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Discussion » Questions » Health and Wellness » Flu shot less than 20% effective for most common strain this season, scientists find
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Flu shot less than 20% effective for most common strain this season, scientists find

I used to be phobic about needles, but when the opportunity to get a flu shot from the new high pressure squirt gun came along I went for it (you just feel a sharp tap as the vaccine is shot through your skin into your arm under high pressure). Later that season I went down with influenza. That was in 1971. Never since have I accepted a flu shot, and never since have I got the flu.
But my advice to everyone is definitely get the flu shot when it is available; even if you live in a country where you have to pay for it out of your own pocket, and even if you have to endure injection by the hypodermic syringe method. You can't be too careful, and each year people all over the world die from the flu.
Did you get a flu shot this season, and if you did, have you so far got the flu? If so, was it one of the 80%+ strains for which your shot is now known to have been ineffective, or was your flu shot appropriate for stopping the strain you actually ended up getting?      

Posted - February 1, 2018
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Responses


  • 16781
    I'm pretty good about vaccinations, but the flu shot is one I don't bother with. Why? It's not broad spectrum enough, that's why. It inoculates you against a small number of flu strains, so they're only guessing which bug will bite you.
      February 1, 2018 4:28 PM MST
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  • 1713
    I haven't gotten my flu shot, I never get my shots and all I get are mild colds. If I do get the flu then oh well, I'll deal with it.
      February 1, 2018 5:21 PM MST
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  • 5808
    I never get them
    no flu either.
      February 1, 2018 6:48 PM MST
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  • 2465
    I haven't always gotten my flu shot, but I have for the past 10 years or so. Not getting the shot is like playing Russian roulette.  A close friend of mine decided not to get the shot and now she's in ICU in a medically enduced coma. 
      February 1, 2018 10:40 PM MST
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  • 13277
    *INDUCED
      February 1, 2018 10:47 PM MST
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  • 2465
    WTF difference does a typo make? She was taken off life support and she died at 7:30 tonight. 

      February 2, 2018 10:01 PM MST
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  • 13277
    So sorry for your loss.
      February 2, 2018 10:46 PM MST
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  • 2465
    Thank you. I know she's in a better place but it breaks my heart. She was a great lady and a great friend and she will be missed terribly. 
      February 2, 2018 11:04 PM MST
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  • 7939
    I'm not really a believer in the flu shot. My kids and I don't get vaccinated for the flu. We haven't had it this year. We do get sick from time to time, but I don't remember the last time it was the flu. Most viruses run their course within a couple days and that's that. 

    On the flip side, my mom lives in assisted living and they always push for the flu vaccine, and she always wants it. She was hospitalized for the flu last month. In fact, I think she's gotten the flu every year, but this was her first hospitalization for it.
      February 2, 2018 12:04 AM MST
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  • 6477
    No flu vaccination or any other kind for me.. I truly follow suit with others here who seem to be saying that they don't get shots and don't get flu.. I honestly believe that nothing beats natural immunity. 
      February 2, 2018 2:27 PM MST
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  • 1713
    I think it's just something elderly people need to worry more about, I don't think it's necessary for me to get the shot since I'm young and healthy and have a much better chance at surviving it if I do get it.
      February 2, 2018 5:18 PM MST
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  • 22891
    i dont bother with the flu shot since i never get the flu
      February 4, 2018 4:56 PM MST
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  • 53509


      This is a great question you posed back in 2018, and looking at it on retrospect during the time of COVID19 reinforces its relevance.  Reviving it now may bring up some interesting perspectives from the membership here.

      When I was active duty military, vaccinations were a part of the overall healthcare regimen. I cannot specifically remember whether or not flu shots were part of it, but if they were, I certainly received them. I served for more than a decade, so the amount of flu vaccine that got pumped into me was most likely a significant level.

      I have now been out of the military for as many years as I served, and since that time, I have never been vaccinated as a civilian, so I can’t evaluate the effectiveness or lack thereof.  I do not know if the consecutive years of getting vaccinated built up a resistance or immunity for me, but I do know that I have not suffered the flu at any time in the past couple of decades. I’m well aware that the flu mutates over time and that medical science does its best to have vaccines available that address the current strain at the time the shot is administered.
    ~


      August 30, 2020 10:53 AM MDT
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