well it works. It's true that there is a higher chance of you feeling like you have a cold for a day or so after, but the actual chance of more dangerous side effects is no greater then the shot.
4.Those at risk are actually not just the very young and very old, in fact the old seem to fair better with this sickness then adolescents and 20 somethings. One of the reasons that this flu is getting the frankly stupid amount of media coverage is because it's actually killing off the young and popular rather then just infants and those in the midst of second infancy. As someone within the health care system I can tell you that the fatal cases we see are usually somewhere from elementary school kids to late 20s or even early 30's. Death is caused by sudden and violent onset of pneumonia, sometimes being fatal IN LESS THEN A DAY. Allow me to repeat that. Some of the fatalities wake up with a mild cough and are dead by dinner. And, once again, these are people who are young, healthy and normally very fit.
5.Despite the above point being completely true it's also important to remember that this is not the god damn plague. The WHO's current estimates are that out of over 622482 infected the fatalities number at least 7826. Those of you with calculators will know that this is a little more then 1%. Alot of these numbers are estimates (the number of both cases and fatalities are probably both understated but in the end most likely work out to about the same thing)but these trends have been seen since the first recorded cases. Now, this may not seem like a lot, but think of it this way. Say you go to work or school with roughly 5000 people; statistically, if they all decided to not to get vaccinated, roughly 50 people would die. So, while it's not the end of the world like many news stations seem to think, it is far from nothing.
6.Comparing it on a purely statistical average, the chance of dangerous or long lasting side effects of the vaccine vs the statistical chance of dying due to the disease, we can see that it makes more sense to get the vaccine, especially if you're in the at risk demographic. It's not like not getting one will be a death sentence, but why not get one just to be safe? They're free in several locations and only 10 or 20 bucks if you don't feel like waiting in line.
In the end, use your brain people. Don't wholesale believe anything that the news or bloggers tell you. In general, the news will always blow things out of proportion and the Internet will always be controlled by the uneducated and the conspiracy theorists. Do the research yourself and don't trust anything that doesn't cite credible sources. That is all.
1.The vaccine is not going to kill you. Nor will it take over your mind, cause cancer, inflame your brain tissue or turn you into a mindless consumer slave bent on buying as many Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy sets as possible.
2.The big scary list of side effects are not all going to effect you, in fact chances are that none of them will. People, for whatever reason, tend to look at the possible side effects as though they are a list of what WILL happen, not what possibly could in a tiny percentage of people. Basically, look over the list of things that may make you more likely to have side effects (the main one is a allergy to eggs) and chances are you will be fine. The actual percentage of people who experience truly dangerous (and even then usually only temporary) side effects is well below a 1%.
3.If you're scared of needles then get the mist. It's more effective and in no way more dangerous. It's required for many health care workers so that should let you know how well it works. It's true that there is a higher chance of you feeling like you have a cold for a day or so after, but the actual chance of more dangerous side effects is no greater then the shot.
4.Those at risk are actually not just the very young and very old, in fact the old seem to fair better with this sickness then adolescents and 20 somethings. One of the reasons that this flu is getting the frankly stupid amount of media coverage is because it's actually killing off the young and popular rather then just infants and those in the midst of second infancy. As someone within the health care system I can tell you that the fatal cases we see are usually somewhere from elementary school kids to late 20s or even early 30's. Death is caused by sudden and violent onset of pneumonia, sometimes being fatal IN LESS THEN A DAY. Allow me to repeat that. Some of the fatalities wake up with a mild cough and are dead by dinner. And, once again, these are people who are young, healthy and normally very fit.
5.Despite the above point being completely true it's also important to remember that this is not the god damn plague. The WHO's current estimates are that out of over 622482 infected the fatalities number at least 7826. Those of you with calculators will know that this is a little more then 1%. Alot of these numbers are estimates (the number of both cases and fatalities are probably both understated but in the end most likely work out to about the same thing)but these trends have been seen since the first recorded cases. Now, this may not seem like a lot, but think of it this way. Say you go to work or school with roughly 5000 people; statistically, if they all decided to not to get vaccinated, roughly 50 people would die. So, while it's not the end of the world like many news stations seem to think, it is far from nothing.
6.Comparing it on a purely statistical average, the chance of dangerous or long lasting side effects of the vaccine vs the statistical chance of dying due to the disease, we can see that it makes more sense to get the vaccine, especially if you're in the at risk demographic. It's not like not getting one will be a death sentence, but why not get one just to be safe? They're free in several locations and only 10 or 20 bucks if you don't feel like waiting in line.
In the end, use your brain people. Don't wholesale believe anything that the news or bloggers tell you. In general, the news will always blow things out of proportion and the Internet will always be controlled by the uneducated and the conspiracy theorists. Do the research yourself and don't trust anything that doesn't cite credible sources. That is all.
then Pastur carried it on with further advancement and don't get me started on Florey and Chain 
