Flu Vaccine: Do it or not?

[Chad32]

I got probably my first flu shot this fall. Mainly because I got health insurance that pays for it. It's only been a couple of months, so I can't say how useful it's been, but I usually catch something a couple times a year. I'd probably be more definite in my opinion in a year.

[The Valkyrie]

I get my flu jab every year.

Let's get started, shall we?...

It's late spring here.

But if you need a flu jab, come and see me.

[GodsRevolt]

But the flu shot is always, at best, fit last year's flu virus... meaning that it may not be effective against this year's bug.

It's not 100%. You can still get the flu. Just not from the shot.

You really just have to have faith - in the shot.

[NoraBrimstone]

Who needs a flu vaccine?
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccination...ccine.aspx

[Jackalope]

Whether you get immunized or not, if you get flu symptoms, see your doc right away. There is an antiviral that can be administered, but it must be given within 48 hours of first symptoms.

I hadn't had a flu shot in probably 10 years - last year, I managed to get deathly sick from the flu, further complicated by an opportunistic case of bacterial pneumonia. I won't retell the whole story here again, but it was deadly serious and undoubtedly the most miserable month of my life.

I am getting vaccinated this year.

[rexbeccarox]

The one time I got a vaccination was the one time I got the flu. I don't think it's a correlation, necessarily, but If I ever have symptoms, I'll get the antiviral Cthu suggested, and then get the flu shot the following years.

[Owlix]

I don't know if I've had the shot at young ages, but vaccination stopped probably around the time I was ten or near to it. Since then, I've had a shot in the ass twice for Strep Throat twice. The doc said, "you can take a shot in the muscle of your butt once and bring some painkillers home, or; you can avoid the shot and take pills home for painkillers, as well as the antibiotics you'll have to take 3 times a day for like two fucking weeks and you're good. But no shots or vaccinations for anything else.

As to influenza, I do not recall having a shot in the last 15 years. I've not gotten the flu. I rarely take sick days for sickness such as that. It's the bullshit of menstruation that I remember most often, cramps, back pains, something like your female parts are falling out of you, in a painful and grotesque way...and so some mornings I call out to avoid the inevitable at work.
Other than strep, I do not take shots or pills of any type regularly. I had an advil for aheadache more than a month ago, and probably 3 months again before that.
I don't need medicine.......

[NoraBrimstone]

I don't believe people who say they got the flu after getting vaccinated. Partly because it's not actually possible, unless they got a new strain of flu; and partly because most people who think they have flu actually just have a bad cold. Flu is kinda rare compared to colds. When there are 3 types of flu virus you are vaccinated against, and ~200 types of cold virus you are not, guess what you're more likely to catch?

[Optimistic Mysanthrope]

Herpes

[NoraBrimstone]

Everyone has Herpes though.