Jump to content

Does the flu shot actually work?


rotting sea cow

Recommended Posts

Maybe a rhetorical question for many, but here I'm, bedridden feeling like sh1t. 

The thing is I think I never caught the flu before and I never vaccinated before my current position, but HR of my current workplace encourages it (and actually put some pressure) because it prevents absences, blahblahblah. They even send people to our offices if we want it. Nevertheless I'm seeing lots of cancelled meetings and people sending emails apologizing. Like every year.

Similar experiences anyone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes the flu shot works.

 

the problem is flu is a fast mutating virus, and time is needed to develop any vaccine.  This means they have to guess which strains are going to be the ones they need to protect against each flu season several months before the flu season.  Some years they are better at predicting that others meaning you get more protection.

Every year there will be some strains going around that are not covered by the flu vaccine.

This year I think I've heard the flue vaccine is one of the least effective against current strains in some time.  

However the vaccine offers some protection even to other strains.  its been proven that if you have the vaccine and then get flu you will recover quicker and it will be milder than if you did not have the vaccine.

 

You need to have a new vaccine every year because it mutates so fast.

People die of the flu every year.

 

a lot of people are off with bad cold viruses and misidentify it as the flu.  there is no cold vaccine.

 

Get your flu vaccine if you have a chance, you'll be protecting yourself and others.  yes you may get a dead arm, or even the sniffles for a day after.  Its better than getting the flu.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first question is -- have you actually been diagnosed with influenza? "The flu" is used as a generic term for lots of diseases that are not influenza and so are not going to be prevented by a flu shot. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

 

This year I think I've heard the flue vaccine is one of the least effective against current strains in some time.  

 

mmmmm

2 hours ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

However the vaccine offers some protection even to other strains.  its been proven that if you have the vaccine and then get flu you will recover quicker and it will be milder than if you did not have the vaccine.

Milder? I used to laugh about the flu and I even participated in those silly "swine flu" parties during the scare some years ago. I only got labial herpes because of kissing too many girls (or maybe from that spicy vegan burger I ate afterwards).  Now I can see the shit is serious, I can't even sleep from the discomfiture and I didn't have such a fever (39.3C last night, now is better) since I was a kid. The overall feeling is like someone gave me a beating.

Hopefully yu right about a swift recovery.

2 hours ago, Ormond said:

The first question is -- have you actually been diagnosed with influenza? "The flu" is used as a generic term for lots of diseases that are not influenza and so are not going to be prevented by a flu shot. 

That was the doctor said this morning. I had to go there because I need to justify the absence otherwise I woudn't have move. He thinks is the swine flu because of the severity of the symptoms. I was never knocked-out from a normal cold.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That feeling of having been badly beaten does sound like flu -- at least the way I experience it, which is very high, prolonged fever which means I feel I'm freezing no matter how warm the clothes and bed covers, and that my entire body feels it's been over with a rubber hose -- even my bones feel like they hurt.  That happens very very very seldom now that I get a flu shot every year.

Flu shot, pneumonia shot, shingles vaccination too -- people need these, particularly now the entire globe is mobile and nobody lives in isolated communities hardly.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get the flu shot each year.  It’s important for herd immunity, which saves a lot of lives, even if you cannot always tell how much you individually benefit. 

Pebble gave a great description of why the benefits can be unpredictable.

I did get a flu-like virus this winter, but the delirious high fever and wracking body pains broke after only two days, which is shorter than a full flu.  So did I just have some lesser virus or did my flu shot protect me from a longer bout of misery?  I would need a blood sample tested to confirm either way, but thankfully I wasn’t bad enough to need a hospital. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/18/2020 at 11:43 AM, Pebble thats Stubby said:

This year I think I've heard the flue vaccine is one of the least effective against current strains in some time.  

I thought last year was relatively ineffective as well. Is that a coincidence or are we getting worse at figuring out which strains will be dominant?

 

Also, I get the flu shot every year. It makes me dizzy as shit for about 24 hours, but I'm pretty sure I had the flu once and it was a nightmare I want to avoid if at all possible. I slept for almost 96 hours straight, getting up only to eat apple sauce (couldn't keep anything else down), drink water, and do terrible things in the bathroom. In retrospect I probably should've gone to a hospital.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Fez said:

I thought last year was relatively ineffective as well. Is that a coincidence or are we getting worse at figuring out which strains will be dominant?

There may also be some level of serotype replacement going on. Ie the types not vaccinated against become more common in the population simply due to not being vaccinated against.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, they are effective (restrictions mentioned above).

No, I don't take flu shots.

I know my mom used to take my dad to those. However, I am not a senior citizen, for who those shots make more sense imho, as in I am still relatively young and healthy (more or less) with a (more or less) working immune system. So I am not particularly likely to sccumb to the flu (it's just the flu and not the measles or something). Thus I am not a primary target for the flu shot campaigns. And usually I get thru the flu seasons pretty much unscathed anyway.

Health behaviour in male adults and so on and so forth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Get yourself vaccinated for measles soonest.  Measles are no joke, nor are mumps, particularly for older people.

I got my measles shots. Read again (or maybe the faul is on me for not being clear on this).

Measles serious, so measles shots yes. Flu, less serious, no shots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

I got my measles shots. Read again (or maybe the faul is on me for not being clear on this).

Measles serious, so measles shots yes. Flu, less serious, no shots.

O, good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Yes, they are effective (restrictions mentioned above).

No, I don't take flu shots.

I know my mom used to take my dad to those. However, I am not a senior citizen, for who those shots make more sense imho, as in I am still relatively young and healthy (more or less) with a (more or less) working immune system. So I am not particularly likely to sccumb to the flu (it's just the flu and not the measles or something). Thus I am not a primary target for the flu shot campaigns. And usually I get thru the flu seasons pretty much unscathed anyway.

Health behaviour in male adults and so on and so forth.

Just a comment, but influenza susceptibility - and even the potential for a serious infection - has little do with whether you have a "working" immune system. People who are immunocompromised (whether from HIV or chemotherapy or whatever) get all kinds of weirder, and often worse, infections, but just about anyone can get influenza. And while seasonal influenza *generally* hits the elderly and frail hardest, it's hard to predict who might have an exaggerated immune reaction leading to serious illness. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/20/2020 at 11:21 AM, Fez said:

I thought last year was relatively ineffective as well. Is that a coincidence or are we getting worse at figuring out which strains will be dominant?

No, it's always been this way. Issue is it takes time to create a vaccine. Flu tends to start in certain regions of the world, so that's where they go to try to determine the strains to vaccinate against. But sometimes other strains end up being the ones that go worldwide, and we end up with more cases of flu. No vaccine is 100% effective, most are in the 85-95% range. Flu is always lower than that due to the fact that figuring out the initial strain isn't always perfect; they tend to say 67%, but that can vary year by year, going as low as 40%. It's not that it doesn't work at all, and if the antigens are close enough, it does still train your B-cells to create antibodies, which decreases the amount of time you're sick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...