I know what you mean by going to work when one is sick and yes, 2.5 days sick leave out of 365 days in a year is pathetically low and I hope the employment act would look into this.

I have 14 days of medical leave and as I exercises regularly, I have a clean record of not taking at all. Still, for my shift members, sometimes 14 days are not enough for them too in view of the working hours & shift patterns.

I am NOT going to get the flu shot because I am too egoist to do that. Its true that 25 years living in India makes me more resistant to viruses, but not H1N1 — its a truly “international” virus. Plus you mentioned the unknown sideeffects problem. Oh and after 3 years, I might finally be getting a GP, just because my partner has one and we are going to try to add me too, lets see!
cheers
.-= Priyank´s last blog ..Linguistic delights of Toronto =-.

I have little experience with the health care system here (touch wood). Walk in clinic were fine the two times I went there. My immediate concerns were taken care of, but there was no follow-up whatsoever and yes, it was very rush. Great for a quick fix… no so great if you have more serious issues, which I’m lucky I don’t have.

@Shantanu — I heard of a similar panic in Ukraine lately… no wonder, considering all the buzz around H1N1.

@Seb — And I don’t think anybody know right now!

@CK — I’m pretty pissed off at the way the whole H1N1 issue is handled, you are right. First, the federal government is scaring people, then it tries to say it didn’t, meanwhile little is done to actually get people vaccinated which was supposed to be the primary goal. Stupid.

I won’t get vaccinated because: 1) apparently there is such a mess in clinics that we won’t be vaccinated before Xmas, basically after the peak of the flue season 2) I’m not sure which kind of side effects could the vaccine have on me given my health history and I have nobody to talk to about it.

So I’m being cautious, washing hands etc but no vaccine for me, thanks.

@Deadpoolite — Thank you for your comment! You know what, you should hold a press conference, this is one of the most comprehensive and logical thing I have heard lately!

As I was saying, I decided not to get vaccinated for the reasons mentioned above. While I don’t believe in a vaccine conspiracy, I can’t be assured that I will handle any side effects well given my health history and I don’t see the point in taking the risk. H1N1 is not the ebola virus.

@Angela — I’m glad to hear that it went well for you. And it makes sense to me that you need the vaccine given that you are pregnant and “high risk”.

I don’t think the vaccine is that bad. I just don’t want to risk any side effect for me, and I have no GP to talk to about them. This is my main concern.

@Max Coutinho — I have never gotten the regular flu shot either, come to think of it.

Unfortunately, sick leave is a big issue here… but for students, who, at my university, can just fill up a form saying they were sick and missed classes/ exams for that reason!

No, I am not getting vaccinated because I don’t get flu vaccines any longer (I don’t take pills either). If it is human-made: hell, no!

But anyway, I am self-immunised now: I just came out of a seasonal flu (I am fine now). My doctor says that I was smart LOL LOL (as if I chose to get a flu).

About the lack of health practitioners: the same is happening here in Portugal (what is happening?).

Portuguese citizens are can have “unlimited” sick leave as long as they present an official illness evidence (granted by either a hospital or by the Health Centre).

Cheers
.-= Max Coutinho´s last blog ..Is the 1st Amendment killing Americans? =-.

My feeling is that there is a lot of fear mongering going on with regards to this whole thing. And it is from both sides. You have people who talking like we are all going to die if we don’t get vaccinated and others who talk about horrible life threatening or altering side-effects if you do get vaccinated.

I did as much research as I felt necessary to make my decision and I recommend the same approach to anyone else. From my research I learned that the H1N1 is a really nasty flu and it will make you sicker than the regular flu. However, the rates of fatality due to H1N1 only increase for certain segments of the population. These segments are the ones identified as priority groups. If you are not part of one of the priority groups, you may choose not to get the vaccine and you personally will not be any worse off. However, if you do get sick make sure you are not spreading it!! The vaccine was not available to me until just last week and in the meantime I had co-workers coming to work sick. Because of my vulnerability, I felt that they were putting me at great risk just because it wasn’t convenient for them to take a sick day (my employer has very good sick leave benefits, there was no excuse).

