So every six months I go the the doctors for a prescription renewal. I sat there on Tuesday for 1.5 hours waiting my turn surrounded by sick people and kids sniffling away. Guess, today I feel crap and shivery and have got a cold or flu .................... thanks doc. Pity I can't just go once a year or better still once every five years. Hate doctors waiting rooms .............. they are full of sick people.

When I finally arrived home afterwards I said to my wife "if I didn't have a cold before I went I will have now" hmmm, so true

 

yep I hate that too. I always hurry home to shower. better than emergency rooms, though.
I once waited 7.5 hours, after cutting my finger in half. (the 6 finger way, not the 4 finger way)

 

Hmmm. I wonder, is France going through the anti-vaccine nonsense that has taken over in certain parts of the States. If so, I hope you either had the measles or were inoculated.

A day doesn't go by, here in the States, without seeing a story of another person with measles in a densely populated situation. Disneyland, Amtrak, Bart, the list goes on. It amazes me how, fifteen years ago we celebrated eradicating measles here in the US only to now be fighting off cases in over a third of the States. There was even a story about a woman in CA who wanted to hold a measles party. Her kid had the measles and wanted all her anti-vaccine friends to bring their kids over so they could catch the virus!

People forget how many developed pneumonia, encephalitis or even died annually from measles. More importantly, how many people with compromised immune systems are put at higher risk because of the virus. People forget how fortunate we are with the medical advances vaccines provide. People forget what the life expectancy was in 1900 as compared to today.

I hope you stay well and don't get sick from exposure to any of the illnesses in that waiting room.

 

this anti vaccine bs makes me sick...and puts a lot people at risk. no real science to support it. these people must be of far greater intelligence and obviously more important than anyone else. disqusting

 

I know where you're coming from. Some years ago I was talked into having the anti flu injection by the doc in the UK. Hmm, a few days later I felt so bad I thought I had actually contracted flu.

Watching the TV news the UK issued a warning that the present flu vaccinations are a complete waste of time because the current flu epidemic is not the same strain and has mutated into a new strain. Great, so all that doctors time, health service costs went down the pan. No wonder the vast majority never bother with the flu injection in the UK or here in France.

 

As Paul says, it's on the increase once again due to the parents attitude towards MMR. I was reading an article about this online in the past hour International Measles Outbreaks thankfully as a kid I had measles and also had a vaccination when young but I'm not sure whether that still holds good. Ironically, looking around the surgery waiting room on Tuesday there was a kid with his mother opposite who was listless and very flushed looking (didn't stop him playing with the mothers phone though ) and may have been a potential measles case. France is in the worse measles outbreak for many years as I'm sure half the rural population cannot be bothered to attend the docs surgery for their kids to have the vaccination as I don't, in some cases, believe they have enough education/intelligence to appreciate the serious implications