# I am questioning getting a flu shot next year. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952 "2019-10-18T13:35:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/21 "2019-10-18T20:43:32Z")
I usually feel a little shivery and sniffley after I get the flu shot. But I didn’t get it this year. I always get the shot. I was flat on my back for two weeks the one time I’ve had the flu. I am not trying to have that happen again. Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/22 "2019-10-18T21:01:05Z")
I’m not sure I would get the shot if I started having a bad reaction. But since I hardly react at all I will continue to get them. I did get flu one year but it was over in 48 hours. If I hadn’t got the shot I assume it would have taken much longer. Interestingly, my doctor reported the same experience that year. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Ducky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrs_ducky/32/6227_2.png) [@Mrs\_Ducky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Ducky)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/23 "2019-10-18T21:40:37Z")
I had the flu once when I was 5 years old. Haven’t had it since. I only do shots when necessary, 'cause I faint dead away as I feel it going through my veins. By the way, I will be 67 next month. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/24 "2019-10-18T21:41:08Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Yeah, it’s all part of that “fighting ignorance” thing. I am fifty, and I’ve had the flu three times in my life. The last time was at 40 and in my first trimester of pregnancy and a week before my doctor’s office got the vaccine. I really wanted to die. I got so lucky, though. I didn’t die. The baby was okay. And the vaccine doesn’t just protect you. It protects pregnant mothers, and newborns, and grannies, and uncles on the heart transplant list. I’m sorry for your achy arm, but it’s not useless. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/25 "2019-10-18T21:50:06Z")
Last year in the US, there were twice as many deaths from the flu, as there were gun deaths. The level of attention given to stopping gun deaths eclipses the level of attention on preventing flu deaths. The most effective way of preventing flu death is through herd immunization, but so many people complain about the soreness in their arms, or feeling under the weather after they get the shot. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/26 "2019-10-18T22:59:53Z")
I had the flu twice. Once when I was in my 20s, and I missed a week of work. I didn’t feel totally normally again for two months. For me that is extremely unusual. Thought I was gonna die. Then I got it again when it was going around my office. We called it the [matter redacted] flu because everyone on the team was working long hours and everyone on the team got it. Again, I was out for a week, and didn’t feel back to normal for a couple of months. So yeah, I get the shot. One day of feeling bad versus one week of feeling like I’m gonna die followed by two months of feeling like crap? No contest. Not to mention I had a friend who got the flu and felt like she was gonna die, and then she did. There are people who have a bad cold and think it’s the flu. That is not what I’m talking about. ETA: I’m basically healthy, hardly ever go to the doctor, and do not get the “annual physical” or even a five-year physical. But I get the flu shot. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/27 "2019-10-18T23:43:33Z")
> [@Mrs\_Ducky](#): > > I had the flu once when I was 5 years old. Haven’t had it since. I only do shots when necessary, 'cause I faint dead away as I feel it going through my veins. By the way, I will be 67 next month. ? the flu vaccine is an intramuscular shot. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/28 "2019-10-19T00:05:36Z")
I’ve had influenza at least 5 times. As an asthmatic, I’m more likely to get and more likely to have a more severe case. After an auto-immune reaction 20 years ago, although unrelated to a vaccine, my neurologist advised me to not got the shot. A few years later my GP and I had a discussion and decided the odds of another autoimmune reaction was far outweighed by the risk of getting the flu and I have gotten the shot every year since with good results. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/29 "2019-10-19T00:07:11Z")
Oh hell yes, if your reaction to the shot is a sore am and feeling a little crummy for a day, get the shot. I’ve had lots of flus. The typical flu is 5 days of high fever, muscle aches, and respiratory problems, followed by feeling weak and unwell for a while longer. It’s miserable. And of course, it can kill you. The op reported a worse reaction than that. I think they should talk to their doctor. Unless they have close contact with especially vulnerable people, they may be a candidate to not get the shot. The rest of us can keep up the herd immunity, and protect Hermitian. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/30 "2019-10-19T00:11:36Z")
I do have a question, which I have had for years for this particular vaccine (and it is not without aforementioned in other posts family/personal reasons I don’t care to re-go-into). As I understand this vaccine, it has to be made for the particular flu virus that is expected to hit in a particular year. Therefore it is new every year. BUT Doesn’t it usually take ‘years’ to get government approval for a vaccine? Using clinical studies and long term followups. Something does not compute here. And begs the question that if it is new every year, without long term data, what happens if and when they make a major screw up? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/31 "2019-10-19T01:10:28Z")
The misery from the shot won’t kill you. Influenza can kill you. Get the shot. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/32 "2019-10-19T01:14:20Z")
If you’ve ever had, or taken care of anyone who had, genuine influenza, you’d be first in line for a flu shot. > [@Machine Elf](#): > > And then in my early 40s I got what I’m pretty sure was the flu. In contrast to your post-vaccination day of aches/chills/fever/diarrhea, this was a couple of weeks of abject misery, including fever as high as 104F, waking up in the middle of the night with a genuine feeling that I might die soon, and eventually a coughing fit so bad that I threw up violently enough to tear my esophagus (the ER folks suspected pertussis, but I tested negative). Pretty much the same with me, except that I ended up with pneumonia. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/33 "2019-10-19T11:45:20Z")
