Flu shot

Here’s one for you guys…..

Flu shots, do you get them, why/why not? I have been getting them the last couple years. Mainly because it takes very little effort, my work hands them out free about this time of year. All I have to do is go down to the break room. I haven’t seen any results. I still get really sick once a year. For my kids, I don’t believe in them. I think getting sick once in awhile builds up some immunity, and teaches your body how to fight off sickness. But my wife feels otherwise. So they usually get the shot. I know some guys at work feel strongly for various reasons about not getting them. Some because they don’t work, or they have some kind of conspiracy theory (tinfoil hat kind of guys). What’s your thoughts?

I dont get them, the wife does. No difference between our sicknesses

I don’t get one either. My wife does/has too because of working in a hospital. I don’t really have a reason not to but I never have. I, too, get sick once a year. Usually between Thanksgiving and mid January. Last year was rough. I got the stomach flu pretty bad (knocked me out for 3 days) and have contemplated getting one. I guess if I had one for free at work I might get one but we don’t so I don’t even think about it till my FW gets hers. I’m with you, Drifter, about the kids getting them. But like you, My FW suggest they get one, so they do.

I don’t get one, I also see no difference in getting sickness.

Oh boy…

I get it to promote herd immunity. Even though the flu shot is imperfect, like any vaccine it works best when most/all get it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, including those who are more vulnerable to serious flu illness, like babies and young children, older people, and people with certain chronic health conditions.

For those not old enough to remember 1976….

I didn’t think I wore a tin foil hat…but maybe.

I get one whether I want to or not. Failure to comply would result to me losing my job.

I get one

I do not get one, messes with my diabeetus too much, but so would the flu so its a catch 22. Never have gotten the flu though.

I had the flu a number of years ago and now I never miss getting the shot. It is usually covered by insurance or your employer or a free clinic. If you do not, you are playing russian roulette.

I have and have not gotten it over the last few years. Didn’t seem to make a difference regarding getting sick. Was not aware of it helping others around you.

Last flu shot I got was about 20 years ago. Had a lot of health issues after the shot for basically the entire sick season and it fell out of favor with me. I figure my body’s immune system can handle it if I get it, and I rarely do.

I always get one, not just because it’s offered free at my workplace but I have never had any adverse side affects from getting one. Seems to be a worthwhile preventative.

It was also explained to me from my doc that even though you may still get the flu after being vaccinated, the severity is usually less severe because your immune system is already exposed and the (anti-bodies?) are already there and ready to move in.

Every year some doctor from the CDC explains why this year’s vaccine doesn’t work. I’ve never seen them get on TV and say “Well, we NAILED IT this year!”. Never.

In addition, my Mom got the shot a few years back and it almost put her in the hospital. Since we share mostly the same DNA, this concerns me too.

So no shot for this guy.

S.R.

I did it one time about 15 years ago… That winter I was sick for pretty much 5 months straight. Probly not the “flu” exactly but I haven’t had one since and haven’t been sick since..

To each their own. If you think it works or it works for you have at it. This cat ain’t doin it anymore.

me neither!!! last time i got it, it made me sick. i did however get the pnemonia shot and the new improved shingles shot. shigles shot has 2 parts……round 2 is 2-6 months after the first one!

No on the flu shot.

First let me say I don’t believe I have ever had the flu.

Never had the shout until I was in my late 30’s. Got them 3 years in a row. Then developed adult onset allergies. Docs say that was a coincidence. I don’t think so. Now 10 + years later with no more shots. Allergies have gotten a lot less severe. I expect them to go away completely at some point in the future. (Nothing worse than being addicted to allergy meds by the way…)

I do believe in vaccinations for known viruses or disease. But a dart on the board shot at getting it right each year is not for me.

Good Luck!

-J.

I get one
I’ve had the flu… bad, if I ever get it again and lessons it, I’d be happy
It’s free and right here at work.

MNdrifter wrote:

Mainly because it takes very little effort, my work hands them out free about this time of year. All I have to do is go down to the break room.

I’m the same way. Several years ago my thought was always “why not, it’s just a co-pay of $10” and yet now they’re free in a lot of places, whether it’s because of my insurance or at work. Like you, my work will do them on the clock. Otherwise what I like to do is parlay it into some type of advantage for me; Target typically gives a $5 gift card if you get yours there, and this year I’ve seen Cub and Hy-Vee offer 5 cents or so off gallons of gas if you get yours there.

