photo credit: The National Guard
Theory Of Motivation For Flu Shot
It’s October and the new series of promotion for the flu shot are starting to be shown on local television. The one I saw the other night uses a very interesting theory of motivation where they show many different people passing on something to each other. That something is influenza or simply, the flu.
I expect that the government here like in recent years, will be heavily promoting the flu shot this season. I think they were a bit disappointed last year when immunization numbers were lower than they had expected. Maybe it was not surprising but the cases of flu also went up over the winter.
I suspect that those who got the flu last year will find the current campaigns for the flu shot to be quite an effective theory of motivation and will run to the free clinics to get their shots as soon as they become available. I just checked our local clinics schedule and I penciled in a date this month when I’ll be getting my shot.
Will You Be Getting A Flu Shot This Year?
I know that the flu shot is still quite controversial among many people. Many folks will refuse such a vaccination believing that the side effects are too much. Some also think that the flu shot just isn’t all that effective since it is based on the predictions on which serotypes of flu will be prevalent this coming year. They choose the top three likely serotypes in the most current vaccine and if it turns out that another strain of flu shows up, the flu shot will be useless.
Personally, I have never had any side effects from flu shots besides a sore arm for 24 hours and I’ve taken one each year for the last couple of years through our free health clinics in our area. The nurses who administer the vaccine are pretty good at prescreening people and ask if we are allergic to any eggs since the flu vaccine is produced in egg culture.
I’ll be outdoors teaching skiing for about four days per week all winter long and I really don’t want to miss any days so just as a precaution, the theory of motivation was good enough for me to get another flu shot for this coming season. I don’t know if it’s because of the flu shots I’ve taken but I have not had the flu for years.
How about you? Will you be getting a flu shot this year if you live in a flu region? Please comment below.
