In the weekly feature called “e-views,” we invite readers to answer a question via email at bnews @bayareanewsgroup.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BrentwoodNews.
Last week’s question:
Health officials say this year’s flu shot might not be as effective because the virus strain has mutated this year. Did you get a flu shot this year? Why or why not?
LAST YEAR I got my flu shot and did not get sick. This year I did not get my flu shot and was sick for three weeks. I didn’t get my flu shot this year because I didn’t think I was going to get sick, but now I think I definitely should of gotten it.
Tiffany Honsberger
Antioch
THEY SAY IT doesn’t work and yet people are still defending it. I wonder how many millions of dollars they have made by not sharing this information sooner. Nobody knows the long-term effects of these shots. No thanks!
G.B. Barney
YES I GOT mine because I have heart problems, and I have gotten the shot before but this year and it made me sick.
Dolly Ramey-Kendrick
Antioch
MY WHOLE FAMILY got a flu shot, ages 2 to 34. None of us have gotten sick, thankfully. All healthy. As much as it can be good or bad to get the shot, everyone’s bodies are different and will react differently. Even though it’s made for everyone to take, it’s not universal. Meaning not everyone will respond to it as others will.
Kimberly Lewis Laws
Pittsburg
YES, BECAUSE WITH over 100 known viruses, it still offers protection, and with asthma. I for one plan to stay as healthy as possible.
Susan Kathleen Mills Clymens
THE FLU SHOT only lowers your risk of getting the flu. For that small benefit you take additional risk of side effects from the shot itself. I’m out! I’ll take my chances without the shot.
Joe Bryant
Antioch
YES, I GET yearly for two reasons: I’m a cancer survivor and my doctor recommends, and I’m a nurse and it’s required.
Debbie Stevenson Petersen
Antioch
I HAVE NEVER gotten the flu shot. Even when it’s very close to the current year’s strain, it’s only about 65 percent effective for healthy adults. As someone who doesn’t have prolonged contact with the public and has no risk factors for flu complications, I don’t think the potential benefits are worth the risk of side effects.
Jen Perkins McVicker
Brentwood
NO. I CAN’T get it because I’m allergic to eggs. Eggs are somehow used.
Linda Sunseri Tamburri
MY TEENAGE SON and I just got them last week. We have never gotten any side effects from it, and that one year we skipped it, we both got extremely sick (two back-to-back ER visits).
Lupe Melendez
SINCE I’VE BEEN an adult I’ve never consented to a flu shot nor do I ever plan to. Ask me how often I get sick?
Garry Reynolds
NOPE, I am young and healthy, and don’t need one.
Brian Jacobson
NOPE. EVERY time I do I get so sick.
Jennifer Raymond
NEVER HAD A flu shot. Haven’t had the flu since I don’t remember.
Margie Dacey
This week’s question:
Community organizers are working to combat teenage alcohol consumption and have called for a ban in Contra Costa County on the sale of sugary alcoholic coolers known as “alcopops,” such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Four Loo, which they say can encourage teens to drink and make it easier for them to consume alcohol. What do you thing? Should they be banned here to combat teen drinking?
Please limit responses to a few sentences, and be sure to include your name and city of residence. Email responses to [email protected]
