I got shots in both arms. The nurse did one flu shot in each arm because they had an equal chance of having a painful after-effect. I just got lucky. =P

It turns out that actually getting sick from one of these shots is impossible. I just got lucky and got the flu or whatever. Joy!

Normally I don't bother with the flu shots at all. Even with the Widget I'm not a huge risk for getting sick. It was more a matter of, “Hey, since you came out here why not?” I was given the option of declining, but saw no reason not to do it.

Trimpnick -oh man the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic! This will sound sick, but I LOVE that thing. Killed more Americans than WWI did. And it swept the globe right after the war, brought to the States most likely by the returning troops. Ironic tragedy -oof, really harsh stuff.

I got shots in both arms. The nurse did one flu shot in each arm because they had an equal chance of having a painful after-effect. I just got lucky. =P

It turns out that actually getting sick from one of these shots is impossible. I just got lucky and got the flu or whatever. Joy!

Normally I don't bother with the flu shots at all. Even with the Widget I'm not a huge risk for getting sick. It was more a matter of, “Hey, since you came out here why not?” I was given the option of declining, but saw no reason not to do it.

Trimpnick -oh man the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic! This will sound sick, but I LOVE that thing. Killed more Americans than WWI did. And it swept the globe right after the war, brought to the States most likely by the returning troops. Ironic tragedy -oof, really harsh stuff.

But it should have read : Smallpox has been eliminated from the Earth by a successful vaccination campaign (it was an attenuated virus) and Poliovirus has almost been eliminated.

I know you guys in the states have a different vaccine than elsewhere (attenuated verus just proteins from the virus surface). And will not argue about wether one should get the flu vaccine or not, as this round does seem pretty tame. But I can't help wondering why people are generally feeling that vaccines are bad nowadays. It's a proven method to eliminate infections. The poliovirus has been eliminated from the Earth by a successful vaccination campaign (it was an attenuated virus). And now, because of the vaccine scares in UK, they're having more cases of measles, associated with child mortality because some children aren't getting vaccinated anymore.

As for the pandemic 1918 flu virus, phylogenetic analyses clearly show it has terrestrial origins.