Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
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Notes -
Note that this is very rough napkin maths, but I estimate that the average flu shot provides ~ 0.0015 to 0.003 QALYs per shot.
In other words, about a day's worth of perfect health per shot. This probably does matter at the population level, I think it comes to about $10k to $20k per QALY, which isn't bad at all, but per shot, it's rather negligible on an individual basis.
Being healthy for half a day versus having a rather sore arm (and a small additional risk of flu for a few days) is what it boils down to, and I will confess that I can't be bothered most of the time. If someone shows up with a shot and asks me to take it (my grandpa was a stickler about literally doing that), I'd go for it. If it posed even a trivial inconvenience, I wouldn't lose sleep over missing it.
I've had the flu maybe a dozen times (at least counting respiratory infections worse than the average cold) and covid 4+ times (that's how many times I tested positive, and eventually I stopped bothering). None of them were bad enough to overcome my general laziness these days.
Unless you're already sick, immunocompromised, or old, I think you wouldn't really notice the difference between getting a shot and not bothering.
Clearly I'm in this description and I don't like it.
I'm past my best-by too, I'll see you in the nursing home eventually!
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