I also learned that the H1N1 vaccine is made the same way that the regular flu vaccine is made every year. Because of that, I’m not sure why everyone is concerned about testing. The fact that a flu vaccine has been produced and used for decades without serious incident (the last serious problem being in 1976) should speak to the safety of the product. It is my understanding that the only difference between the regular flu vaccine and the H1N1 is the virus itself. The virus components used in the regular flu vaccine change every year anyway to account for the slight mutations that naturally occur in the flu virus.

Since you have allergies, you should check that out carefully. The CDC specifically warns people who are allergic to eggs. Additionally, they will not give the vaccine with preservatives to pregnant women because of the potential harm those preservatives might have on the fetus. So, you’ll want to find out what is in the vaccine and ensure that you are not allergic to any of the components. A doctor may be able to give you that information or you might be able to find it on an official website such as the CDC.org.

While I don’t think fear and panic are appropriate, I do think the H1N1 should be taken seriously. I have several members of my extended family who have contracted it and survived but it was so bad that they really had no choice but to go to bed. I did have one young member of my family with asthma who had to be hospitalized because of the complications caused by the H1N1. It was scary there for awhile but his parents got him care quickly and he is fine now.

Anyway to the point at hand, me being a biologist and my fiancee being an intensive care nurse our opinion on the matter is this:

From a researcher’s point of view the vaccine has come out too early to be tested as extensively as normal vaccine development suggests. That doesn’t necessarily say that it will be totally ineffective but with the amount of public fear ignited by extreme media coverage and death toll statistics, this vaccine is mostly a commercial move more than anything else. I don’t know the specifics of it, to assess how effective it may be but my personal opinion is that this vaccine is being made available simply because the public demand for it is out there. People would queue to be injected with placebos the way I see it, as long as someone would tell them that it is good for them. This maelstrom of media attack on public’s fears has created such a stir internationally that the actual vaccine and its effectiveness are questionable. However, it all comes down to what makes a person feel safe, regardless if he is actually 100% safe.

I won’t be getting the vaccine just yet, partially because there are other ages that are considered more prone to infection(kids and elders) and partially because I am not convinced of its effectiveness and the necessity of administrating it so massively at the moment. Eventually, the final testing is being done with the first bunch of people that have already taken it. As for side effects,it isn’t an uncommon thing with vaccines but with modern vaccines it isn’t that much of a problem since the purification procedures have highly evolved durign the last couple of decades.

I doubt the vaccine is unsafe in any manner but I also doubt if it is not simply more a marketing ploy than an effective way to combat the disease.

Time will tell.
.-= Deadpoolite´s last blog ..Deadpoolite starring in “War of the mops”, coming soon… =-.

I’m not getting vaccinated, and am very upset by the Health Care system here in Ontario. I’ve been trying to get a Family Doctor for myself, but have been trying and trying, and, well it’s next to friggin’ impossible.

Not only are the walk-in clinics pitiful in terms of quality-of-care — i.e. the revolving door scenario (the 5 minute-or-less visit)
In Saskatchewan I had a family doctor, and was able to visit her any day of the week. I’d schedule the appointment the morning of the day I wished to see her. When I saw her, I could discuss any number of seemingly unrelated medical/health issues.

Here in Ontario, unless you’re lucky enough to have a family doctor that cares, you’re limited to walk-in clinics which have strict “one-problem-per-visit” policies in order to secure their doctors as little time as possible with any one patient.

As for H1N1 vaccine — I probably already got the H1N1 flu a few weeks ago. How would I know? I won’t, because they won’t test me for it since I’m feeling better now.

Besides that, I never get Tamiflu vaccine for seasonal flu, since I always let my body build its own defenses.

I’m surprised there’s such a panic for the swine flu shot. We don’t even know enough about it to warrant mass injections. It’s like a big experiment and the panicky population is the guinea pig.

Why weren’t only the most vulnerable getting the shot — as was supposed to happen? No, no, they started letting almost everyone and their pet dog come in to clinics for vaccine. No wonder there’s a shortage now — just more fuel for the panic system they got going.

Cheers Zhu (PS I seem to have made a mistake about Himelfarb, oh well, shows how much I really know, eh?)

Cello