# Man up, people: flu shots are here. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 15, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876 "2013-09-15T00:56:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/21 "2013-09-15T09:29:48Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > As far as I know they’ve always had a version with no eggs. Like WhyNot said, you just have to ask ahead of time. No, that’s untrue. Believe me, I have researched this. Flu vaccine up until now has always been cultured in eggs. > [@April\_R](#): > > Get the nasal spray version and you are fine Contra-indicated for those of us with asthma. Yeah, I was hoping that would work out. Apparently it can induce full-blown asthma reactions in the vulnerable. So every year my insurance company screams at me OMG! OMG! YOU HAVE ASTHMA YOU HAVE TO GET YOUR FLU SHOT!!! and I have to remind them I’m allergic to the frakking vaccine. Again. Because they have some sort of computer program that gives that message to every asthmatic/allergic in their system without bothering to cross-reference “bad vaccine reaction”. :rolleyes: This was almost as much fun as the time my spouse was in the hospital and this one doc kept trying to give him aspirin despite the ASPIRIN ALLERGY in his chart and the **BIG RED** ASPIRIN ALLERGY!!! bracelet he had on the whole time. I’ve had the flu. Fortunately, not often. I would very much like to be vaccinated so I don’t have to “enjoy” that level sick again. I’m rather annoyed at the OP’s insinuation that those of us with allergies are lying about it or wimps or whatever. Yes, there are a lot of people who use that as an excuse when it’s not true. It just makes those of us who are the genuine article suffer more. For those of us who can not safely get the vaccine our only protection is having enough vaccinated people around us that can’t spread the flu themselves. Herd immunity protects the vulnerable. Not everyone who falls into that category looks frail and sickly or elderly. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Flu shots make people sicker than if they got the flu and fought it off naturally. Please do not spread this sort of misinformation and untruth on this message board. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/22 "2013-09-15T10:42:44Z")
I honestly don’t recall the last time I got a flu shot. And I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had the flu - and I’m 59. Chances are I won’t bother with it this year either. We shall see… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/23 "2013-09-15T12:34:18Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I really wonder if they are necessary. Maybe they are just a sham, but my doctor seems to think they are important. He probably gets a nice cut of each shot. It’s a racket! He very likely \*loses \*money on each flu shot he dispenses. I know we do. Medicare covers the cost of the vaccine itself, but nowhere near what my boss pays me to administer it. We do it 'cause we’re not assholes, and we’d like our patients not to get very sick and die on us. I \*suppose \*one could say that this small expense on our part keeps them alive longer so we can keep bilking Medicare for future services that would otherwise have been medically unnecessary after their funeral, but one would need to be even more cynical than me to do so with a straight face. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Alright, I won’t call it an allergy but the last time I had a regular flu shot I broke out in hives, my various bits started swelling up, I had difficulty breathing, and started to go into shock. > > On the upside, supposedly they do have a new version of the vaccine this year that _doesn’t_ contain egg of any sort so I am going to look into getting it. If I can. If it’s not to expensive or my insurance will pay for it without giving me a ton of crap over it. Yes, I’ll call that an allergy for you. You are hereby absolved of the drug store flu shot, go forth and wheeze no more…but unfortunately the CDC says no flu shot for you, egg or no egg. “A previous severe allergic reaction to influenza vaccine, regardless of the component suspected to be responsible for the reaction, is a contraindication to future receipt of the vaccine.” Unless you have a very good doctor willing to give it with rescue equipment in the room and a well documented allergy to eggs in another setting, you probably still can’t get the flu shot, as you’ve had a reaction to the flu shot. ☹ [http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/acip/2013-summary-recommendations.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/acip/2013-summary-recommendations.htm) ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/24 "2013-09-15T13:11:34Z")
I’ll get mine this Friday at the pharmacy. That way, just in case the shot makes me feel a little icky the next day (like it sometimes does), it’ll happen on the weekend. I don’t want to spend a day at work snivelling and sickly and wanting to go home. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/25 "2013-09-15T13:30:43Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Flu shots make people sicker than if they got the flu and fought it off naturally. Oh, FFS. Get the shot or don’t; I don’t care. But this is pure bullshit and completely unhelpful. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/26 "2013-09-15T13:55:08Z")
We got our shots Friday. Our HMO gives them for free and goes to some effort at making sure people get them. It saves them money! The cost of the shots is small compared to the cost of care for people who get the flu and get really sick. It even kills some people. If the bean counters in health insurance think it’s a good idea, it’s gold. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/27 "2013-09-15T13:59:26Z")
