To head off the inevitable arguments:
1. The flu shot will not and can not give you the flu! It is a killed virus. It is incapable of causing disease. It takes the outer protein of the virus, without the RNA, and presents that to your immune system. It’s like teaching guards to recognize enemy uniforms. It’s just the outer coat. An enemy uniform, uninhabited, is not an enemy. An enemy uniform can’t hurt you.
2. If you got the flu shortly after getting the flu shot, it was because you were already exposed to the flu somewhere, not because of the vaccine. It takes two weeks for you to develop full immunity following vaccination, so if you got sick any time within that two week period, it was because someone with the flu gave it to you. It wasn’t the shot. (The nasal flu vaccine, which is made with a live attenuated virus, can, in people with compromised immune systems, make you sick. So if you’re a spoonie, on immune modulating medication, or otherwise have a weakened immune system, do not get the nasal vaccine, get the shot!)
3. Just because you have never gotten the flu in the past, does not mean you do not need a flu shot. It just means you were lucky and didn’t get exposed. Nobody has such a robust immune system that they can’t get the flu.
4. If the only time you ever got the flu was the one year you got the flu shot, it was because you were exposed to the flu. It wasn’t because of the shot. The shot isn’t 100% effective. It protects you against the strains of flu in the vaccine, but it isn’t a guarantee you won’t get sick. However, if you do get sick with one of the strains it protects against, it will significantly shorten the course of your illness. And every year the flu vaccine is manufactured to protect against what are expected to be the most common strains of flu.
5. Even if you are young and healthy and will probably just be miserable for a few days if you get the flu, other people around you are not. People you care about. A grandparent, a pregnant friend, a cousin who has cancer, a neighbor who has an autoimmune disease… For those people, the flu isn’t an inconvenience, it can be life-threatening. You’re not just protecting yourself against the flu, you’re protecting other people. Not just strangers. People you care about.
So get you flu shot. Get it now. It’s going to be a nasty flu season, according to the CDC. For more facts about the flu and flu vaccine, the CDC website is a good resource.
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