Flu Shot Fever
We ran this post in 2014. Sadly, the flu shot push is stronger than ever. Yesterday I was at a WalMart and they were re-surfacing their parking lot. There, behind the safety wire and embedded on a slab, was a lonely sign "GET YOUR FLU SHOT!"
By Cathy Jameson
Flu shot advertising must have gone into high gear again recently. I’ve noticed more outdoor signs being added to the lawns and sidewalk areas of several grocery stores and big box pharmacies in parts of my community. Customers will literally trip over signs if they’re not paying attention.
Those signs, and the automated phone call from our pharmacy on Friday morning reinforced something I try to forget: it’s flu shot season. I honestly don’t think flu shot season ever ended though. One of the smaller pharmacies in town keeps their Flu Shots Available Here banner up year-round. I don’t like to give that place my business and use another pharmacy in another part of town.
That other pharmacy called me Friday morning with an automated message. Ronan’s seizure medication was ready to be picked up. Before I could hang up, the message continued. “…after you pick up your prescription, remember that all of our pharmacies offer flu shots. No need to make an appointment. Walk ins are welcome!”
Gee, let me run right down there and ask a complete stranger jab me with this year’s flu shot. Wheeee!
Nah. I know better than to blindly roll up my sleeve or sniff that mist up my nose. I know better than to get a flu shot at my pharmacy too. I’ve thought about that, but the last time I was in our pharmacy, I asked some questions that couldn’t be answered.
I wanted to ask the pharmacy tech a little bit about the flu shot.
She was busy. I was not.
She was trying to rush me. I wouldn’t let her.
Even though I know a lot about the flu shot already, I wanted to ask her more questions. I also wanted to see the package insert. The pharmacy tech tried to pawn the VIS off on me.
“No, the package insert, please.” I said, “It has much more information on it…like who manufactured the vaccine…and what adverse reactions I should look for…”
It took the pharmacy tech a few minutes and my guidance for her to provide the document. Sure, it’s a simple piece of paper, but it’s one that more people should read. I wanted to see it. And I wanted to read it.
The tech went looking for the package insert in a binder on the other side of the pharmacy counter. She came up empty handed.
“Sorry, ma’am. We don’t have it.”
Seriously?
I wasn’t going to let that be her final answer. “Is it in another place?” I asked.
I was about to jump on my soapbox and say, “You’re offering to inject people with a product with some heavy-duty toxins. If you’re doing that, you should be able to offer some reading material about that product,” but she turned away and went to look for the paper in another place.
No luck there either. Shaking her head she said, “Sorry, I don’t see…”
I offered, “Maybe you can look in the box in the fridge where the flu shot vials are stored. Maybe the package insert is in the box with the vials.”
She walked toward the fridge, which was next to where the head pharmacists was feverishly answering phone calls. The pharmacy tech looked in the fridge and reached for a box. She took something out of the box, looked at me and said, “This?”
There it was.
It was my turn to shake my head.
“Yes. THAT. May I please read it?”
“Do you want to keep it?” the pharmacy tech asked.
Ohmygosh, YES.
I casually replied, “Sure, if you don’t mind.”
“You can keep it…” she started to say but then stopped herself. Looking toward the head pharmacists, who was rather annoyed with how long I was keeping her tech from her other duties, she asked, “This lady here, she wants to read this…she can have it, right?”
Still on the phone and sorting through a large stack of prescriptions needing to be filled, she mouthed, “Yes,” and went back to the call.
I took the package insert and said, “Thanks.” I added, “If I have any questions about the flu shot, can I call you guys?”
The pharmacy tech was pretty much done with me and with my requests. She looked at me, looked back toward her boss and said, “Yeah, I guess. We give those shots every day. So someone here should be able to help you.”
Well, I should hope so! I thought.
“Okay,” I said. “If I have any questions, I’ll let you know. Thank you.”
The package insert should not be that hard to find. Yes, you can search for vaccine package inserts online, but they should be readily available to people who want to read them. They should especially be available where flu shots are readily and eagerly administered as well.
Maybe other places do a better job in providing that paperwork, but my pharmacy as eager and ready as they are to give flu shots to anyone who walks into their building, isn’t prepared as I think they should be.
I need to head back to the pharmacy to pick Ronan’s prescription. I think I may skip the drive thru and go into the store to pick up the medication. When I go in, I’ll make sure that I have enough time to ask a few things about the flu shot. With how flustered she got, I didn’t get to ask the pharmacy tech all of my questions. I didn’t get a chance to ask her about the flu shot’s known side effects. I didn’t give her a chance to counsel me on what adverse reactions are. I didn’t get an idea if she knows what I should document adverse effects from a flu shot either. While I’m there getting my questions answered, I may ask for a new package insert, too, just to see if it’s any easier to obtain.
