Another of those competing liberty things . . .

For what are to me quite mysterious reasons, every year we have these whoop dee doos about health care workers refusing to get flu shots. This particular nurse -- who got fired from a long-time hospital job -- claims it's for "religious" reasons but apparently, at least from what her lawyer seems to be saying, the only religion in question is that it's her religion not to get the flu vaccine. Beyond that, she offers no explanation for her refusal.Okay. I may get some pushback on this but here's the whole story as far as I'm concerned. Yes, the flu pandemic hoax of three years ago had me foaming at the mouth, and particularly got me up in the face of Daily Kos's Greg Dworkin. Influenza is not, in fact, all that big of a public health issue. Most of the 36,000 people or so in the U.S. who are are officially tagged as dying of flu are already debilitated and it just finishes them off. There is a much smaller number of unlucky folks whose lives are definitely cut short by it, including some children, but it's a far smaller number than are killed from car crashes, or even homicide. Most of the so-called Flu Like Illnesses (FLIs) that people get aren't flu at all, they're other viruses. Also, the flu vaccine isn't as effective as it's been touted to be, maybe about 60% effective, i.e. you can still get the flu even if you've been vaccinated.All true. On the other hand . . .The risk of any serious complications from flu vaccine is as close to zero as it can possibly be. It may even ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs