I get the flu shot every year. Back when I wasn’t that religious about it, I got the flu one year and it sucked big time. I felt like total crap for a month. After that experience I got religion and now I never miss it. My company also hosts a big conference every year that I have to attend. Rubbing elbows with 30,000 people is enough to make anybody leery of catching something. In fact there’s been times that I’ve walked out of conference sessions when people who are obviously ill (uncontrollable coughs, severe congestion, etc) sit next to me and there’s no other open seats to move to. If there was a cold vaccine I’d take that too!
@anomander Thanks for the more in depth research. That “two shot” potential recommendation sounds quite a bit like what I heard last year. It could have even had the qualifiers regarding older or immune compromised people, but my mind didn’t remember that part.
In general, whether my immune system is good and holds onto it for years (I could believe this since I rarely get colds even with all the bugs at school and I’ve never had the flu even prior to getting shots the last two years) or whether it wears off, October sounds like a worthy month to get it (for me).
I gave myself the Bad Mother award when my son was 15 and got the flu. At that time the vaccine wasn’t recommended for healthy young people. But my son said to me later, “You mean there was a shot that could have prevented that, and you didn’t have me get it?!”
Is there an emoticon for feeling guilty? Let’s try this one: X_X
I was just at the supermarket and asked the pharmacist if they had the flu vaccine in for this year…and they did! I got my 2015-2016 vaccine.
on getting the flu shot to early…
http://www.ktvb.com/story/news/2015/09/04/too-early—flu-shot-boise-doctor-says-no/71677020/
I will tend to follow a doctor’s recommendation over what a tv station or newspaper says. News stories can be easily slanted in whatever direction the writer wants (or is paid) to write. My D’s doctor says October is optimal and December is better than late August/ early September for her to get the shot.
That isn’t to say that other times aren’t better for other people. Everyone is different and this same doctor may recommend a different time frame for someone else based on their medical history.
My lung doc recommended that I get pre-auth for the high dose flu vaccine because I have lung condition. He recommends many of his patients with serious lung conditions to get the high dose vaccine.
He recommended I get it ASAP. Have asked my local lung doc to get my pre-auth for the high dose, as I’m under 65 and my ins won’t pay otherwise.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned regarding early vs. late. By getting the flu shot early, early spread of the flu is prevented. If each person who gets the flu spreads it to two other people (which I believe is a conservative estimate, but I could not find actual data), each person who doesn’t get the flu avoids two other people getting sick. This would make more of a difference early in the season than later.
dmd77
I saw a slow motion video of a sneeze one time in a class video…and one sneeze basically comes into contact with everyone in the room. it is mostly microscopic (which of course is all that is needed to get sick) not just people with in a couple of feet that can actually see and or feel (yuck) a person sneeze.
the more people who are protected the safer it is for them and the people around them. less people missing work, school, clogging doctors offices and emergency rooms or worse sick enough to be hospitalized.
I’m a baby so u get the nasal vaccine. This is my last time before I have to get the big girl shot. The shot hurt me like holy hell and my arm hurt for a week.
I got the flu 7 years ago and it was a complete misery. I still hesitate getting the shot.
@eyemamom Try not to tense up your arm before getting a shot, even though you are nervous. Tensing up makes it bruise. It will hurt a lot less in the long run if you can make that arm relax.
eyesmamom there is a newer way to administrator the flu vaccine it goes into the skin and not the muscle.
intradermal flu vaccine
Antibody levels peak and then decline after getting a flu shot, but there is no evidence that it becomes ineffective during a flu season, even if you get it early. In many cases, it is effective for years afterward. The reason to get it every year is that the flu strains presenting each year change.
This year, there are multiple different shots–trivalent, quadvalent, intradermal, intramuscular, nasal mist and high dose. The pharmacy said our BCBS insurer is rejecting reimbursing for the high dose flu vaccine for those of us under 65, even when our MD orders it. I am trying to get my lung specialist to get it pre-authorized but pharmacy says they have been rejected.
@HImom: If your insurance won’t cover it, do you know what the out-of-pocket cost would be? It might not be a big deal for you to simply pay for it yourself.
Yea, it’s $65. I think it may be cheaper than the regular flu vaccine but it is irksome that the insurer won’t apply the amount it would normally have paid toward the vaccine they want you to take toward the cost of the one the doc wants you to have.
Here are some prices for vaccines, including flu vaccines.
http://www.walgreens.com/topic/healthcare-clinic/price-menu.jsp
http://www.target.com/pharmacy/clinic-services
http://www.walmart.com/cp/Immunizations-Flu-Shots/1228302
Well, it looks like Costco has the high dose flu vaccine for under $38, so that looks like where I’ll get it and maybe not make myself and my MDs crazy over the pre-authorization hassle. Sheesh! It looks like the standard flu shot price varies from a low of $15 to $25 and up.
https://www.costcobenefits.com/cms/your-health-benefits/pharmacy/your-annual-flu-shot/index.shtml
Do you just need to call pharmacies and see who has the quadrivalent?
@HImom: I think the link you posted goes to what benefits are available for Costco employees, not what flu shots they have at the store.