Don’t worry. I’ve done enough reading to know that I’m not going to get this year’s flu shot. But with how this year’s flu shot is constantly being pushed in all sorts of pharmacies, including those found in grocery stores, I’m curious about how my local pharmacy staff will answer some very important questions. Being eager to push a product certainly help push sales. But simple knowledge of that product, to include the most basic information, like knowing where the package insert is, should be a top priority.
Since my pharmacy boasts that they eagerly offer flu shots on a daily basis at each and every one of their stores, they should be better prepared to answer every question, including mine, about those shots. So yes, I think a quick trip into the pharmacy as well as a friendly chat with the pharmacists is in order. The pharmacists and the pharmacy techs should be tested on what they’re selling, don’t you think so? I sure do.
Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.
I made my way to the lady behind the sign "flu shots" at Walmart and asked her for the ingredient list and she said "well I know there's mercury in it, would you like to get the vaccine?" I just looked at her and in shock and said "um, I don't think so! Unbelievable!!!
Posted by: yvonne wiiki | September 18, 2017 at 10:29 AM
Several years ago, there was a travelling flu shot clinic at the drugstore. I asked the nurse if the flu shots she was giving contained mercury. She told me they did not. I knew they did because they were from multi-dose vials. I asked to see the package insert, and then showed her on the package insert where it said each dose contained 25 mcg mercury. She was shocked. She told me her boss said they were mercury free.
Posted by: Kristina | September 17, 2017 at 11:42 PM
Dear Cathy,
I DO so LOVE what You said to her. So thanking You again. We all need to keep speaking up.
We're all unsung heroes/heroines. Remember that if You have a bad day (and I do know that every day is challenging, some so much more than others.
Love to all us heroines, and heroes. It can't ben said too much.
Sun~Rose
Posted by: Sun~Rose | September 17, 2017 at 06:51 PM
The last time a few years back,I was in a Drs practice to track down a package insert for the nasal spray flu vaccine - they never had one- 3 days later they never had one- I never went back after that.
Today I noticed that unlike `the good ol`days` there was only ever one type of flu at any one time but now pharma has cracked it Sydney has four on the go at any one time.
"Most flu seasons are sparked by a single strain of influenza, but this year the influenza A strains A (H3n2) and A (H1N1) and B strain variants Yamagata and Victoria are afflicting the state."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/health/flu-outbreak-doctors-battle-worst-season-on-record-as-four-viruses-hospitalise-more-than-8200/news-story/83b10fb2d7ee197672839b271b2c0a1b
Pharm for Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | September 17, 2017 at 06:14 PM
I laughed and cried at all of the above comments. Fall is a tough time for me when all this Vaccine BS starts up again. There are days where I feel like I haven't made any progress at all in coming to terms with my grief over all of this. I want to rip all those Vaccine ads down! Ok, I admit I rip as many of those signs down as I can. Time and effort are no issue for me. I may even be arrested for this one day. I actually feel better for a short time after I do this. It is in some minor way it is good for my soul. At work I try to give others ideas for getting out of our hospital policy for forced vaccination. I feel so sad about the pain and suffering of the heavy metal poisoned and the vaccine injured. I tell people, "My children and I are sick and poisoned call us what ever you want. Call us Autistic. I don't care. We just don't need you in our club. I want something better for you. I want you to be healthy.
Posted by: Loraine Fishel | September 17, 2017 at 05:38 PM
Cathy, good for you for questioning the pharmacist and staff! They really SHOULD be educated about what they are injecting.
All pharmacies should be required to have a copy of the CDC's "Excipient List" printed out for customers to read. That list is horrifying all by itself.
I've always wondered how the vaccine manufacturers know in advance what this year's variation of the flu will be... so they can start making vaccines a year in advance.
Why is the public so fearful of the flu? When I used to have a somewhat functioning immune system, I preferred to go through "having a cold" to build up my antibodies.
A few months ago, when filling out paperwork at a doctor's office, they asked if I had had a flu shot. I told them I didn't want to answer that question. The receptionist actually said, "It's a law. The government requires it."
I replied, "No, it's not a law and I don't have to answer that question."
