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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Each year, we are told about the virtues of getting a flu shot. I never do. Generally I have good immunity. I, knock on wood, almost never get sick.
Each year the flu shot is re-engineered. Experts make a best guess about which strains of flu will be most common for the coming season. Most years, they guess right. Some years, they don’t. This is one of those years.
The most common flu strain so far this year is Subgrade K J241. It was not part of the reformulated flu shot. So if you rolled up your sleeve, you have little or no immunity. The H3N2 strain is called the “super flu”. A flu shot doesn’t protect you from that either, but it can limit your symptoms and get you back on your feet faster.
And yet, we are told over and over again to get a flu shot. That’s curious advice in a year when the flu shot isn’t very effective. Public health officials say the shot still offers you from some strains of flu, and that’s better than nothing.
Most people are ignoring the flu shot advice. Only 30-percent of Wisconsinites got the flu shot this year. And many were forced to get it as a condition of their employment at medical facilities or senior citizen homes.
I think there’s something else at work here. If we continue to insist the people get shots, even shots that don’t work well, we can condition them to be obedient the next time something like COVID comes around. Obey. Don’t question the experts.
About 19-percent of Americans said “no thank you” to the COVID shot. I am one of them. Nearly 70-percent of Wisconsinites decided for forego a flu shot this year.
I would tell you this: If you’re unsure, ask your doctor. But in the end, it’s up to you. You decide what goes into your body.
Chris Conley
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