The sneezing and sniffling has started.

At least five times a day for the past week I've been hearing achoo at various decibels and velocity, which reminds me that it's time to talk about the Big F in health-care -- Flu.

(Confession first: I didn't get a flu shot last year.) I meant to, but never made it to a clinic or to my doctor. (And full disclosure: I didn't get the flu.)

Public health nurses tell me I dodged a bullet."I believe if you don't get a flu shot, you're playing Russian roulette," says Peggy Richardson, a Fresno County public health nurse.

Richardson has 32 years experience and these statistics to back her up. Each year, 236,000 people are hospitalized for influenza in the United States and 36,000 die of its complications (pneumonia being one of the most common).

Scary numbers. But Richardson admits the flu shot remains a tough sell.

She's yet to completely bust the year-after-year myth that the influenza shot can cause the flu -- it doesn't, she promises. If you get sick after getting a shot, it's because the virus already was incubating inside your body. The shot takes two weeks to build a shield against the flu virus.

This year, there's a big push to get children (little germ factories) flu shots. For the first time, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the shot for children 6 months to 18 years. Last year, it recommended the vaccine for children 6 months to 59 months.

Richardson says if you want reasons to give a child a flu shot, check out a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention video documentary on YouTube. Parents of children who have died as a result of influenza give testimony.

But concerns about Thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative in flu vaccine, make some parents hesitant to get their infants and toddlers immunized.

I'm not getting into the debate about vaccine safety for children here, I just want to pass along this information: There is Thimerosal-free vaccine available for children 3 years of age and younger and for pregnant women. Not only is it available, it's California law that they receive the preservative-free vaccine.

Parents also shouldn't hesitate to ask clinics and doctors to give older children the preservative-free shots, should they want them, I'm told.

As for me, I'm an adult. I'm healthy. Why should I get a shot?

Richardson's sigh over the telephone is louder than a sneeze. Do I want to feel miserable? Do I want to use up sick leave unnecessarily? Well, no. She's got me there.

For a list of flu-shot clinics offered by county health departments check out these links:
Fresno County:
Kings County: