# Flu shots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 1999, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428 "1999-09-21T20:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 1999, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/1 "1999-09-21T20:37:00Z")
I’ve heard people speak of feeling ill after receiving flu shots. I was the under the impression that the flu shot vaccine was mainly a soup of proteins that “looked like” the proteins that encase the expected flu viruses for the season–and not the actual virus itself. Does it actually use dead/weakened viruses, or just the proteins? ---
**Author:** ![Merper32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Merper32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merper32)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 1999, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/2 "1999-09-21T20:56:00Z")
i was under the impression that it’s the actual weakened virus. when i had my shot the first time i felt a little sicky for about 3 days, but for each shot after it, i had no problems whatsoever. i also haven’t gotten the flu, so i see no problem with the 3 day thing! * * * I was walking down the street when something caught my eye… and dragged it 15 feet.–Emo Phillips Someone said to me, “Make yourself a sandwich.” Well, if I could make myself a sandwich, I wouldn’t make myself a sandwich. I’d make myself a horny 18-year-old billionaire. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 1999, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/3 "1999-09-21T21:33:00Z")
Yep Weakened flu virus. Was a little run down a few days later and that was it. * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/4 "1999-09-22T03:18:00Z")
Straight from the CDC: > [@](#): > > The only type of influenza vaccine that has been licensed in the United States to the present time is made from killed influenza viruses, which cannot cause infection. An influenza vaccine that is made with live influenza viruses has been developed and may be marketed in the future. [http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/flu/fluvac.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/flu/fluvac.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Mac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/5 "1999-09-22T06:48:00Z")
People in the military end up getting a butload of immunizations (pun intended). The flu gives me the aches every time but it doesn’t compare to some of the more exotic ones, such as Yellow Fever and Typhoid. After my first Typhoid I was sick as a dog, almost passed out the next day. But it is worth it, I haven’t had the flu in ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/6 "1999-09-22T11:32:00Z")
There can be a severe allergy reaction because the virus is grown in eggs, and some people are allergic to egg protein traces. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/7 "1999-09-22T13:44:00Z")
Sunbear is correct, if you feel flu like symptoms what you are most likely feeling is a reaction (allergic) to the shot. _NOT_ the flu. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 1999, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/8 "1999-09-22T22:24:00Z")
[http://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/prevguid/m0052500/entire.htm](http://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/prevguid/m0052500/entire.htm) Everything you want to know about flu vaccine. People who have an anaphylactic reaction to eggs should obviously not take this vaccine, as it contains some egg parts. A very few people, mostly young children, who have never come in contact with influenza virus will have malaise and some other flu-like symptoms after vaccine, but this is rare. It is an inactivated vaccine, so does not cause one to get the flu. Most illness experienced after vaccination is coincidental, and not related. Jill ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 1999, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/9 "1999-09-23T13:39:00Z")
Since the shot is meant to stimulate your own immune system to produce the antibodies ahead of a real invasion, your body might go into ‘battle mode’ as it pumps out the antibodies into your system and gets ready to raise body temperature, phlegm-rinse your lungs, etc… But since no infection has really taken place, your body calms back down into normal operating mode in a few days. In other words, a lot of that awful feeling you feel when you’re sick is from your own body as it attempts to wage war on an infection. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 1999, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/10 "1999-09-24T05:43:00Z")
To make Moriah’s correct generalizations a little more scientific, when you get an armful of antigen, your immune system responds to it. Many different cells play a role in increasing your B-lymphocytes’ ability to make & release antibodies specific to this year’s flu strains. These cells secrete something called cytokines to communicate with one another & coordinate their activity. These cytokines can make you feel tired, achy, run a low grade temp (99 or so), and feel blah. People so fortunate as to not have had real influenza in recent memory often mistake these symptoms for “the flu”. * * * Sue from El Paso [members.aol.com/majormd/index.html](http://members.aol.com/majormd/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 1999, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-shots/3428/11 "1999-09-24T06:36:00Z")
Thanks for the scientific explanation, though, it did lack the poetics of _phlegm-rinse_. 😉 Peace.