I’ll get mine this week. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my meds cause me to have a compromised immune system. If I get the flu, I can die. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/28 "2013-09-15T14:02:34Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > The maddening thing is that I work with chemists and engineers and there’s a few vaxxers in there. And they get sick far more often. And miss more work. And FFS, you’ve got a hard science/engineering background, you should know that the whole vaxxer thing is conspiracy nonsense. Many scientists seem to think that because they understand one branch of science, they’re experts in all things science. If you have a hard science background, you don’t necessarily know anything more about biology than a layperson, and sometimes less. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I honestly don’t recall the last time I got a flu shot. And I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had the flu - and I’m 59. Chances are I won’t bother with it this year either. We shall see… Likewise. Except you’re older than I. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/29 "2013-09-15T14:13:35Z")
I’m 58 and I don’t think I’ve ever had the flu. I’m not going to bother with the shot. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/30 "2013-09-15T14:24:41Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Flu shots make people sicker than if they got the flu and fought it off naturally. This is either a whoosh, or the dumbest statement you’ve ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/31 "2013-09-15T14:31:18Z")
I haven’t ever had a flu shot and probably won’t this year, either. I don’t have any objection to it, but my risk of encountering the flu is low (only if my husband brings it home) and my chance of transmitting the flu is non-existent, so a flu shot would be a waste of my money and their vaccine. My husband doesn’t get the vaccine because he’s a Man, and Men just battle their way through viruses instead of hiding from them like little girls :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/32 "2013-09-15T15:17:32Z")
Does anyone know if stores other than Walgreens are doing a ‘get a shot, give a shot’ program with the UN this year? If you’re not getting them at work or your doctor’s office, it’s something to consider given that they’ll pay for a kid’s vaccine in a third world country (I don’t think the ‘give’ shot is for the flu) if you get yours from them before mid-October. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/33 "2013-09-15T15:18:22Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > I haven’t ever had a flu shot and probably won’t this year, either. I don’t have any objection to it, but my risk of encountering the flu is low (only if my husband brings it home) and my chance of transmitting the flu is non-existent, so a flu shot would be a waste of my money and their vaccine. > > My husband doesn’t get the vaccine because he’s a Man, and Men just battle their way through viruses instead of hiding from them like little girls :rolleyes:. Aren’t you having surgery this Fall/Winter, though? They may require one. When I had surgery in Dec 2011, they asked me to get a flu shot, but I’d already had one. My daughter is having surgery this November and they’re planning a flu shot at her pre-Op appointment if we don’t get it earlier. Hospitals are nasty, germy places. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/34 "2013-09-15T15:21:33Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > So quit yer whining and march your asses down the clinic and get your damn shot. No, it doesn’t make you sick unless you’re allergic to it for some reason, so don’t even think about trotting out that tired old excuse. Just do it. Last time I got a flu shot I became so ill that I couldn’t go to school for two weeks, lost ten pounds, and had to drop two classes after the refund date. And no, I’m not allergic to eggs. No fucking thank you, I’ll take my chances with the flu, which I haven’t gotten in almost twenty years. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/35 "2013-09-15T17:42:26Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > Aren’t you having surgery this Fall/Winter, though? They may require one. When I had surgery in Dec 2011, they asked me to get a flu shot, but I’d already had one. My daughter is having surgery this November and they’re planning a flu shot at her pre-Op appointment if we don’t get it earlier. > > Hospitals are nasty, germy places. They might require one if I don’t get the surgery before flu season arrives, in which case I’ll get the shot. Like I said, I don’t have any objection to it; I just normally have no need for it. My surgery is outpatient AFAIK, so I should be able to avoid most of the hospital horrors. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/36 "2013-09-15T18:16:50Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Last time I got a flu shot I became so ill that I couldn’t go to school for two weeks, lost ten pounds, and had to drop two classes after the refund date. And no, I’m not allergic to eggs. No fucking thank you, I’ll take my chances with the flu, which I haven’t gotten in almost twenty years. > > Stranger Last time I got my car washed, I ended up with the worst case of gastroenteritis of my entire life. I couldn’t keep anything in either end for four days. I was moments away from telling my husband to call 911, 'cause there was just no way I could walk down three floors of stairs to get to the car to have him take me to the ER, I was going to need some strapping young men with a transport chair to carry me. Luckily, my friend who’s a nurse came over, took one look at me, and silently stuck an enema tube up my butt and topped me off with a liter of saline. Handed my husband three more liters to use as needed. Rehydrated me enough to stay home and live in bed for the next 48 hours. Oh, it couldn’t have been the car wash that did it? Yeah, you’re probably right, it was probably something I ate. The car wash was probably a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/37 "2013-09-15T18:28:25Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Last