6 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Legumes and shellfish =/= viral antigens, but even then, look at how difficult it is to reduce the level of anaphylaxis later in life. The point being, exposure is critical when young, less so when older. By then, you've kinda missed the boat a bit and it's far more challenging to course correct. 

If you truly believe that getting the flu once every few years is good for you, then by all means, have at it. I, on the other hand, will be doing my best to avoid it, and surely not based on some notion that it'll be like a tune up for my body.

No I’m not saying that exposure to the flu or other things is good for you and we should just not have any protection.  Im just saying our bodies have a built in immune system for a reason and to a certain degree will fight things off, even if it’s new and later in life.  Now the flip side is We basically didn’t have a flu season this past year because of mask wearing, and the danger to that is now we have less natural immunity to it. The common flu may be more deadly next season because of the lack of exposure.  

5 minutes ago, DBW said:

No I’m not saying that exposure to the flu or other things is good for you and we should just not have any protection.  Im just saying our bodies have a built in immune system for a reason and to a certain degree will fight things off, even if it’s new and later in life.  Now the flip side is We basically didn’t have a flu season this past year because of mask wearing, and the danger to that is now we have less natural immunity to it. The common flu may be more deadly next season because of the lack of exposure.  

That's somewhat a possibility at some point, sure. Though I think it'll likely take quite a few years at least, people often go decades between getting the flu. 

10 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

That's somewhat a possibility at some point, sure. Though I think it'll likely take quite a few years at least, people often go decades between getting the flu. 

True.  And the other variable is what has the flu done as far as mutation in the last year that were virtually unaware of because the lack of cases to review.  I haven’t had the flu since probably college  so maybe 20 years and I’ve gotten a flu shot like 6-7x in that span, maybe mostly when our kids were very young.  So it will be interesting to see what happens with the flu this year and how much our naturally immunity has diminished over the last 18-20 months 

18 minutes ago, DBW said:

True.  And the other variable is what has the flu done as far as mutation in the last year that were virtually unaware of because the lack of cases to review.  I haven’t had the flu since probably college  so maybe 20 years and I’ve gotten a flu shot like 6-7x in that span, maybe mostly when our kids were very young.  So it will be interesting to see what happens with the flu this year and how much our naturally immunity has diminished over the last 18-20 months 

I'm not too worried about it. From a public health standpoint, it's still a net benefit if we reduce flu deaths as much as possible in the interim. Any waning in collective immunity is marginal compared to the mitigation efforts sparing lives of the young and elderly. And even after a few years, I still highly doubt you'd see a resurgence that would "make up for lost time" so to speak. 

2 hours ago, DBW said:

I don’t know about that. there are allergy studies being done to show that slow, gradual exposure to things you’ve been allergic to can actually teach you body to not be allergic. Mostly these are around foods. 

 

I think it can work both ways. Overexposure to certain foods in youth has also been associated with allergies later in life, especially when linked with exposure to hormones in the foods produced by big agriculture.

I was recently reading, though, that some scientists think that increased prevalence of childhood food allergies might be at least partially due to overuse of antibiotics. Basically, your body has been insulated from so many pathogens that the immune system hasn't been conditioned to exposure. It's basically inactive, so when it is exposed to a foreign substance, like lactose or tree nuts, it reacts violently to the introduction of a foreign substance.

Just 11% of people who remain unvaccinated say they definitely will get the shot, while 34% say they definitely won’t, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Another 27% say they probably will and 27% say they probably won’t.

7 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

Just 11% of people who remain unvaccinated say they definitely will get the shot, while 34% say they definitely won’t, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Another 27% say they probably will and 27% say they probably won’t.

There are roughly 40% of eligible Americans yet to get their first dose. So depending on when this poll was conducted, if we assume those who said they'd probably or will get it (38% of this subset) we'd be adding about 15% to the 52% of people who already got their first dose, for a total of 67%. Not too far off from the benchmark of 70%, but one that still remains as an ambitious target. Food for thought to all the trumpbots who said Biden was setting goals that were too easy.

