I get the flu shot because people like my mom cannot and the flu will kill her.
Yes, reactions can happen but the flu can kill. I’ll take my chances with the flu shot as should every reasonable person who can get it.
Due to lung issues, my D is required by her pulmonologist to have a flu shot every year. His expert opinion is that it is too early to get it now. You will not be covered by the vaccination for the entire season if you get it now. He says that the middle of October is optimum and he’d rather she wait until Christmas to get it if she has to choose between getting it early or late. (like when she was overseas for a fall semester, we asked if late August or Christmas was best, he said Christmas).
Interesting. I just read that it is optimal to get the flu shot “by October.” Here’s what CDC says: "People should begin getting vaccinated soon after flu vaccine becomes available, ideally by October, to ensure that as many people as possible are protected before flu season begins. "
I just came back from the doctor, and they won’t schedule appointments until later because they haven’t received the flu vaccine yet. They suggested calling in October.
I usually wait until the last week of October. It makes sense to me to wait until close to flu season (but still far enough to allow the immune response to kick in). Unless, of course, it’s an early flu season for some reason. Or if the shots start getting scarce.
Yeah, I was half kidding. I don’t get flu shot and neither my husband. All the young people at my husband’s work place were told to get flu shot and they were all sick afterwards. Who knows why I don’t get sick but before the last 10 years I did get sick every year, some sort of flu.
I’m flying across the continent near the end of October and then across the Atlantic not long after that, sharing millions of molecules of recycled air with a few hundred semi-randomly assigned people, so I’ll be timing mine for two weeks before my first flight…
I think the fact that many people get sick at some point after having a flu shot is due to the fact that it coincides with cold season. The actual flu is an entirely different experience.
My aunt got Gullaine barre from her flu shot. Or so they think. It was awful, she was not well for over a year, in and out of hospitals etc.
So that’s one possible consequence but yet statistically it is so much more sense to still get
Guillain-Barre is a terrible, horrible disease. It is worth noting though (and this is NOT directed at you, surf, but at anyone else who might be reading this) that GB is “linked” with both the vaccine and the flu. Though there is no proof that either cause or trigger GB.
When I’ve gotten shots at Costco and CVS Minute Clinic and Safeway, it is 100% paid by our insurance, IF it is covered and recommended by CDC. If it isn’t, we end up paying the entire cost on our own (which I had to do when I got my $185 shingles shot before CDC decided to recommend it for folks over 50). At Walmart, they make you pay 100% of the $90 cost and then you try to get insurer to reimburse whatever they are willing to. We have opted NOT to get shots at Walmart, for that reason. There was no waiting at Costco, CVS Minute Clinic and Safeway, though of course YMMV.
Yea, I saw signs at Walgreens when we were on vacation in Washington last weekend that they have the flu vaccination in now, and that was my first thought, “It’s too early.”
I will be waiting at least another six weeks.
It doesn’t make sense to wait. The flu shot will have the same content whether you get it now or if you get it later. Your immune system doesn’t become less immune to those strains in a few months; the strains themselves mutate from flu season to flu season (which is why you have to get the shot every year).
I got mine the day it became available.
The problem is if you get it now it may wear off by February.
I’ve always gotten mine in early September. I used to get the flu late august/early september every year before I started getting vaccinated. I haven’t gotten it at all since i started getting vaccinated, even when my husband got it and brought it home. I actually haven’t gotten sick at all since I started getting vaccinated. So, I’m a believer!
I don’t get exposed to very much now I think since I’m at home and my husband does all the errands… I might wait until towards the end of September but won’t wait any longer than that. When I get the flu it knocks out my immune system the rest of the season and I get sick every other week until Spring-- No thanks! I haven’t been sick in years. Can’t wait to get my flu shot…
I almost never get a flu shot. In 63 years I’ve never had the flu and I’ve only had 2 or 3 flu shots in my life. I just never get sick. But I was in CVS today and the pharmacist offered me the shot – there was no waiting and I had the time and I was thinking about this thread so I figured why not? I guess I’m glad I did it but man, does my arm hurt tonight!!
The last time I had the flu was Christmas 1981. Yes, I remember. I will never, never forget. I was in graduate school, and the school said that in order to use their Career Services, I had to attend a certain meeting. I dragged my feverish, horrible feeling self to the meeting and numerous classmates told me that I looked like death warmed over. But I made the required meeting. I wonder how many of my classmates I infected.
I’ve never been so hot, or so cold, as those two weeks I had the flu.
@greenwitch : why do you think the flu vaccination wears off in six months?
This article is a fascinating read:
[Does the Vaccine Matter?](Does the Vaccine Matter? - The Atlantic)
Personally I’ll get a flu shot if it is offered for free, but I have found that keeping my vitD levels up has done for more to keep me healthy in the winter than anything else.
@dmd77 - just what various doctors have told me. Flu season usually peaks in February. Once I was convinced to get a flu shot at Rite Aid in late August and my primary doc told me it was fine but would be optimal to wait longer.
http://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-and-flu/0924/where-to-get-a-flu-shot.aspx
The CDC’s protocol is to get everyone vaccinated so they say the earlier the better because that will probably give better coverage. My D’s nursing school insisted all the students get the flu shot before they returned to school in late August - really early!