time I got a flu shot I became so ill that I couldn’t go to school for two weeks, lost ten pounds, and had to drop two classes after the refund date. And no, I’m not allergic to eggs. No fucking thank you, I’ll take my chances with the flu, which I haven’t gotten in almost twenty years. > > Stranger If you’re implying that you can get the flu from the flu shot, you are wrong: > [@](#): > > [http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/top-13-flu-myths](http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/top-13-flu-myths) > > Flu Myth #3: The flu vaccine can give you the flu. > > This is the flu myth most likely to drive experts bonkers. “There is simply no way that the flu vaccine can give you the flu,” says Hay. “It’s impossible.” > > Why? For one, injected flu vaccines only contain dead virus, and a dead virus is, well, dead: it can’t infect you. There is one type of live virus flu vaccine, the nasal vaccine, FluMist. But in this case, the virus is specially engineered to remove the parts of the virus that make people sick. > > Despite the scientific impossibility of getting the flu from the flu vaccines, this widespread flu myth won’t die. Experts suspect two reasons for its persistence. One, people mistake the side effects of the vaccine for flu. While side effects to the vaccine these days tend to be a sore arm, in the past, side effects often felt like mild symptoms of the flu. Two, flu season coincides with a time of year when bugs causing colds and other respiratory illnesses are in the air. Many people get the vaccine and then, within a few days, get sick with an unrelated cold virus. However, they blame the innocent flu vaccine, rather than their co-worker with a runny nose and cough. The last time I had the flu, I was in my teens. I was so sick I missed a week of high school. I was so weak my dad had to carry me down to the car to get to the doctor’s office. I remember being incredibly grateful and shocked when I could finally sit up on my own. My family gets the shots. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/38 "2013-09-15T18:36:36Z")
I’ve had the flu shot twice in my almost 34 years. Last year was the second time and about a day after I got it I developed a nasty month-long respiratory issue that caused me to fail pretty much the entire semester. Of course this happens to me about once a year (though it doesn’t usually last that long) whether I get a flu shot or not, it not being the flu after all. 😃 I have never in my life had the flu but I know how big a baby I am when I get a really nasty cold so I don’t think I’d handle the flu very well. I’ll be getting my flu shot at some point before October 1 (that’s the deadline for respiratory care students at my school). I’m hoping that either the school or my clinical site will offer it for free. If not I’ll get it at Rite Aid like I did last year. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/39 "2013-09-15T18:57:30Z")
Getting my annual physical tomorrow, so I will ask for it then. My husband has a compromised immune system, and I don’t want him to get the flu! He gets a shot every year at the VA. Don’t forget that the flu killed **Khadaji** last year. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876/40 "2013-09-15T19:06:43Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Oh, it couldn’t have been the car wash that did it? Yeah, you’re probably right, it was probably something I ate. The car wash was probably a coincidence. I had a big fat fucking inflamed ulcer at the injection site, nausea, neurological dysfunction, general inflammation, and diarrhea starting less than a day from the injection to over twelve days afterward. You think that was a non-causal fucking coincidence? What the is it recently with people passing holy fucking judgment over that which they have zero actual information about, or getting their arse all twisted up when their uninformed opinion is contracted by actual bare assed facts? For what it is worth, the annual influenza vaccine is intended to inoculate against the three or four strains which epidemiologists at the US Centers for Disease Control have estimated as being the most likely strains for outbreak. These guesses are not always correct (although they have gotten much better in about the last fifteen years) and the value of inoculation of healthy adults in occupations which do not place them in frequent proximity to likely carriers (e.g. medical professionals, primary school teachers) in preventing the spread of disease among the general public is significantly overstated. Children, the elderly, and others with compromised or undeveloped immune systems should strongly consider getting an influenza vaccination, as should healthy adults who may routinely come into contact with carriers of the virus. Healthy adults who are not in routine exposure and who can take reasonable measures to avoid contact during flu season (hand washing, not sharing food and drink with likely carriers, et cetera) and who have a previously demonstrated reaction (even a minor reaction which can be indicative of a greater sensitivity to the vaccine medium or inactivated virus) should weigh benefits of protection versus the reaction to the virus. So, no, I am not a reflexive “anti-vaxer”, nor some asshole who just walked off the street with a cursory knowledge of the physiological response of the human immune system. So please take your judgmental fucking attitude and your presumption of my utter ignorance of medicine and statistics and keep them to yourself. > [@LavenderBlue](#): > > If you’re implying that you can get the flu from the flu shot, you are wrong: Did you even read my fucking post? I didn’t say I got the flu from the influenza vaccination. I had a systematic immune response to the vaccination itself which was more intense and aggravating than an actual influenza infection was likely to be. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-up-people-flu-shots-are-here/668876.md?page=3)