It’s free for all employees at our hospital, and I work in the department that gives 'em.
I got a lollipop, too. 
I hadn’t bothered in many years (and have never gotten the flu, knock wood), but last year’s shortages kind of freaked me out - in spite of being in a risk group (asthma), I couldn’t lay my hands on the vaccine anywhere. My doc had none, and several local clinics also had none, though there was supposed to be vaccine available for people in risk groups.
This year they were vaccinating for free at work, so I got one. No adverse reaction, either - easy as pie.
I should be getting mine through work in the next couple of weeks. I’m interning at a hospital right now, so it’s best to protect the patients as much as possible by getting the vaccine.
Before this year, the last flu shot I got was over 10 years ago and I did get the minor viral syndrome. But that’s not the reason I stopped. It’s because I’ve never gotten the flu, whether I was vaccinated or not. Instead, I get bronchitis once a year.
However, this year I did get the shot just as a precaution, and also because I got it for free (read: paid for by our taxes). One-day clinics sponsored by the city of Chicago are set up in various locations. I went to one a couple of weeks ago at an alderman’s nearby offices. Waited for 2 hours, didn’t have to pay the $20 that drugstores are charging.
I think it was the nurse giving the shots who said that the vaccine is supplied by the Fed for $18 a dose.
One unusual note: the shot was almost completely painless, having just the barest hint of a sting. Every stick should be this good. There was very minor swelling and discomfort later, and no viral syndrome. YMMV
I think the last time I got one was when it was a freebie at work some years back. I don’t know if I’ll get one this year or not.
I didn’t get one this winter. I had a bad reaction several years ago and I haven’t had any flu vaccinations since.
Got mine about a month ago. It was free through my work, a health insurance company.
I don’t get the flu.
Never had it. knock wood
I’m more of an upper resperatory infection or migraine person.
It’s fine for old people and those in contagious atmosphere’s like nursing homes, group homes and whatnot, but not for me.
I know that if I get this shot, I will get the flu. And it will suck long and hard. Why chance it.
I also don’t live in major city center. No major medical crisis ever hit Michigan…except heart attacks and hitting a deer.
Wouldn’t get the flu shot anyway cause I think in my paranoid world that I’m either being tagged by The Man or some kind of Mind Control device is being inserted.
/one tinfoil hat please.
//have I just lost my doper membership?
As an RN working in a high-risk L&D/Postpartum hospital, they come to me, the little nurses with the little syringes. They have a list, they check it twice, then they back me into the med room and innoculate me. Then I have to initial the list.
I got one a couple of days ago because my wife bugged me. (I’m over 50 so in the high risk population.) I’ve never had one before, and haven’t had the flu since I was a kid, since then. I went to our health center, who was very efficient - in and out in about ten minutes. Probably a waste.
Yes 
While the vaccine would only be perfect if the Intelligent Designers were correct and evolution does not actually exist, it is the best guess that people have about which strains of the nasty virus are likely to spread.
I’ve had flu once. Knocked me on my ass almost as bad as having mono. If your hair didn’t hurt, you didn’t have the flu.
And I don’t put any trust in Tamiflu, having read research indicating that it shaves a whole 24 hours off the duration of symptoms if taken as soon as you start showing symptoms.
Nope. No way to get one, and since I’m not old and feeble, no do I work with people with health problems, it’s completely unnessecary.
Broken skin + virus in any form = something to be avoided at all costs, in my opinion.
I got my first flu vaccine (that I remember) this year. Freebie at work. Whether I need it I don’t know…I think I may have had the flu one year as a child, but I certainly haven’t had it since. With luck (and with vaccination), my flu-free streak of years’ standing will continue.
I work in a hospital, and they were giving them away for free, so I got one. I didn’t get oen last year, even though I was working in a hospital then, but I started after the infetion control people started going around giving shots to everyone, also since there was a shortage I might not have gotten one anyways. But it seems lately I have been doing more and more work in the nursing home, and I joiend the fire department and go on EMS calls, many of which are for elderly or other people who might be at risk, so I figured it would be best to get one this year.
I’m getting it, I’ve got severe asthma. Last year I couldn’t get it because of the shortages and there had been some contaminations, but I paid dearly for that. I had the flu, upper respitory infection, terrible sinuses…
Me thinks my appointment is this week.
Interesting. I haven’t had a flu shot in years at my doctor’s recommendation. The last time I had the vaccine, I had six weeks of fatigue and muscle aches to such an extent that I was going home at lunchtime for a quick nap, and then coming home, having a nap, waking up to have dinner, and then going to bed by 9:30pm. Doc told me to avoid the flu vaccine unless my health status or exposure to high-risk groups changed.
My personal theory is that I’m sensitive to thimerosal, the preservative in most flu vaccine. I had to stop wearing contact lenses for a few years back in the 80s due to an acquired sensitivity to the thimerosal in the solutions. When the “sensitive eyes” formulations came out, I could wear them again.
Given the descriptions of the flu from some Dopers in other threads, I can safely say that I’ve never had the flu. (I hope I haven’t just jinxed myself.)
Yep, got it last week at work for no cost. I get one every year, sometimes get the flu, sometimes not.
Question?
Does taking the flu shot work like taking antibiotics too much? Meaning if you keep getting it (the shot) and then whammy, some flu comes around that wasn’t in your vaccine or somehow u get the flu, you get it three times worse because the drugs don’t work on it as well?
That said, I’ve not had the flu in about 20 years (knock on wood!) I’ve never taken the flu shot and I’ve not taken antibiotics in over ten years. Next time I need antibiotics it should knock the hell outta what I got…I hope!
I got mine at work earlier this month. I work with two people who are have asthma and they both had reactions to it. (One had such a strong reaction that she was out for a week and a half.) They’re both swearing they’ll get their flu shots from their doctors from now. I guess there are variations of the shot that leave out whatever asthmatics are allergic to. (Maybe some dopers can enlighten me on this.)
I get a shot every year now, since it’s free round these here parts. FTR, the last time I had the flu was Christmas 1994, and I’ve no desire to repeat the experience. The CDC page for the flu is here:
Good information. You can do a little of your own mythbusting.