There is a reason virtually everyone who works in healthcare is required to get a flu shot. Be a citizen. GTS. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/34 "2019-10-19T12:16:03Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I do have a question, which I have had for years for this particular vaccine (and it is not without aforementioned in other posts family/personal reasons I don’t care to re-go-into). As I understand this vaccine, it has to be made for the particular flu virus that is expected to hit in a particular year. Therefore it is new every year. > > BUT > > Doesn’t it usually take ‘years’ to get government approval for a vaccine? Using clinical studies and long term followups. > > Something does not compute here. > > And begs the question that if it is new every year, without long term data, what happens if and when they make a major screw up? This is a vaccine for a strain of a disease that they have created vaccines for many times before, not a first time vaccine for tsutsugamushi fever. And there have been issues. In 1976, for example, there were people who ended up.with Guillain-Barre syndrome after getting their swine flu shots. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/35 "2019-10-19T12:24:38Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > As I understand this vaccine, it has to be made for the particular flu virus that is expected to hit in a particular year. Therefore it is new every year. > > BUT > > Doesn’t it usually take ‘years’ to get government approval for a vaccine? Using clinical studies and long term followups. > > Something does not compute here. AIUI, the [basic flu vaccine is already FDA-approved](https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/fdas-critical-role-ensuring-supply-influenza-vaccine); what happens annually is incorporating new flu virus strains into the approved vaccines, which is a faster process. But the FDA is still working year-round on flu vaccine updates. > [@](#): > > In late February/early March — well before the new flu season begins — an FDA advisory committee reviews data about which flu viruses have caused disease in the past year, how the viruses are changing, and disease trends so they can recommend the three or four flu strains to include in the trivalent and quadrivalent influenza vaccines for the U.S in the upcoming flu season. > > Once the strains are selected, vaccine manufacturers begin the manufacturing process to include the newly selected flu strains in their FDA-approved vaccines. The different flu virus strains are combined to formulate the vaccine into standard dosages. The vaccine is then filled into vials, syringes and, for the nasal vaccine, sprayers. Both egg-based and non-egg-based manufacturing methods for FDA-approved flu vaccines require high-tech processes and manufacturing facilities that have been inspected by the FDA. Vaccine manufacturers must submit applications to the FDA to include the new flu strains in their FDA-approved vaccines. > > In its own laboratories, the FDA also produces materials that are critical for making the vaccine. These include generating candidate vaccine virus strains suitable for further vaccine manufacture and producing the critical potency reagents, which are materials needed to test the vaccines for potency and identity (to ensure standardization) before the FDA approves the new formulation of the approved seasonal influenza vaccines for U.S. distribution. > > The FDA is also responsible for ensuring that released lots of influenza vaccines meet appropriate standards. Each vaccine undergoes quality control tests, including testing for sterility. Manufacturers submit the results of their testing, along with sample vials from each lot to the FDA for “lot release.” The FDA typically begins releasing lots of flu vaccines in late summer. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/36 "2019-10-19T18:34:02Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > AIUI, the [basic flu vaccine is already FDA-approved](https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/fdas-critical-role-ensuring-supply-influenza-vaccine); what happens annually is incorporating new flu virus strains into the approved vaccines, which is a faster process. But the FDA is still working year-round on flu vaccine updates. Thank you. That’s a good explanation of how it is fast tracked. Basically a good base, then the additional strains are added with testing. Which is how I took it worked and adds a degree of safety, however it doesn’t appear to meet the same level of review as far as the new strain additions, though they are doing what they can for the timeframe they have. Now if that is a cause for concern, well I do have that question. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/37 "2019-10-20T05:29:42Z")
I had the flu really bad a few times as a kid and when it’s a severe case, oh.my.god is it awful. Fevers got to 104+ (hot enough where I stopped feeling freezing and instead felt like I was inside an oven), horrible aches that made me not want to move and exhaustion so all encompassing that when I made the 10-15’ trip from the couch to the bathroom, I’d have to stop _twice_ to lean against the wall to rest a bit. I most vividly remember the aches being so bad that it would hurt if I lightly brushed my arm hairs (no skin contact at all). ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/38 "2019-10-20T16:09:32Z")
I had a bit of an unpleasant reaction to the shot once. I was ready to hop back in my car, but they made me wait a few minutes, which might’ve saved my life because all of a sudden I got hit with vertigo. For a minute there I had to lie down and hold on to the chair. Then it passed, and I was fine. Never happened before or since. I’d encourage you to get the shot, and hope in a few years these incidents you describe will be similar strange things that happened to you once or twice but never again. The human body is mysterious. But do talk to your doctor about it. For a couple years after my incident, I made sure the folks giving me the shot knew about it, and they laid me down to start and kept a close eye on me until I was comfortable that I was in the clear. They can probably do something to help you out, too, whether that’s giving you the egg-free shot, the flu mist (not a shot), some other medicine to counter any effects, or just some more informed reassurance. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/39 "2019-10-20T16:15:22Z")
I just got my flu shot a couple days ago and had literally the worst reaction I’ve ever had–my arm ached and I felt a little dragged out so I spent yesterday on the couch watching tv. I’ve had flu before, and I’ve had a pulmonary embolism and that’s why I get flu shots and have had my pneumonia vaccine. Because I live alone and if I’m that sick who’s gonna feed the critters and let them in and out fifty times a day? Huh? Flu is horrible, if I never get it again I’ll be supremely grateful. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952/40 "2019-10-21T15:42:10Z")
Flu season is one of the most [festive times](https://www.theonion.com/excited-cdc-employees-begin-decorating-for-flu-season-1838742218) of the year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-questioning-getting-a-flu-shot-next-year/841952.md?page=3)