BY: CLAIRE KIM
Almost everyone in the United States gets a flu-shot around mid-September in hopes of protecting their bodies from potential disease. Sore throat, terrible cough, congested nose, or even dizziness are all aspects of a cold that can really damage one’s mental and physical state. Even under-diagnosed medication, patients are still left dealing with weeks and weeks of awful pain because the medication tends to lack efficiency when our bodies are so broken down from the virus or bacteria. Fearing these effects, many people opt to give in to vaccinations though it does cause slight discomfort when received at first. For some, the vaccine can produce minimal annoyance, while for others it can be a pain to deal with almost to the extent of a mediocre flu. Because of these repercussions, many people nowadays have been less adamant in receiving the flu-shot as they believe that such consequences are not worth the injection anymore. Less and less people are getting them while more and more are questioning them? So the real question is, should people get flu-shots now? And the answer is yes. Despite the large criticism flu-shots have been receiving from the public, according to the numbers by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccines are in fact beneficial as they “have prevented more than 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths among children in 20 years” (New York Times). Now, this is a reassuring estimate to look at. Obviously, there are cons when getting a flu shot or other vaccines — most notably the after-effects as noted above — however, in my opinion, the pros seem to clearly outweigh them in the end. Yes, maybe the flu-shot may seem like a useless investment because you haven’t gotten the flu in five years but you have to remember that such a success may have been maintained by the flu-shot itself.
claire kim. 