Doctor Curmudgeon®: “They”and the Flu Vaccine

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By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP

“They” know it all.

“They” have had so much more experience and training than all those physicians, those MDs and DOs.

“They” say the flu vaccine is bad for you.

“They” say the Flu vaccine causes the flu

“They” say the vaccine makes you sick.

“They” say the flu vaccine is some vast plot by somebody, usually the government to do something to you!

And I say, “Please name one ‘They.'”

What do I hear in response?

Sometimes, a vacant stare.

Sometimes, a giggle.

The last time that patient got the flu vaccine, he/she was sick. No! You weren’t. I tell them that the vaccine is working to activate or wake up their immune system.

This usually causes more giggling.

But, it’s putting bad stuff into my system. And I smile gently and explain that it is an inactivated virus; it is killed. Dead. Deader than an old door knob. (Or is it deader than a doornail? And why a doornail?) Deader than the 400 year old man.

But I’m healthy and I never get the flu. You are lucky.

But _____________ (famous person) says you should not get the vaccine. It is bad for you. And I respond with “Oh? Does so-and-so have an MD? DO? Ph.D. in something like Biochemistry? Maybe Physiology?

And when there is no rational response except a grin, I resort to something I heard from my parents: “if ____________famous person jumped off a tall building and said it was good for you, would you do that, too?”

Yeah. Right. Good luck.

What is really scary is that each year, more and more of our patients refuse the flu vaccine.

I guess it’s the internet where you can find anything to agree with you. And so people pick what they like and just believe it. Where or where has critical thinking gone? (But that’s a rant for another day)
And somewhere there is a faint plaintive cry…joined in by physicians all over the planet…

Somewhere in the cosmos…

Why won’t you believe us?

Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.

SERMO www.sermo.com “talk real world medicine”

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