Posted by: MontanaNAR | September 17, 2017 at 03:11 PM
Cathy, it looks like one or two people in the pharmacy learned there was such a thing as the package insert, thanks to you! I wonder if they were then curious enough to take a peek at it? You know the phrase "All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten?" I agree with that sentiment somewhat, but definitely not on this topic.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | September 17, 2017 at 01:48 PM
Sun~Rose,
I was at this same pharmacy last weekend. I don't usually go in it, but I had to talk to the pharmacist (Ronan-related stuff). After discussing the business I came in for, she tried to sell me a flu shot. I think you will appreciate the very short convo and how I confidently told her NO:
Pharmacist: Do you (and the kids) want a flu shot?
Me, with a look of horror on my face: Oh, no! We don't do those.
The pharmacist had a matching look of horror on her face. The poor soul was speechless! She had no idea what to say to me. I guess she doesn't get too many no thank you (or no way!) replies like mine. As she fumbled for words, I smiled. Then, I took my children's hands and walked out of the store. Had I stuck around, I'd have tried to have a heart-to-heart with her:
Oh, honey. You asked the wrong mama. Got a minute? Let me tell you more about why we say no.
Then I'd have filled her in with the good, the bad, the on-going ugly that Ronan lives daily post that particular vaccination. I didn't stick around though. That day, I didn't want to. Maybe next time...
Posted by: Cathy Jameson | September 17, 2017 at 10:51 AM
ditto doctors. i doubt that they even read those.i was lucky that mine let me read the folder she was given for the new meningitis vaccine in 2000 or so.
so much info that wasn't in the VACCINE OR DIE! leaflets and i don't know if she ever read any of it.
Posted by: sabelmouse | September 17, 2017 at 08:34 AM
That was wonderful! I too have asked my pharmacist for the package insert on the flu vaccine. I did this two years back and the pharmacist came back with a one page CDC fact sheet. I said, "No, I want the one that's folded real small with lots of small print!" She gave it to me and I was then asked if I wanted the flu shot. I said, "let me read this first, Thank you" and walked out.
I too am sick of all this nonsense that Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and all the other stores offer their customers about the flu shot and others. I sure wish more people would think for themselves to learn that there really is NO "flu season," but a propaganda season and it's the winter time. If they advertised it as "Low Vitamin D season is here, get your UV Sunlamp B2R here today, for only $236! not only will you raise your vitamin D level, but you'l reduce your risk of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder), Auto Immune Disorders, AND other health challenges and you'll get none of the side effects (like the flu or G.B. syndrome or...death), that can come from the flu shot! "We're Walgreens, at the Corner of Healthy and Happy," and we really care about your health!
Yeah right!
I regret that that takes up too many words and much more effort to explain to the customer as it would take for that pharmacist to grab a simple multi-folded package insert. Besides, the flu shot is "Free" and free is better than spending a few hundred on a sunlamp (with UVB), right?
I beg to differ, but that's obvious!
Propaganda is easy (Get Your Flu Shot Today!), grabbing a package insert and actually explaining that "This vaccine has not been tested in pregnancy," or "This vaccine may not be the strain that the C.D.C.predicted last year to be this year's strain. It may, in fact, do absolutely nothing except give you mercury or aluminum (and other toxins), that are, in fact NOT good for your health." "Thankfully, we're not liable if this shot kills you or your child, so please roll up your sleeves and let's get started, I have many other Rx's to fill.
Again that takes up too many words. Better to just shut up and take your damn shot! We HATE educated people like Cathy Jameson. Next please!
I'm sorry folks, but information about the hazards of the flu shot (and others) is not hard to find. There should be NO excuse for folks that continue to listen to the propaganda. Turn off your television and go do some of your own independent study. Why? Because CVS or Walgreen's will be too busy if you (or your child), has an adverse reactions to their shot.
Posted by: Tom Petrie | September 17, 2017 at 08:30 AM
The same people who do the marketing for “The McRib is back !!! ” also do the marketing for the flu shot.
As with past years, the “L” in FLU shot stands for LOVE if the shot is mercury free. Those shots still preserved with mercury are simply called the “FU shot.” ... Most parents should avoid the the standard “two dose FU shot” for their favorite infant of toddler given 30 days apart.
Posted by: go Trump | September 17, 2017 at 08:19 AM
their heart-rending distress
which has me crying again
Posted by: Sun~Rose | September 17, 2017 at 08:10 AM
I know this is serious business Cathy, and You are funny! Just keep busting chops until they get it! This article made my early morning. Our local pharmacy offers the same garbage. And I often remember Obama's fiasco of buying all those flu vaccines, and then I remember the third trimester mothers who took it and there heart-rending stories of feeling their babies' distress and then them dying. I cry - like now - every time I think about. Such evil ...
Posted by: Sun~Rose | September 17, 2017 at 08:08 AM