Can you believe a Dr said this?
One of Pharmacy Chick’s good buddies outside of work is a 58ish year old guy. We( Mr Chick and myself) usually see him socially a couple of times a month. He’s a nice guy but he is into more alternative medicine rather than conventional. I’m ok with that as long as he doesn’t end up hurting himself with questionable treatments. As is often the case this time of year, the rush of flu shots came into the conversation. I asked him if he was going to get his and his reply absolutely floored me…and I quote:
“My doctor (a naturopath) doesn’t recommend flu shots (or vaccinations for that matter). She believes it healthier for the body to get the flu than to have a shot to prevent it”.
OMG are you freaking kidding me? It took me a moment to digest what he said. There was no way I was going to let this one just pass, so I made my point simply: “John, tell that to the family members of the 39,000 people each year who die of influenza or the complications thereof.”
He is healthy, and has no pre-existing conditions that would render him overly succeptible to succumbing to the flu, so this ideology probably wouldn’t have a fatal impact on him. However this type of nonsense coming from the mouth of a medical provider scares me. In her opinion, it is better for people to get polio, typhoid, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, influenza, tetanus and hepatitis?
Ya know what Doc? I’ll take my chances with the vaccines, thanks.