Scoop’s Views

During a visit to my primary care physician here in Philadelphia last week, I sent out an email to a few friends, most are old enough to be my father, asking if they had gotten their flu shots for the year.

A couple of them replied, including one who asked if I would take his since he is afraid of needles. That was all. Until today.

I received an email from one online friend I’ve known for about seven years, perhaps longer. He chastised me, dragged me over the coals, and because I use the BCC field when sending an email to more than one person, he has no idea how many people I sent it to. Did that matter? Oh, brother, did it!

In his reply, which, according to his muttering in the email, seems to have taken a week for him to compose. He mentioned the “great pains” and “great lengths” he went to “in composing” the email “with a tender touch” to “not offend or hurt” my feelings. Oh, brother. Sounds like a drama queen, huh?

After about two paragraphs, he finally starts his flaming war of words on the War On Germs, the War On Health, the War On Health Care, and the War On … who knows.

First, he told me, with good intentions, that I was an idiot for “subscribing” to the “school of thought” that being injected with live flu was a good idea. He told me that “hundreds, maybe thousands of people” die each year from the flu shot. He was going to send me links to Web sites to back up his information, but they were all offline.

I pinged the CDC and the WHO sites. Both seemed to be online. I have no idea what sites he would send me to, but I am guessing, if he were going to try to persuade me that flu shots are a menace to society, that neither the CDC or WHO would be among the top 100 sites he would offer.

Well, after berating me for getting a shot, he said if I encouraged anyone else, that I am a “flaming idiot, especially if you sent that email to anyone other than just” him.

Okay, I am a flaming idiot. The doc agrees, as do the people in my life that I love and value.

The odd thing about this email is that it comes from a man who seems, at least until this email exchange, to be an intelligent, outgoing gentleman, recently retired, who worked for a corporation for 24 years, retired, worked for another corporation, retired after 22 years, and then launched his own successful business. But, to ensure he has time to enjoy the dual pensions he receives, he hired several people to run his company and do all the work. He keeps the profits while they earn their hourly. All’s fair.

The thing that stuns me, though, is that sure he must know something the combined intelligence medical community doesn’t have a grasp on. He wanted to cite facts and statistics, but couldn’t give me sources, as they were all “offline.” Funny, but any article published in a medical journal of any quality or substance, can usually be found linked or references to other articles. Even other articles and sites mentioning qualified studies can be found in Yahoo, Google, and other search engines.

Don’t be like Dead Head Charlie. Get your flu shot. Please.