PSA: Get your flu shots

Hey, scientific-minded people are MY people.  I've been fortunate to work as an engineer among many people of science, good independent thinkers all.  People, who, if you asserted some new fact, would not simply dismiss it immediately as nonsense, but would instead respond with, "why?", whereupon a rational discussion would ensue.

On the other hand, I've been in many discussions with people who claim to be people of science (e.g., at March for Science events), who are anything but.

All of us practice "science" to some extent, as we build and maintain our internal models of the external world.  When new, solid, and abundant information presents itself that conflicts with our internal model, what do we do?  Do we modify our internal model as a good scientist would?  Or do we treat the model as a read-only device, incapable of being upgraded, and reject the information out of hand?

What seems to stop a lot of people from taking in new information is the belief that the work investment required in evaluating the new information is unlikely to be rewarded with something worthwhile.  This was my hang-up for a long time.  Specifically, my unfounded assumption turned out to be wrong that the mainstream media would report the most egregious abuses of government power (Pulitzer Prize be damned). 

This is what finally helped me clear out the ossification:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK2vgi82f_c

I have been keeping a log of my running miles for many years.  A few years ago I also began to track my hours of sleep (horizontal, eyes closed), and number of beers per day.  In this document I use blood red to indicate those days where running miles were affected by being sick (really, I just wanted to have an excuse for the low numbers).  The last date to see the red was October 23, 2017. 

So, my expectations of good health are based on extrapolating recent history.  But, as you say, there are no guarantees here.

In my experience, getting sick in the past usually had everything to do with a failing on my part.  The number 1 cause was inadequate sleep.  Number 2 was beer.

As you get older, you need more discipline to keep the system on track, especially if you want to be a runner.  I used to sometimes fall into a pattern where I'd be too tired to run (sleep and/or beer), which would cause poor sleep the next night (due to no exercise), tiredness and no running the next day, spiraling down and down.  Oftentimes the final punch line would be a cold (and more not running).

Fixing the sleep and alcohol made all the difference.  I have to believe this situation is not unique.

I can see "guesswork" is a fine triggering word.  Should have said something along the lines of, "judgment based on incomplete information."

No, I mean by eating healthy things that grow in the dirt or water and healthy things that eat healthy things that grow in the dirt or water.  I hope "healthy" is clear from context.

I wasn't trying to imply that we should subject the population to prolonged periods of poor food/water consumption, poor shelter and/or clothing in extreme weather conditions, and combat against fierce beasts using primitive weaponry.

I guess what I wrote wasn't clear--allow me to clarify.

First of all, we can agree that the objective here is to avoid getting the flu, right?

The main point of what I wrote is to demonstrate that there is an alternative approach to avoid getting the flu that doesn't require a flu shot.  This approach even works at preventing colds too.  It's just one data point, based on my recent history, but still it's not exactly a revolutionary idea.

In approximately 30 years I have gotten the flu once, and this was caused by a specific, known lifestyle choice (winter marathon training), that is easily avoided.  So, aside from that one blip, the effectiveness of this approach has been 100%.

With recent tweaks to the approach, I have not even gotten a cold over the past 2 years.

The reason that this is not about me, is that this approach is already implemented by many people, and can be implemented by all.  It's simple: just be consistently great at your nutrition, your sleep, and your exercise.  In other words, do what your doctor is probably already telling you to do.

I find it remarkable that so few of us are writing about this.  It's just the American way I guess: "give me a pill doc," rather than dealing with lifestyle choices.  Substitute "flu shot" for "pill" and it's all the same thing.

My further point is that anyone who criticizes people for not getting a flu shot should also be criticizing people for not optimizing their health through nutrition, sleep, and exercise, etc.  The flu shots are never 100% effective.  Optimized immune systems throughout society are absolutely necessary to minimize the incidence of contagious diseases.  While I wrote that the decision to get a flu shot should be decided on a case-by-case basis, the decision to take action to avoid the flu should be taken by all.

As far as my understanding being from "way back," this was in regards to the narrow topic of the vaccine manufacturing.  This "way back" understanding was supported by the person who responded, so there's no reason to go any further there.

The larger, third paragraph is out in the weeds somewhere, so nothing worth responding to there.  Same with the last paragraph.