This years flu vaccine only 10% effective against dominant strain H3N2

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Thank you for being a voice of reason.

I don't get the flu shot, although I'm not discounting the possibility that at some time in the future I might start getting it.

Hand washing is the most important thing. I've personally never worried about touching handles and doorknobs, and I'm unimpressed with the effectiveness of those sanitizers.

More to the point, I think that people are unaware of the incredible effectiveness of handwashing, and are unaware that a hundred years ago (during the last great Pandemic) very few people had indoor running water, and therefore regular handwashing was infrequent.

Oh, and I read recently that the yearly death rates from influenza are quite steady, at least in this country, regardless of the particular brand of flu that year and regardless of the vaccine.

I recall getting flu any number of times in my childhood, and before I was about 20. I suspect I was exposed to (and came down with) enough different kinds that I have as permanent an immunity as anyone can have. Keep in mind that the reason old people didn't get flu in the terrible 1918 epidemic is that a similar strain had made the rounds some 50 years earlier, so they'd either gotten it then and were now immune, or had a natural immunity.