Is this NUTS or what?

People camp overnight to get flu shots

McLEAN, Va. (AP) _ It's the same story today in northern Virginia as it's been in Richmond and other Virginia cities this week.

Some people waited all night at a supermarket to secure a spot in line for a flu shot.

Some of the people at the Giant in McLean had camped out since ten o'clock last night night. At six this morning, store workers began handing out numbers to the first 250 people in line. It took just 15-minutes before they ran out, and the store is now turning away anyone without a number.

Another Giant, in Dale City, had people lined up yesterday before dawn, waiting for flu shots that wouldn't be given until noon.

LAFAYETTE, Calif. (AP) -- A 79-year-old woman who stood in line more than five hours for a flu shot collapsed and died after striking her head.

Marie Franklin and her husband, Robert, had been standing with hundreds of other seniors outside a Safeway supermarket on Wednesday when she became pale and weak. She collapsed as she walked toward shade.


Why do people do this?

Why didn't the CDC simply let doctors know that there was a shortage of supply and ask them to perform triage?

It's just plain weird.

Nuts. Plain nuts.

If it was all over the news that there would be a shortage of M&M's, there will be people in line.

It is just like the day-after-Thanksgiving sale. Who in their right mind stands outside Walmart for 3-4 hours to get 15% off on something they don't need?

Only in America...

-tito

The problem is that there were plenty of flu shots *ordered* to go around this year....until shipments arrived and *HALF* of the vaccines were contaminated. As far as I know, they are trying to get some more, but they are too hopeful.

Because of the contamination, there aren't enough vaccines to cover even the top priority people. CDC is saying there will be close to record numbers of flu related deaths this 'season', especially since this years strain is supposed to be particularly bad.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that some more can be acquired/manufactured.

People do this because some of them Like my mother could die if they got a bad case of the flu. Most people don't think of the flu as deadly but for older people it is up there in the top 5 killers every year.

October to March 2003-2004 reported numbers of people hospitalized for flu-related complications is closer to 200,000 than the 114,000 people originally estimated. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 10% to 20% of U.S. residents get the flu each year and an average of 36,000 Americans die each year from complications of the flu.

Talen - Yes I understand that some people really need them (I was one when I went through chemo two years ago and it severely weakened my immune system). But the waiting in line thing is just nuts - even more so to a severely weakened person. Not only are they weakened further by standing in lines for hours, but they are being exposed to every germ known to mankind by being around all the other people, waiting to get the shot.

I frankly think that it was irresponsible on behalf of the media to make such a big deal of it. Also, people should have been made to contact a clinic, the red cross or their doctor to obtain them.

Tito - LMAO about your comment regarding the Thanksgiving sale. Someone in Florida last year was actually trampled by people waiting to get into the store for their $10 stereo, or maybe it was a TV, or whatever.

Actually, it was cheap DVD players.

Back to the topic.

Price gouging is starting to drive up the price of flu shots. Some people have no shame at all.

I was in Costco the other day and there was this huge snaky line and i was wondering what all was happening - right in the middle of the pop-corn isle too!

So as I was making my way to a case of Act II corn - I said loud enough for all to hear -

"I heard today the flu has been cancelled."


I figured i'd get some mixed results - but instead there was peals of laughter followed by various good humored remarks - "bout time" ah, "we can go home", etc.

I have no idea were folks get the patience to wait in line for hours and hours for these shots. As usually, the youngest and the oldest, those at greatest risk, are put through the hurdles to get their flu shots.

Actually, the nasal-spray vaccine is not expected to be in short supply. It is, however, not intended for people for whom influenza is a serious risk.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/nasalspray.htm

So, as luck would have it, the young and healthy have more options.

I live near northern VA. People are just that way here. If they forecast an inch of snow you see people coming out of the supermarket with eight gallons of milk, 20 packs of toilet paper and enough canned goods to make it through a nuclear winter.

I remember 2 years ago the news stations all said we were in for a BIG one ...all the store shelves were bare by 8pm and all the schools and state agencies not needed were closed...woke up the next morning and the sun was out not one flake.