I think I understand how a flu shot works. They give you a very small dose of the most common dead viruses that are the most likely suspects to be flying around that year. Your body, in response to the introduction of the intruders (and now having their blueprints), creates antibodies for the specific viruses, thus making it much easier for the body to fight off any live viruses it may encounter in the future. (or something like that).
I received my yearly flu shot on Saturday morning. I then went home and went to sleep (I am working the graveyard shift). I woke up 8 hours later with what feels like a full throttle version of influenza! Did I get the virus from the shot? I always thought that being the shot is a dose of “dead flu” it was impossible to acquire it in this fashion? Is it just a coincidence that I got sick when I did, or did the shot have something to do with it? I felt absolutely fine prior to going to see the doctor.
It sure seems like it cost me $40 bucks to go and get sick!
According to the poster in my pediatrician’s office, the answer is NO.
It says right on the poster, that you can’t get the flu by taking the flu shot.
YMMV
According to the CDC invluenza vaccine is made from killed virus rather than a weakened one, so it’s impossible to get the flu from the shot. They list the following symptoms as possible side effects:
* Soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given
* Fever (low grade)
* Aches
… but emphasize that is not the same has having the flu. Flu vaccine isn’t 100% effective if the flu strain doesn’t match and I thikn this happened to me. About a week and a half after my shot I had what was probably flu with a few days of fever to 102º with body aches and chills. At least my shot was free.
I tried to search archives on topic however It didn’t seem to go through.
Since you could not have gotten the flu from the vaccine, there are three possibilities:
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You were in the incubation phase of a flu infection when you got your shot. Since the vaccine takes some time to provoke enough antibodies to do you any good, if you were infected several days before the shot and doomed to develop symptoms the day after the shot, getting the shot wouldn’t do anything.
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By coincidence, you came down with something else that causes flu-like symptoms the day after your flu shot.
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Your symptoms were caused by the flu shot. Most people don’t react so strongly to a flu shot but when they do, the symptoms are, as stated above, fever and aches, much like the symptoms of the flu.
It would be unlikely if you had the flu shot before that you would have a different reaction if you got it again. (Unlikely not impossible).
But virus is dead. So it cannot infect you. Of course the argument goes what if it wasn’t all the way dead…
It takes approximately two weeks for a flu shot to become “active”, and the incubation period for the flu is at least a few days, so between the two it’s quite possible to get a flu shot and still get the flu even several weeks later. That’s not to mention the fact that the shot only protects against 60-70% of the various mutations.
And everybody’s right…it is IMPOSSIBLE to get the flu from a flu shot. A flu virus is built from two main components: an outer protective shell, and the “living” innards of the virus. It is the outer shell that your immune system recognizes and fights off. So what they do in a flu shot is take a bunch of viruses, kill off the living part, and inject just the shells into you. Your body sees the shells as invaders and creates antibodies against them (even though they’re not actually dangerous). Then when the REAL flu comes along later those antibodies will still be in your bloodstream, ready to fight off the infection before it takes hold.
Well, that’s my understanding anyway…
They give flu shots to the hospital employees here each year. It is stated that the virus is dead but it seems that there is always a few people that get the a mild case as you describe after receiving the shot. I think that they did get these symptoms from the shot. It is to much of a coincidence.