my flu shot

I hate needles. I don't mean that I don't like them...   I hate them.  To give you an idea, before I had my eldest daughter I was more concerned about the fact that I'd be getting an i.v. than about the fact that I was about to give birth.  (Admittedly, that was before I actually went into labor...)

The point is, I don't let somebody stick me without a damn good reason.  So when I was recently in the hospital for a medical procedure and the nurse asked me - totally randomly - whether I'd already had 'my flu shot' my answer was, not surprisingly, 'no'.  But then she went on to inquire whether I'd like my flu shot now...  At that point I started to wonder what the heck was going on.  Was this an 'upsell' - like at McDonalds when they try to get you to buy the super-sized meal? Was she going to offer to remove my tonsils next?

I didn't want my flu shot.  And why was it supposed to be mine, anyway?   That's the way you talk about something that's assumed - like your period.  You get it.  Everyone gets it.  There's no way around it.  But when there's a choice involved people don't use that terminology.  No one asks you whether you're considering getting your braces or your face-lift.

It seems that there's a really hard push to get everyone on board with this whole flu shot thing.  People are led to believe that they need to get a flu shot to be healthy.  But while some obedient patients who get their flu shot every year don't get the flu...  others do.

Don't get me wrong.  When I went to Ethiopia to adopt my youngest daughter I got the recommended vaccines. I thought that was the right choice.

But I don't like being bullied.  And I don't appreciate the omnipresent and subtle coercion involved in the decision whether or not to get a flu shot.

The way I see it, it comes down to drug companies trying to force me to do something that may or may not prevent me from getting a particular strain of flu, but that will most certainly line their pockets.

So I say - No thank you.  You can keep your flu shot.  And I'll take my chances...   Worst case scenario, I get a cold.