Flu shot question

I get one every year and never had any problems, side effects, or other. I use public transport a lot so take some degree of comfort in thinking I'm somewhat protected against the petrie dish environment.

Question though- can an employer really force you to get one ?

When something goes awry in a person's life they often look for a reason. Flu shot (and vaccines in general) have gotten beaten up by the paranoid even though no demonstrable causation.

While the benefits of a flu shot are debatable (its not anywhere as benefitial as a Polio or Smallpox vaccine) - the negatives are not as bad or common as many think. Maybe 1-in-a-million with a egg allergy will react but it won't give your kids autism or give you MS.

Last year I got the flu shot and a whole bunch of terrible things follwed:

1.  A month later I developed a bad achilies inflamation that set my running back 6 months

2. With in a week of the shot my car's transmission broke down on my way to work

3.  The day I got the shot a volcano erupted in Indonesia (didn't really affect me but the news coverage was scary)

4. My cat scratched up my leather couch

5. I had a sore shoulder for two days

texasgrrl - 2012-11-23 10:59 AM Well, I'm an RN (I know..I should not be having irrational fears! and my employer "requires" all employees to have the flu shot.  Even in nursing school it was required but I managed to squeak under the radar and not get  the shot.  I'm just worried I will be the "one in a million" person who gets Guillam-barre syndrome..I guess I should just relax..

I haven't ever gotten one - but my mom is also in health care and gets one every year and she tends to be that person that if there is a side effect she is the 'one in a million' but she hasn't ever had a problem with the flu shot. 

I know this logic well. I once went out for a hamburger and was in an auto accidents.  The only logical conclusion is that hamburgers cause auto accidents!

Please don't stereotype a large portion of the population, myself included, as being paranoid about not wanting to be forced to inject some unknown substance into my body when there is absolutely no evidence to prove that it will prevent me from getting the flu. 34 years flu free, I don't see a need to get a flu shot.  If you believe everything that your told by a for-profit industry, that in conjunction with the government forces you to take something, that's your choice.  My choice is to use the method that's prevented me from getting sick for 34 years.  Don't call be paranoid.  There are words for people on your side of the fence too.

I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers or knock off any tin foil hats.  Though I hear that the HPV vaccine is a UN plot to make our girls into closet socialists. 

All I have is my own experience. Personally, I've had the flu shot every year since forever and have never gotten the flu. There was one year two years ago that I did not get the flu shot, and got H1N1. I had no idea the flu could knock a person out for so long. Didn't make that mistake again and got the flu shot the next year without fail.

The needle is tiny and feels like nothing. Of course, I donate blood and have lots of tattoos so...obviously needles don't bother me. Sore arm for a day and a bit afterwards, but no biggie.

Good luck with your decision.

The flu vaccine is NOT a live virus vaccine (most vaccines are not live virus, the most common live virus vaccines are MMR, varicella and yellow fever) meaning you cannot get the flu from receiving the vaccine. 

Also, there are MANY strains of influenza. The flu vaccine contains just 3. Those three are the best guess by the CDC (and probably other organizations) as to the strains that will be most prevalent. Some times they are right, other times, not so much. It's hard to know what strains will be the most prevalent. 

Additionally, most people confuse 'flu-like symptoms' with influenza. Most people who say they got the flu, most likely did not. 

Let us also remember herd immunity. Simply because I am young and most likely would be fine even if I did get the flu, it's not really about ME. It's about anyone that is immuno-suppressed that I may come into contact with, like my grandparents or young cousins. Or my co-worker who has a new baby. Getting the flu vaccine isn't about me, it's about protecting 1) people who have a weaker immune system and 2) people who have perhaps an egg allergy and cannot receive the vaccine. 

Anyway, I used to work in the vaccine industry and got my vaccines for free. My current employer provides the flu vaccine for free as well. 

I get one most years and have not have any bad side effects- just sore at the site of the injection some years.  Never have gotten sick or even under the weather from one.

This year I wasn't even sore at the site of the injection, though it hurt like a mother when I got the shot.  Don't know if there's any correlation!

