As my entire family is recovering from a mammoth bout with an unknown “bug,” my mind is on sickness and disease.  Then, this morning, I got a spam email from Walgreens reminding me that it’s not too late to get my flu shot.

Until I was in graduate school, I didn’t realize what “the flu” actually was.  As a youngster wet behind the ears, I thought the flu was basically what you had if you were vomiting and it wasn’t food poisoning.  Of course, back then, there wasn’t much education about flu and basically nobody got flu shots unless you were elderly or if your immune system was compromised.  Still, our societal vernacular is to label someone as having “stomach flu” if they are vomiting.  This is not the flu (influenza) at all.  Rather, it is gastroenteritis.

As WebMD puts it, stomach flu is a “popular, but inaccurate” term for gastroenteritis.  If it is so prevalent to refer to gastroenteritis (abdominal cramps, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, fever, headache) as a form of flu, I wonder how many people get the flu shot thinking that it is protecting them from the stomach flu.

There is no vaccination against gastroenteritis (except rotavirus, which is only given to very small children).  The flu shot, on the other hand, is a vaccination against influenza, which basically mimics cold symptoms only they come on more suddenly and are accompanied by muscle aches, fever, and a dry cough.

Ok.  What does this have to do with this blog?  Well, I often discuss the overarching control that the government tires to have in our lives.  This issue of seasonal flu is only one example, but they are beginning to become more didactic and forceful about it, which strikes me as condescending.  At the same time that people are encouraged by everyone and their brother to get the flu shot, we aren’t even educated about what the flu actually is.

So, maybe you already knew all of this information.  Good for you.  But, there are still a lot of people who need to know.  Remember, there are states that require kids to get flu shots to go to school despite the fact that these vaccines have been shown to make kids more vulnerable to novel pandemic strains of influenza.

For the record, I don’t mind if anyone chooses to get the flu shot.  Obviously, I want to see this as an option for people who find it valuable.  But, I happen not to value it and don’t want to see it become mandatory in any arena.

For a handy fact sheet about comparing the stomach flu (gastroenteritis) to the actual flu (influenza), click here.

An interesting article caught my eye as it was linked on the internet in January.  The “Virtual Mentor,” The American Medical Association’s online ethics journal, published the article.  The article actually advocates for mandatory participation in vaccine clinical trials. 

Here is a quote from the article where the authors justify their stance (emphasis added):

Mandatory involvement in vaccine trials is therefore perhaps more akin to military conscription, a policy operating today in 66 countries. In both conscription and obligatory trial participation, individuals have little or no choice regarding involvement and face inherent risks over which they have no control, all for the greater good of society.

Of course, this is highly illegal, and you are not a guinea pig.  

Always beware of legal measures that are “for your own good.”  The definition of what is best for society will change depending on who is in charge.  This type of thing could open a nasty can of worms.

A while ago, I stated that I think tattoos will become an issue before long.  Since then, we’ve seen at least one major story where someone got in trouble for allowing their child to get a tattoo.  Remember, these safety things always start with the soft spot we have in our hearts for children.

Unfortunately, you don’t own your own children the way you think you do.  Of course, I believe that I am simply guiding my children toward adulthood.  I don’t really “own” them myself.  But, that’s not how the state feels.  They think they own them. 

If your kids are born in the hospital, they are usually given a vaccination for Hepatitis B before discharge.  In some places you are asked whether this is OK, and in other places they just do it routinely like the rest of the newborn exam.  Unless you know to ask for it to be omitted, it will be done (in some places).  The weird part about this is that babies really don’t risk getting Hepatitis B at all unless their mother has it.  The risk factors for Hepatitis B don’t seem very relevant to babies:

• Have unprotected sex with more than one partner
• Have unprotected sex with someone who’s infected with HBV
• Have a sexually transmitted infection such as gonorrhea or chlamydia
• Are a man who has sexual contact with other men
• Share needles during intravenous (IV) drug use
• Share a household with someone who has a chronic HBV infection
• Have a job that exposes you to human blood
• Receive hemodialysis for end-stage kidney (renal) disease
• Travel to regions with high infection rates of HBV, such as Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe

Of course, I leave it to you as the parent to make this decision for you and your kids.  Inform yourself and make a decision.  But, the government will always assume that they know what’s best for your kids.

Today’s example of that comes from Georgia.  There, a mother was arrested for allowing her 10-year old to get a tattoo.  As I read this story, I found that, not only did she not realize it was illegal (because she was giving consent), but it was only discovered because of someone at school “contacting authorities.”

She was charged with charged with misdemeanor cruelty and being a party to a crime.

“I always thought that if a parent gave consent, then it was fine,” she said. “How can somebody else say that it’s not okay? He’s my child, and I have the right to say what I want for my child. I can’t go tell anybody else what I want for their child.”

Lucky for her, she’s got the school’s eyes and the authorities to help her raise her son.

The government focuses a lot on helmet laws.  People in many states are required to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle.  Some areas even have regulations on bicycle helmets.  Usually the bicycle helmet laws are just for children.  Besides motorcycles and bicycles, there is also the issue of using a helmet while on a snowboard.  While we’re at it, why not require the use of helmets while in cars?  Seriously.  Most of the same logic that is used to justify any helmet law can be used to justify a law requiring a helmet in a car.  The helmet issue is so hammered into us that we’ve begun to somehow believe that using a helmet will entirely protect us and prevent death in any circumstance.

