Flu Shots

 Our kids will be bringing home papers from school that we will sign if we want them to receive the shot at school from a nurse. The thing is though they aren't giving them out till the end of November, and I'm wondering why they wait so long?? The shot is supposed to last for up to 6 months so why not give it a little earlier...I mean the flu starts around here with the cold weather coming and we can have snow by the end of October.

 

It's free to everyone in Ontario where I live, but for anyone working in the healthcare profession, it is highly recommended that we get it. We have the option to refuse, which is what I did last year because I have never had one before in my life and we aren't even ones to take aspirin around here, but some option that is...if there is an outbreak at work (which means only one case) then we are not allowed to return to work till we get the shot or the flu is totally gone from the facility.

 

That's what happened to me, just before Christmas last year, I was called up and told not to return to work unless I got my shot, then I could come back 24 hours later. So under duress, after calling my government representatives, to see if this was legal (it was!) I got my flu shot along with Hannah who was then 3.

 

I have to say that although neither one of us got sick, though we had already been through a bout of the flu earlier , I still have mixed emotions about this. We are all very blessed to be healthy in our family, and I just don't feel that we need to be injected with something that our bodies can fight off anyway. I feel like it should be my choice and I should not be penalized with loss of my job if I choose not to get it. I know the residents in the nursing home are frail and elderly but I do not have direct contact with them as I work in the laundry. If I did have direct contact and thought that I may infect one of them should I happen to get the flu, then I wouldn't have any hesitation to get it to keep them safe.

 

I still don't know what I will do once the papers come home