I had a flu shot last November. One thing I remember about flu shots is that the rate that they “take” in the body is surprisingly low. So I imagine that would factor into my question. Also, aren’t there different strains of the flu that maybe a shot doesn’t cover?
I think I had the flu this week. All the symptoms I usually have were present: lung pain, horrible pain my lower back, fever, headache that wouldn’t go away, achy body, tiredness, a bit of a sore throat, and general malaise.
But it was not full-blown. I wasn’t THAT debilitated. Usually when I get the flu, I get it BAD for three days, then it lingers for another week.
This was like…a mild case of the flu. I’ve never experienced this before.
'Flu shots are only good for the strains that they protect you against. And yes, it’s possible to have milder 'flu symptoms for a strain that you’re protected against.
Leaffan gave you the short (accurate) answer. Influenza viruses are always changing. Each year the CDC makes an estimate as to which strains are most likely to invade the country and they adjust the vaccine to those estimates.
Statistically their estimates are very good, by the way.
Why not cook up a vaccine to protect you against EVERY know strain of influenza?
I was told by a nurse that our bodies couldn’t handle such a vaccine.
There are many strains of influenza, and it’s a bit of an educated crapshoot for the vaccine makers to try predicting what next season’s main bug will be when they start production several months in advance.
If they blow the guess entirely, you might as well have gotten a saline injection. Fortunately, they’re pretty good at the predictions, and most of the strains are similar enough that a vaccine against Strain H will probably at least slow down Strain M.
Actually, there’d be some good placebo effect - you got a shot, not just a pill from the drugstore, but a real-live injection administered by your doctor or a nurse with all the arm-cleaning preparation and signing of release forms, so it’s got to be something *really * good, and you carry on thinking “I’m going to be healthy this winter and not get the flu!” and that in and of itself can have an amazingly positive effect.
Similar viruses can give you a better chance to fight of a nastier relative. The famous Cow Pox which wasn’t deadly, was used as a vacine to counter Small Pox.
Well, I had the flu shot this November, too, through work again.
I got the flu last week. Can’t win 'em all. It was about an 8 out of 10 rating for severity compared to the last time I had the flu. (Way back in the fall of '97, I remember it well…)
The only two years I got 'flu shots were the two years I got 'flu. Bad. Hell with that. I’m stocked up on ColdFX and I wash my hands a lot and spend less time in crowds during 'flu season.
You didn’t get one of the strains that the shot immunised for, that’s no reason to stop getting the shot. They immunise for the worst current stains out there when the strains are picked. I don’t care if you get a shot, they work for the starins in the shot, some for related strains, and not at all for a few. It does save the lives of some people, and reduces extreme missery to slightly misserable for others. A vaccine will never cover all mutations of the flue, so long as it mutates at it’s current rate.
Each year’s flu vaccine only works against a few major strains.
Here is the Department of Health and Ageing statement on the composition of the 2006 vaccine:
*The Australian Influenza Vaccine Committee (AIVC) met on 6 October 2005, and agreed to adopt the September WHO recommendations.
The Committee decided that the influenza vaccine components for the year 2006 Season should contain the following:
A (H1N1): an A/New Caledonia/20/99 (H1N1) - like strain, 15 µg HA per dose
A (H3N2): an A/California/7/2004 (H3N2) - like strain, 15 µg HA per dose
B: a B/Malaysia/2506/2004 - like strain, 15 µg HA per dose
The following viruses are recommended as suitable vaccine strains:
Can’t win 'em all. It was about an 8 out of 10 rating for severity compared to the last time I had the flu. (Way back in the fall of '97, I remember it well…)