December 6, 2010
A couple of weeks before setting out on the Thanksgiving trip to hike in the New River Gorge area and dine with family at a bistro in Asheville, North Carolina, John and I got our flu shots. This year, the shot combines the swine flu shot with the ‘regular’ flu shot so that you will not be offered two…but instead get two for the price of one. I hadn’t paid much attention to this fact until arriving for the appointment to get the shot.
I have adopted the view that getting a flu shot is something I should do, even though I find that end up with a bruised arm that I can’t sleep on for a couple of days. I do it because I teach a lot of college students who come and go from their hometowns across the northeast and beyond, and they work in area establishments with many customers. So, protecting me and protecting them…the public good angle of public health discussed in the book.
How does informed content about the flu vaccine work for you when you get the flu shot? For me, it went like this. Here is a form for your to read whenever you have time and want to. Are you allergic to eggs?
Vaccine information sheets are not quite the same as informed consent documents for surgery. We don’t have to sign a vaccine information sheet. Why? I suppose because so often, shots are being given to lots of people in a small span of time.
Perhaps because shots are given by so many different types of health care staff and a wide range of questions might be asked, making it hard to provide training for responses. And, shots are supposed to benefit the public in general. So, identifying the possible risk of receiving a shot–such as being allergic to eggs and the flu vaccine–becomes a shorthand method of informed consent.
Recently, there has been some effort to encourage those with egg allergies to talk with their doctors about the flu vaccine. An article on Science Daily discusses the issues [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101018121440.htm]. Take a look…