So, recently, when a young student was tragically killed in a snowboarding accident, people who knew her were confused about how this could happen because “she was wearing a helmet.”  I’m sure that they ultimately know that wearing a helmet doesn’t mean automatic invincibility, but I am also pretty sure that their attitude about helmets, like the rest of us, is reinforced by our belief that government regulations and recommendations will ultimately make us safe.

We believe that if we get the recommended flu shot, we will be safe from the flu.
We believe that if we wear all of the correct protective gear, we will stay safe on the road/slope, etc.
We believe that if we buy something at the store that hasn’t been recalled, our children will automatically not get injured in the device.
We believe the food in a restaurant is free from contamination because they have a permit from the government to operate a food service.

Of course, the opposite of each item is also true.  For instance, we also generally believe (as a society) and perpetuate the idea that if you don’t get the flu shot, you are not safe and will probably get the flu.  So, the friendly reminder of the day is that the government doesn’t always know best, and there’s no way to legislate safety.  We have to do our best to take control of our own safety, rather than clamoring for more governmental control every time there is an accident.

For those people who don’t like government schools, a natural choice is to home school them.  Taking control of educating your children is not yet illegal in the United States.  However, some states certainly make it difficult to do (legally).  The newest bit of news on this front comes to us from New Jersey.  Just last week, New Jersey was discussed as being one of only two states to mandate flu vaccinations for children to go to their schools.  Now, in New Jersey, some legislators are trying to require annual medical exams for home-schooled children.  Under this bill, parents would be required to submit documentation to their local school district of the exam.  (I wonder if a flu vaccination will be part of the mandated annual exam).

It doesn’t take too many mental gymnastics to realize that this is a case of the government simply wanting control.  Since “they” won’t have their eyes and ears all over your children if they are being schooled at home, they have to make sure that they get the scoop somehow.  Of course, this is probably being discussed under the guise of protecting children from abuse.  But, please remember that school isn’t exactly safe for them.  Barely a week goes by that I don’t hear about another scandal at a public school — teachers fighting with each other, sexual misconduct, incompetent administrators, and teachers cheating for better test scores…among other things.

I don’t think all home schooled students automatically have good parents, nor do I believe that all public schools are bad.  However, I certainly believe in parents being able to better care for their own children than the government.  Always be wary of legislation coming at you in the name of safety.  It’s usually code for “here’s another hoop to jump through” in the land of the free.

This bill hasn’t even been introduced yet, and, with some luck, maybe it will be shot down before the process even starts.  It’s a horrible idea that conveys an automatic distrust of homeschooling parents and makes it harder and harder to follow the state mandated regulations on education for those who don’t want to trust the government with educating their kids.

I’ve chosen a controversial subject today. Actually, it chose me.  As a college professor teaching microbiology, my husband belongs to the American Society for Microbiology.  A discussion in their recent literature piqued my interest.  It was about the influenza vaccine.

There was a study done recently in the Netherlands that was published in the Journal of Virology.  The full paper can be accessed online here.  I confess that I haven’t read the entire thing as it would be way over my head.  But, I did read the summary and wish to share some thoughts with you. (Please note that the summary is no longer online for some reason).

The results of the study assert that giving children a vaccine every year for the flu may help with the seasonal strain.  However, over time, these same children may be more vulnerable to a novel pandemic-type flu (like swine flu, etc.).  I’m not telling anyone what to do, but I do think this is just one more reason not to give you kids the flu shot.  In my adult life, the flu shot has gone from something that only immune compromised or elderly people received to something they recommend to everyone over the age of 6 months.  They are still studying how this will impact children in the long run.

The problem I have isn’t when people give or receive flu shots — it’s when the government mandates that people receive them in order to go to government schools.  Whether you have your kids in government schools is a different issue.  For now, I’ll say that this is the only option for many people so they feel obligated to play by the rules.  Even though they just found out that annual childhood flu vaccines my interfere with cross-resistance later in life, states will probably not back down from their stance to require the flu shot for admittance to school.  The states that currently require an annual flu vaccination are New Jersey and Connecticut.

There are also government mandates for long-term care facilities.  Residents in long-term care facilities are required by law to be vaccinated against the flu in the following states: Connecticult, Deleware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.  Of course, the study I cited today that recently came out doesn’t necessarily impact the elderly, but it is worth pointing out how the government is becoming more and more involved with an individual’s decision about vaccination.

Please feel free to make the decision about flu shots for yourself.  I will respect whatever decision you make, but I do try to keep people informed that they’re usually not getting the other side of the story.  The fact is that if we’re not mandated to receive the flu shot, we sure are highly encouraged to do so with nothing but positive information being given to us.  Many health care facilities require their employees to be vaccinated against the flu and getting out of it is quite a hassle.

I take offense at the government being so pushy about this issue.  I saw a sign a few years ago that really rubbed me the wrong way.  It insinuated that you weren’t a good parent if you didn’t get you and your kids vaccinated against the flu.  It was similar to this one.  Just remember as you drive through town and see dozens of signs advertising flu shots that there are good reasons why some good parents would choose not to get the shot.