<p>Anyone ever gotten the flu shot?</p>
<p>I get it every year, have done so for about 12 years now.</p>
<p>I never have.</p>
<p>I get one every time as well, unless there is a shortage, as happened last year. Just one bad bout with flu several years ago made a believer out of me! I have never been sicker. I rarely have sensed any negative reaction, just one time when they gave them at school and a number of folks who got that batch felt a little puny for a day or so. Well worth it in my book!</p>
<p>I had flu and then pneumonia a number of years ago, really put the fear of god in me. The shot is well worth it.</p>
<p>ditto momofthree. </p>
<p>It’s funny - they were offering it at Tulane for any student or parent who wanted it when I was down there last week. $15. I’d already gotten mine and they were shocked that I had paid $41. Said it was the highest $ they’d heard of (but I was the first from north of the Mason-Dixon line :p).</p>
<p>My husband and D get one every year. I have resisted. I am not sure why.
I was shocked early in the fall when my D told me she had gotten her flu shot without us reminding her.
Jmmom- I think my husband paid 20. D’s was free since she has asthma. I think for the other students it was $15. My father-in-law paid $45 at an urgent care center. I think it is cheaper if you get it at a county or hospital sponsored flu shot clinic.</p>
<p>40 and under can also get FluMist, intra nasal spray, if you cannot locate the injections at this late date. There is still plenty of time to get either one.</p>
<p>my HMO provides them free, you just have to show up - good deal</p>
<p>I get one every year and have <em>knock on wood</em> not been sick, not even a cold, in the winter for many years. My parents always get them, too, which is important for seniors and this year my dad was travelling and unfortunately missed his (and then forgot). He had a very bad case of the flu a couple of weeks ago and was very ill. He’ll never miss that flu shot again!</p>
<p>All of us take it every year. I got a pneumonia shot this year as well. Husband got it free at work, son got it free at college, other son and I paid $20. I look at the flu shot the same way I do swimming lessons - very cheap insurance.</p>
<p>Every year. Need them on the west coast.</p>
<p>I got one this year but insisted on “preservative-free”. Paid extra, I think it was $50 for the flu shot w/o mercury.</p>
<p>Got my shot for $15, but when the insurance was tallied in, I got a bill from the doc for $2.34. That sorta tickled me!</p>
<p>When my husband was on chemo (6 years ago!), his doctor insisted that we all get flu shots, because we didn’t want to get flu and give it to him while his immune system was weakened; since then, we’ve all gotten them every year. This year we got the pneumonia shot too. Only side effects have been the routine sore arm; no cases of flu for any of us for the last six years, even while our friends have gotten some pretty bad cases. The past two years we’ve gone to Canada for them–and it’s lots easier than here, less paperwork, cheaper, and somehow friendlier because they don’t get all weird about liability because of government involvement.</p>
<p>Oh, darn! I usually get one, but this year I had a cold that lasted a long time, and then I was really busy with work, and then I just forgot! Oops! At least my husband got his, and he is usually the one who brings illnesses home. Since I mainly work at home on the computer, I don’t come in contact with as many people. I DID intend to get it…</p>
<p>Not too late, Susan–the flu season is late this year… and most of the pharmacies still have some stock.</p>
<p>Tookie - how did you find the shots without mercury? That seems like a great idea - especially if you’ve been getting them with mercury for years. (not great for us over the long haul)
Did you have to find a special clinic, or order it in advance? Enlighten us.</p>
<p>I came down with the flu for the first time in over 20 years in 1999. I had my first flu shot a couple of years after that. The second time I had a flu shot, in 2003, I came down with the flu a few weeks later. I had one last fall, and haven’t had the flu this year.</p>
<p>Immunologists have to guess every year well in advance of the flu season what strain of the flu will be prevalent. I’ve heard that it’s a rare year when their guess is accurate enough to provide any real protection.</p>