Finally caved and signed up. Scheduled to get my first dose of Moderna on May 30th.

Just now, Kz! said:

Finally caved and signed up. Scheduled to get my first dose of Moderna on May 30th.

Wow.  I'm not 100% sure this isn't a long-game troll, but if it's not, hats off Kz.  

2 minutes ago, Kz! said:

Finally caved and signed up. Scheduled to get my first dose of Moderna on May 30th.

Forreal? Thank you for restoring a sliver of my hope for humanity, unless you be trollin'

5 minutes ago, Kz! said:

Finally caved and signed up. Scheduled to get my first dose of Moderna on May 30th.

I got my first dose of Moderna yesterday afternoon - no real side effects other than some soreness at the injection site, and my P grew from 8 to 10 inches.  

Kz booked his and now mike's coming in hot with a vaccine story?  Coincidence?

1 minute ago, VanHammersly said:

Kz booked his and now mike's coming in hot with a vaccine story?  Coincidence?

4 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

I got my first dose of Moderna yesterday afternoon - no real side effects other than some soreness at the injection site, and my P grew from 8 to 10 inches.  

Should have got Pfizer, mine grew from 4 to 12

Just now, greend said:

Should have got Pfizer, mine grew from 4 to 12

Pfizer wasn't available 

8 minutes ago, VanHammersly said:

Wow.  I'm not 100% sure this isn't a long-game troll, but if it's not, hats off Kz.  

 

8 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Forreal? Thank you for restoring a sliver of my hope for humanity, unless you be trollin'

Yeah, now that it's no longer a hassle to sign up and appointments are readily available in my area, I figured I might as well get it. 

14 hours ago, lynched1 said:

News flash sport.

Wearing a mask isn't normal.

Haven't you heard all the people say they will continue to wear masks forever, they love them

So personally, I will wear masks until they are not "mandated" and then I'm done with them. I might consider wearing one though if I get the flu and need to go out.

I signed up because at some point soon I feel it's going to be necessary to be vaccinated in order to do any real traveling.  

22 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

Just 11% of people who remain unvaccinated say they definitely will get the shot, while 34% say they definitely won’t, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Another 27% say they probably will and 27% say they probably won’t.

Some of those 34% will be forced to in some way

2nd Pfizer shot tomorrow and have upped my dose of Vitamin D, Zinc, Omegas, and a few others to see if that helps nullify some side effects. 

Anecdote: Last month I went hiking in the woods. I was in-between immunizations, and the kids are not vaccinated, so we wore our facemasks. (Some of the people we encountered on the trail wore masks, but a majority did not.)  We took a break a good distance off-trail, so I lowered my facemask, to drink, talk, etc. But I felt my nose tickle as the pollen shot up my nose, so I pulled it back up. I think I'll just keep wearing a facemask in the spring, to help my hayfever.

4 minutes ago, greend said:

So personally, I will wear masks until they are not "mandated" and then I'm done with them. I might consider wearing one though if I get the flu and need to go out.

One good practice that might come out of this whole thing could be people masking up if they feel sick or have the flu. Obviously the best bet if you are sick is staying in, but if you absolutely have to go out and you have the flu you definitely should mask up. The Japanese already do it. It's never been done here, so people naturally feel self-conscious about it, but now that we've removed the mask stigma, it's definitely a good practice to adopt. 

Just now, toolg said:

Anecdote: Last month I went hiking in the woods. I was in-between immunizations, and the kids are not vaccinated, so we wore our facemasks. (Some of the people we encountered on the trail wore masks, but a majority did not.)  We took a break a good distance off-trail, so I lowered my facemask, to drink, talk, etc. But I felt my nose tickle as the pollen shot up my nose, so I pulled it back up. I think I'll just keep wearing a facemask in the spring, to help my hayfever.

the pollen is crazy this year. it was cold last night & i thought there was some frost on the ground around our driveway. when i got closer, i realized it was pollen build up. i don't remember seeing piles of it on the ground like that in past years.