Flu Shots II

I won’t scold you again but Robert Bazell writing in Slate reminds us of the positive externality:

Even if spending a week violently sick and bedridden doesn’t worry you, by immunizing yourself you vastly lessen the chances you will spread the virus to some child or older person (family member, friend, or stranger) who might die from it….An experiment in Japan proved that immunizing school-age children could cut deaths in the elderly by many thousands.

…Most appalling of all, only 34 percent of health-care workers got flu shots. The very people who are most at risk themselves and most likely to spread the virus to others are for the most part not getting their shots.

For those afraid of needles, Bazell notes that you can now get a flu mist instead of a shot.