Steve Root wrote:

Every year some doctor from the CDC explains why this year’s vaccine doesn’t work. I’ve never seen them get on TV and say “Well, we NAILED IT this year!”. Never.

Sure is weird how the ones they don’t vaccinate for could spread more than the ones they do vaccinate for. Must mean the vaccines don’t work

Watch the 16 minute 60 minutes piece. That alone will stop a person from ever taking a vaccine for the “flu”.

Never. I got the flu for the first time in decades last year and it ruined our anniversary trip.

They always seem to be chasing the strains of flu and will always be a year behind.

Never have and never will even though it’s free and done here at work on the clock. Way too many horror stories and I don’t really want someone to inject a virus in me. It’s like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane

I get them.

MNdrifter wrote:

All I have to do is go down to the break room. I haven’t seen any results. I still get really sick once a year. For my kids, I don’t believe in them. I think getting sick once in awhile builds up some immunity, and teaches your body how to fight off sickness.

Part of the problem is people are constantly confusing bad colds with the flu and referring to a bad cold as “having the flu”. That leads to all kinds of people falsely claiming the “flu shot didn’t work” because they (or thier Aunt Edna or Uncle Jake) “Got the flu shot and got the flu anyway”.

The flu is influenza and it either caused or significantly contributed to the deaths of 80,000 people in the US last year. It’s not a feaking bad cold like so many people think.

1. Neither your kids nor anyone else can develop immunity to the flu by natural means. The problem is that the flu is a differenet strain every year, so no one can be immune to the flu for more than one year assuming they were either vaccinated or actually got the flu.

2. WAY too much is made of the fact that the flu shot’s effectiveness varies from year to year. Last year the flu vaccine was said to be 40 to 50% effective, but even that number provides significant “herd immunity” benefits if enough people get vaccinated.

BTW, this is the first year where a new process is being widely used for producing the flu vaccine. This process is significantly faster, so the door is no open to “tuning” the flu vaccine later in the season. In future years, there is every expectation that the effectiveness of the vaccine will go up each year.

3. NO! Contrary to the total myth, you do NOT “get the flu” from the flu shot. Any reaction you have is a result of your body’s immune system doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, getting fired up and building antibodies to fight the real virus should you be exposed.

And if I hear another whiny, pansy-ass, sissy boy sniveling about how they don’t get the flu shot because their “shoulder gets really sore”, I’ll projectile puke on them. Grow a goldamn pair.

If you don’t want to get a flu shot, don’t get one. I just wish the made up reasons and false armchair logic about why wouldn’t spread faster than the flu. The flu is real and it REALLY kills people.

Grouse

I get a flu shot every year because of a suppressed immune system. The rest of my family does as well.

Just to set the record straight the flu shot is a dead vaccine. It will not give you the flu but will help you build immunity against the flu. Some people do experience a reaction to the shot but they do not get influenza.

From the Center for Disease Control
Misconceptions about Flu Vaccines
Can a flu vaccine give you the flu?
No, flu vaccines cannot cause flu illness. Flu vaccines given with a needle (i.e., flu shots) are currently made in two ways: the vaccine is made either with a) flu viruses that have been ‘inactivated’ (killed) and that therefore are not infectious, or b) using only a single gene from a flu virus (as opposed to the full virus) in order to produce an immune response without causing infection. This is the case for recombinant influenza vaccines.

For more information https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/misconceptions.htm

mplspug wrote:

They always seem to be chasing the strains of flu and will always be a year behind.

Yeah I actually read recently that at best it typically can be no more than 30-40% effective, because of the strains always changing.

Anyone in the military from 2003 until now get the Anthrax vaccine? Sketchy doesn’t even begin to describe how that process went.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

3. NO! Contrary to the total myth, you do NOT “get the flu” from the flu shot. Any reaction you have is a result of your body’s immune system doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, getting fired up and building antibodies to fight the real virus should you be exposed.

Technically you do. We feel ill not because of viruses or bacteria. We feel sick as a result of our bodies response to fighting them.

That being said, there’s a good chance you’ll feel nothing or minor symptoms as the virus injected into you is already compromised.