[t2009]

Hi, just dipping in to ask if y’all get the flu shot for you & your family? I’m usually in the delayed/selective forum (though we get almost all of them, just spread out some) but I’m trying to collect opinions of all sorts to decide on the flu shot. I have gotten it in the past & have gotten it for my son but we’ve not been consistent. I hear the flu has been quite bad in the Southern Hemisphere this year & am rethinking my stance on it. I’ve always thought it was too much risk for not enough coverage, but I’m so confused & just don’t know what to believe on this one. Not looking to debate, seriously looking for opinions of a crowd that is more likely to get the shot. I listened to a radio program on it (pro flu shot) but didn’t find it convincing as it focuses more on the convenience of getting the shot rather than concerns about safety. TIA!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dakotacakes]

this has been here a while, but better late than never.

Yes I got the flu shot this year as did my husband and two children (2 and 6 years of age). I have received a flu shot every year. Every year I am told by the Vaccine Skeptical individuals that it is useless that it isn't going to be effective anyway etc. Every single year I hear about the abysmal effectiveness rate of the flu vaccine. But yet I have not gotten the flu. I also feel the vaccine is worth it even if the effectiveness rate isn't high, because the risks are far lower than that and my health insurance pays for my vaccine.

Last year I kept hearing how low the effectiveness of the vaccine was (20% was the number I heard last year). Then my department started seeing people go down with the flu, my co worker and her entire family, another co-worker and his son, and a third department member. I was very fearful they were incredibly ill the local school systems were having schools shut down for weeks at a time. It was a bad influenza season. I then learned that the third department members hadn't gotten a flu shot but her husband had, she got the flu he didn't. The co worker and his son hadn't gotten the vaccine but his wife and two other children had, the co worker whose whole family had it, all had not gotten the flu shot. In our small department all the people who skipped the flu shot got influenza, and none of those who did get it contracted influenza.

OF course, this is anecdotal. But I will take the sore arm for any potential protection against influenza.

 

[t2009]

this has been here a while, but better late than never.



Yes I got the flu shot this year as did my husband and two children (2 and 6 years of age). I have received a flu shot every year. Every year I am told by the Vaccine Skeptical individuals that it is useless that it isn't going to be effective anyway etc. Every single year I hear about the abysmal effectiveness rate of the flu vaccine. But yet I have not gotten the flu. I also feel the vaccine is worth it even if the effectiveness rate isn't high, because the risks are far lower than that and my health insurance pays for my vaccine.



Last year I kept hearing how low the effectiveness of the vaccine was (20% was the number I heard last year). Then my department started seeing people go down with the flu, my co worker and her entire family, another co-worker and his son, and a third department member. I was very fearful they were incredibly ill the local school systems were having schools shut down for weeks at a time. It was a bad influenza season. I then learned that the third department members hadn't gotten a flu shot but her husband had, she got the flu he didn't. The co worker and his son hadn't gotten the vaccine but his wife and two other children had, the co worker whose whole family had it, all had not gotten the flu shot. In our small department all the people who skipped the flu shot got influenza, and none of those who did get it contracted influenza.



OF course, this is anecdotal. But I will take the sore arm for any potential protection against influenza.

Thanks so much @Dakotacakes! I appreciated your response. I’ve been doing a lot more thinking & researching & decided we should do it this year. For largely irrational reasons, I’m not a fan of getting this one every dang year, but I realize that most of my hesitations *are* irrational & I want any protection possible, especially for my one-year-old.

So, DH & I got ours yesterday & kids will this weekend.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk