Two weeks ago in Biology Class I had to write a position paper on one of several preselected "contoversial" topics. I picked 'Flu Vaccines' not because I had any strong opinions on the subject, but because I knew it would be one of the easiest topics to research (just google "flu-shot" if you don't believe me).
I've never had the flu shot, or the flu for the matter... and to be perfectly honest, I don't give a damn if anyone else does either. I understand that its one of those polarizing topics that everyone has a strong opinion on, but despite being a rather opinionated person, I have always been surprisingly opinion-less on the subject... but I still had to write the paper.
So after doing some cursory research, I ended up writing about the myths of the flu shot and how they are all easily debunked by basic science. I cited some study from a couple years back that suggested that the misconceptions and fears of the flu shot in urban areas are exacerbated by the fact that some absurd amount of health care workers in the inner-city don't actually get the flu shot themselves and therefore aren't very insistent on their patients getting it either... blah, blah, blah...
For the most part, I believed what I was writing. The myths did seem absurd. And it did seem ridiculous that a bunch of nurses in the hood didn't want the flu shot... I won't go so far as to say I became a strong believer in the flu shot, but I certainly felt a lot more informed and could now see the myths as myths.
When the professor handed back the graded papers she gave me a conspiritorial wink and whispered, "I'm getting mine on Friday..." I replied, "I got mine yesterday!" but it was a complete lie. It just sounded like the right thing to say.
Flash forward two weeks to this morning. I still hadn't gotten a flu shot... I hadn't really even given it any thought. I got a call from my supervisor saying he needed to see me in a conference room. He was really vague about it. I thought it was a little strange but I went anyway... When I got there he was nowhere to be found. The room was empty excpet for a few boxes of donuts spread across the conference table, and a pretty nurse with a needle standing next to an empty chair.
"Oh shit," I thought... "Its the flu shot!"
I tried to turn and walk away but it was too late. The pretty nurse put her hand on my shoulder and stopped me. "You're not getting away from me so easily," she said in a flirtaious tone.
Before I could really even protest I was filling out a short questionaire as she jammed the needle into my arm. Thirty seconds later I was walking out the door with a jelly donut and a cup of orange juice, thinking:
"I just wrote a paper debunking the myths of the flu shot, and yet it still took deception, donuts, and a pretty nurse to convince me I should get one... and I'm still not even sure it was a good idea!"
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
About
Farting in the Shower is a ramblingand ecclectic mix of short stories, embarrasing confessions, pictures, and fast food reviews.
Posts
8 comments:
Me, my girl and baby all got the flu shot yesterday. It was the first time I've ever got one. Why? Not because I believe they help, but because the wifey insisted on it. It's simple really: a happy partner is a happy home. Reason enough for me (shelling out the $$ was not easy though!) to do it.
I don't think I've ever had a flu shot. Not because I have particularly strong feelings about them but because I'd have to put some effort into getting one and I just don't care that much. Maybe if I was lured with donuts in the nearby conference room!
Watch me come down with a horrifying case of the flu just for writing this comment. I'm inviting disaster!
I hope it was a hot donut and good nurse, or a hot nurse and a good donut.
I've never had the flu shot either. I wont get it unless my doctor (i'm pregnant) says I should. I won't give it to my baby unless her doctor says she should. So far they haven't and we are fine. Well, I'm fighting a cold... but still. No need to but a virus in me.
Now, how about writing a paper on the Swine Flu vaccine.
HP- there is no way I would have been conned into the flu shot had I had to shell out any of my own money, no matter how pretty the nurse... well, maybe if there was a happy ending involved... Actually, that's probably the answer to solving this countries skepticism and fears of the flu-shot, give them out as part of a package deal at local massage parlors.
Lauren/Teresa- See I actually had the two of you in mind when I wrote this, I thought for sure you guys would be big flu shot supporters, and now that I find out you're, I'm not really sure why I thought you would be... its kinda weird actually that its this polarizing topic, but none of us have really made up our minds.
Chespirito- sadly, in retrospect I think it was only a borderline stale donut and a mildly attractive nurse... I got a second look at her later in the day and she didnt quite hold up to the image I had built in my head. I tend to overrate women with an accent or a uniform.
Haha what about me screams militant flu shot supporter? I honestly wasn't even aware that it was a polarizing topic. The only time I've ever heard anyone express an opinion about it was when my coworker wondered outloud why he gets a flu shot every year even though he always feels sick afterwards.
lauren- im not sure what made me think that... people here at my work were really fired up about the topic though. the guy I share my office with all but called me a moron for getting the shot and intimated that he hopes I get the flu now... but he also believes that 9-11 was the work of Israeli Mossad agents, that Kenndy was killed by the CIA, that Obama is a Manchurian canidate with no birth certificate, and that the current financial crisis is actually part of some plot to destabalize world currency so that a clandestine group of Rhodes Scholars can take over the world... I think the Free Masons are involved somehow as well but I'm not sure where they come in.
I've never had one. I get a nasty cold about once a season (I feel it coming on), but have't had a flu in a while.
I know I can get a free (sorta, it comes out of our student fees) flu shot at school. I've never bothered to do it because I wasn't a high risk person.
Post a Comment