My wife and I both work in the medical field and we are REQUIRED to get one every fall. Most studies will say that you can't get the flu and/or symptoms from a so called "dead bug" used in a vaccine. If you are already on the cusp of getting some sort of sickness, the flu shot may bring it to the forefront a little quicker.

With that said, I have gotten the flu shot the past 5 or 6 years with usually a feeling of tiredness, sore arm from injection for a couple of days. But this year, ironically, i was sick for almost 3 weeks. Granted I was doing some traveling and on a small vacation with the family at the time.

My goodness i enjoy paranoid flu-shot stories.  I'm a pharmacist and have gotten the shot every year for the past 10 or so, this year my hospital decided to make it mandatory as many others have.

YOU CAN NOT GET THE FLU FROM THE SHOT!  NOPE, NOT POSSIBLE.

As said before, it is an inactived- read, DEAD virus.  Sure, you may get flu-like symptoms form the shot.  (you see, the shot stimulates your immune system to make antibodies- a stimulated immune system also gives rise to flu-like symptoms) As a matter of fact, no virus gives you a runny nose or sore throat or headaches- those are caused by your immune reaction to the virus.  See? it simple, it's not the flu, but it maybe a flu-like reaction to the shot.  it happens sometimes to some people.  So relax a little.

Will it prevent you from getting the real flu? can't tell, but it will may help, and it will also help protect those around you, like loved ones, family members, children, friends, co-workers, any close contacts and patients for those in health care.  (it's the holidays, think about others as well).  Also remember there are many, many viruses out there that cause illness.  That cold you get a few times each winter season is probably not true influenzae, it's just a seasonal viral illness.  True flu will likely knock you on your but for a few days.  Just because you got sick a few times does not mean the shot doesn't work for you.

for the poster who said they don't know the side effects and long term effects of the shot, my friend you are a bit misinformed, millions upon millions of flu vaccine are given every year around the workd, for many, many years.  and teh CDC/FDA  have a special vaccine side effect reporting program that's been around for many, many years.

Please people, roll up you sleeves and help us all out.

-Mike

I have gotten the flu shot some years and not gotten it others. In some cases employers have required it. I can get it low-cost at work but sometimes timing has been bad--too close to a race (I won't risk it) or I was sick with a minor illness at the time. Never had any side effects other than a sore arm. I do avoid getting it the week before a major race, though, just in case. I have done easy runs within a few hours of getting the shot with no problems. There are a few shots that have given me serious/annoying side effects (Japanese encephalitis, and the old typhoid injection); flu shot doesn't.

What's odd is I haven't noticed a correlation between getting the shot and getting more/less sick during flu season. There have been seasons where I get the shot and still end up having one or two nasty cases of what definitely seems like influenza (fever, body aches, respiratory stuff); others where I don't get the shot and never get sick. There are different strains of flu and maybe the vaccine isn't right for Vietnam or something. "Flu season" is different in the northern and southern hemispheres and we have kids/staff who come and go from both, so there is probably a different mix of viruses here than in most environments in the US. I also have a tendency to get a flu-like illness early in the school year, before shots are available here, then not get sick when it is spreading more widely a few months later, shot or no shot. Perhaps I "test drive" the virus!

I tend to feel similarly to RookieIM..I don't like being "required" to inject myself with a vaccine if I don't want to..Obviously, I don't want to get others with a lower immune system sick in case I am carrying the virus, but at the same time, I don't really want to get the vaccine..Anyway, I'm not afraid of "getting the flu"..I'm more afraid of the Guillam Barre possibility..but I know that's unlikely.  I'll "roll the dice" as another poster put it and hope for the best.  It seems pretty unlikely I will have untoward effects..As far as "what's in" the vaccine..who knows.  There are the 3 strains of virus and then some preservatives...

I try to get the flu shot every year, one year I got the flu and I don't ever want to be that sick again.

No bad side effects from the flu shot for me. As far as people thinking its some evil plot by the government mind control department, go ahead and get a good case of the flu and see how you feel about it then.

If there's a chance that shot will stop me from being as sick as I was, sign me up.