Jane Kelley wrote in a message to Sue Alexander:
 SA>> major medical concerns like asthma or immune difficulties the shot
 SA>> may be useful (talk to your doctor), but for most healthy adults
 SA>> under 65 or so it is not considered that useful.
 MP> Well, not exactly. If you are someone who seems to get sick and it
 MP> lasts  and lasts, a flu shot makes good sense.
SA>     Um, I was talking about the pneumonia vaccine.  Pray tell...what is 
the
SA>point you were trying to convey here?
JK> There are over 30 known organisms that cause "pneumonia".  We don't
JK> vaccinate for all of them.
     Gee, no kidding?  ;(
     I know that, Jane.  There are probably much more than 30 organisms, as 
if a person is immunocompromised alot of normal flora can cause illness, even 
pneumonia.  I warned Sharon not to expect that a pneumo shot would keep her 
from getting pneumonia for that very reason. 
JK> The virus will mutate greatly from one year to the next. I will
JK> ususally pick up a two week bout of whatever is going around early
JK> in the season, generally in October, then be able to fight off being
JK> sick for the rest of the winter.
     I presume here that you are talking about the influenza virus.  This (as 
I am sure you know) is a yearly vaccine for the reason you state, and all the 
epidemiologists can do is take an educated guess as to which flu viruses will 
be most prevalent and make a vaccine to those viruses. Getting the "flu shot" 
does not mean you will not get influenza...it just means that you will not 
get the influenza that they expect may make the rounds that year.
... Are part-time band leaders semi-conductors?
--- timEd/386 1.10
---------------