What will it take to get a flu shot into you today? Maybe some fiction?
Just (Don’t) Do It!
Public health experts say they’re expecting a widespread outbreak of flu shot fatigue this year. The primary symptom: zero motivation to get up off the couch and go get a flu shot.
Blame H1N1.
When we first heard about the H1N1 swine flu last year, reporters juiced up their stories by imagining a worst-case scenario. Pandemic! Millions might die! So the U.S. and other major countries signed on to buy an H1N1 vaccine that was rushed to market.
But supplies were spotty, so most people went without the shot. And then H1N1 turned out to be a very mild health crisis. By most accounts it was a nasty flu and some did die, but the official confirmed death count was FAR less than the total deaths from the seasonal flu in an average year.
Turns out it wasn’t an epidemic at all, much less a doomsday pandemic.
A year later, even consumers with short memories can recall the pandemic that wasn’t, and the vaccine that wasn’t necessary.
The result? Fatigue. You can imagine Joe Consumer’s thinking: “Why should I pay 30 bucks for an overhyped shot that includes H1N1? I’m pretty sure I don’t need that! Now where’s the remote?”
Clearly, it’s time to give Joe some strong incentives to get off the couch.
Keep the car running
Recently I told you about a couple of stores that aren’t just waiting around for folks to mosey on in and get a shot. They’re getting serious about incentives.
If you get your flu shot at Safeway, they’ll give you 10 percent off your next grocery purchase. And at CVS pharmacies you get a free flu shot when you spend $30 on select Procter & Gamble products.
Even with these bargains, Joe may not be motivated. But what if he didn’t even have to get out of his car?
In Georgia, the Decatur County Health Department offers a “drive-thru flu shot clinic.” For $25 you just roll down your window, get a jab in the arm, and you’re on your way.
Convenience–sure, that’s a good added value. But what the flu shot REALLY needs is something flashy–something to put it over the top to make it indispensible.
How about this? Tell consumers the flu shot prevents heart attacks. There you go! It’s a flu vaccine AND a heart attack vaccine. That should get them lined up around the block!
The Canadian Medical Association Journal recently published a study from the UK that linked the flu shot with a 19 percent reduced risk of a first heart attack. And even more intriguing (also pretty odd), heart attack prevention is better if you get your shot early in the season than if you wait and get it later.
Do you think the mainstream media fell all over themselves touting this one? Oh yeah. Here are two typical headlines that should make any reader believe the heart protection bonus is a done deal:
“Study: Getting a Flu Shot Lowers Heart Attack Risk”
“Want to Lower Heart Attack Risk? Get Flu Vaccine”
But my favorite headline comes from a health blog: “Flu Shot May Prevent Heart Attack (Will Also Grant You Immortality and Make You Rich)”
Turns out, that sarcasm is well-deserved.
Kudos to HealthDay News for doing some digging to reveal just how worthless this study actually is.
Dr. Kirk Garratt–a cardiac specialist at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital–told HealthDay that the study does NOT show a 19 percent heart attack reduction among the vaccinated. What it DOES show: There were 19 percent fewer heart attack patients vaccinated in the previous year.
Well that’s quite different, isn’t it? In fact, it’s nothing. And a Yale-New Haven Hospital researcher agrees. He told HealthDay that the 19 percent claim is simply not justified by the data.
But never mind all that. You can be sure that doctors everywhere are now egging their patients into getting a flu shot with the good news that it will reduce heart attack risk.
And if that doesn’t work? Don’t be surprised if they start offering to stop by your home to give you a flu shot right on your couch.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Sources:
“Drive Thru Flu Shot Clinic Fri” Community News, 9/26/10, bainbridgega.com
“Influenza vaccination, pneumococcal vaccination and risk of acute myocardial infarction: matched case-control study” Canadian Medical Association Journal, Published online ahead of print, 9/20/10, cmaj.ca
“Study Claims Flu Shots Associated With Lower Risk of Heart Attack” Ellin Holohan, HealthDay News, 9/20/10, healthday.com
