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That’s what I’ve been getting when I’ve tried to access DD for the last two days. Exasperating, to say the least. Consider this the least said.

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The original title of this was to have been:

Don’t Get a Flu Shot

But two days worth of cool-down time has softened my rant a bit. I’ll still cut and paste it into my diary, but it seems that most of the population locally is already complying with my request. My thanks to those of you out there who have already taken the following to heart.

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Being immunosuppressed, it’s important for me to get a flu shot. As I have every year, I signed up to get my flu shot through work. It’s cheap, I don’t have to take off any time from work, and it’s an excuse to hob-nob with the people in Occupation Health, who I like a lot but seldom have an excuse to visit. Last week, however, I was informed that the flu shots were cancelled. Our supplier had purchased from England, and had no vaccine to offer us.

I was concerned, but mostly because I knew this meant I’d have to miss yet more time from work, which I am ill-positioned to do. I called my pharmacy (across the street from work), who couldn’t promise that they’d have the vaccine in for the community flu-fest they’d be organizing, and who also said that they wouldn’t be able to reserve any; the shots were to be first come/first served at the flu shot events they were sponsoring. I found that a little exasperating, especially since it would have been really convenient for me to just dash out of work, get the shot there, and dash back. But I had other options, so all was not lost.

I called my doctor’s office on Friday and made a long-overdue appointment with my regular doctor (she’s gotten lost in the rush with all the damned specialists I have to see now). Her office told me on the phone that they expected to get the vaccine in sometime next week, and gave me an appointment for Tuesday, the twelfth. When I arrived for the appointment, I found that they not only hadn’t gotten any vaccine in, but wouldn’t be getting any vaccine in. Their supplier had ordered from England as well. I was told to contact my local hospital or my county’s Public Health Department, and one of them would be able to set me up.

Now I was starting to worry a bit. I hadn’t actually believed that doctors would not have any recourse in this situation. Wednesday morning I was determined to find myself a flu shot. Taking my doctor’s advice, I started with my local hospital. It’s a small town hospital, their biggest business being in birthing babies and setting broken bones, but they’d advertised on their website that they’d be having a community flu clinic this Saturday. It meant having to cancel Clueless’s vet visit, but I figured this was more important. I called the hospital to verify the information about the vaccination clinic, only to find that they too had cancelled their clinic. The hospital couldn’t get any vaccine – they’d ordered from England. As my doctor had, they suggested I call my county’s Board of Health, and find out where they were holding their community vaccine-athons.

So I called. Anybody want to take a wild guess? You’ve got it. The entire county has no flu vaccine. I hadn’t appreciated that things were quite this bad.

In desperation, I checked back at my local pharmacy, to confirm that their flu clinics were not going to be cancelled. Their website said that it was still on in spite of the shortage, but I wasn’t prepared to believe it until I talked to a live person. As I was looking up their number, my phone rang. It was the Younger Sister, who was calling to set up a time to talk about renting her condo to me and who wanted to know how Clueless was. I mentioned to her about my little vaccine problem, and she told me not to call the pharmacy yet. She said she wanted to check something and she’d get right back to me. Scant minutes later she called again, to tell me that her company had gotten their vaccine supply, and that she’d been given permission to let me have her shot.

I consider myself fortunate, but I worry for anyone out there who needs the shot and can’t find it yet. There is a point to this story, and it’s this:

1) If you are a healthy adult, please don’t get a flu shot. Consider instead getting the inhalable vaccine. Yes, I know it’s more expensive, but those of us in high risk groups aren’t allowed to get the inhalable because it is a “modified live” vaccine and we can only get “killed” vaccines.
2) If you are in a position to give a vaccine you get through work to someone in the community who is high risk, please consider doing so. Mine is not the only community with no vaccine available.
3) Raise your voice in protest of mass vaccinations made available to the general public through pharmacies, supermarkets, and other uncontrolled situations. It is estimated that there is just enough vaccine to cover the groups that need the vaccine the most. Each shot given to a healthy adult puts a child, a senior citizen, a person suffering chronic illness, a caregiver, a pregnant woman and her child at greater risk. In years of plenty, these retail-sponsored flu clinics are a public service. This year, however, they are endangering the lives of the most vulnerable of our community.

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*sigh* This is the price of near-perfection I guess.

We did well on the audit that checked to see how well we take care of our animals. Not that I’m bragging, but we nailed a 99% score. I’m proud of it, I’m prouder of the guys who work with the animals everyday who earned this score by doing things they way they do them every day, and I’m proud of working for a company who ranks this as a concern of primary importance.

Having said that, my sales department has asked for a copy of the audit report, and I am loath to release it to them. They want to incorporate this information into our promotional statements, and this concerns me. Animal activists, who believe firmly that companies such as the one I work for should not be in business, latch onto advertising that states that strict humane handling practices are observed. They specifically target these companies, in an effort gain greater public exposure. I would prefer not being one of the companies they target.

I passed the request to The Big Boss, who responded that he’d contacted sales and that I was to do nothing until I heard from him. That, at least, makes me feel a little less like I’m just being paranoid.

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A Message in the Public Interest , Courtesy of Snopes Urban Legends Site

To show our solidarity as Americans, let’s all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice. It’s time that we all came together, Democrats and Republicans alike.

If you support the policies and character of John Kerry, please drive with your headlights ‘ON’ during the day.

If you support George W. Bush, please drive with your headlights ‘OFF’ at night.