Get your flu shot. This is a personal warning.

I caught something Weds night (a week ago) and was out Thurs and Fri, but was better by Sunday, so I'm thinking I probably didn't get the flu.  Or maybe my immune system was already in a heightened state from a surface infection a few weeks prior and that helped me kick it faster. Either way, I was back in work on Mon.  Only took OTC stuff I already have (DayQuil, NiQuil, Theraflu, etc) and tons of chicken noodle soup.  

A number of my friends have been down for a week.  Some more. Most got the flu shot.  I think I'm the only one who didn't.

Well, I've got it now.

I am starting week two with this.  It will not go away.  My wife said her office is overrun with this, as 1 in 2 patients tested positive this week.  My flu shot this year pretty much did nothing.  

The hospitals here are overflowing with flu patients.  They are telling to not visit patients.  

So far I’ve not caught it.  A coworker’s entire family came down with it and none of them got the shot.  

The "good" news is that the CDC is now predicting the flu shot to be 32% effective this year.

Still not getting one

A couple of people in my office got the Bronchitis recently.  One with laryngitis, for the one-two punch.

No idea if either of them got a flu shot.  

It has always seemed to me that you would build up some immunity after getting the flu shot.  Say you had Hong Kong Flu back in the hippie days.  An H3 variant, hence I would expect some resistance to that family of viruses.  Spanish Flu around a hundred years ago was an H1They keep whipping up vaccines that have 3 or 4 different variants and giving them every year.  I can see if you are talking about some weak as a kitten infant, a geriatric or immune compromised patient, but after a few years of flu vaccinations, wouldn't you gain resistance to a broad spectrum of flu viruses in an otherwise healthy person?  You don't hear about it being a good year for the flu much, more of a "ER and hospitals overflowing with flu patients" situation, most of the time.  I wonder why the flu shot is not more effective.

In reply to Toebra :

Because our understanding of how viruses work isn't quite as good as we'd like it to be.  So the flu shot tends to be a shot in the dark. Over the years, they've gotten better about aiming in the right direction, but the actual target is still elusive.

In reply to Ian F :

I get that, but if Toebra is asking what I think he is:  Why does the flu shot only last one year?  I was immunized against Smallpox back in the day and would expect it to still work.  Tetanus is good for 10 years between boosters.  Hep B is good for life if you had the whole series.

So why such short 1/2 life on the flu?  I'd also think that if I got Type 1.4 vaccine in 2014 it should have carryover for at least a few years but that doesn't really seem to be the case.

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

In reply to Ian F :

I get that, but if Toebra is asking what I think he is:  Why does the flu shot only last one year?  I was immunized against Smallpox back in the day and would expect it to still work.  Tetanus is good for 10 years between boosters.  Hep B is good for life if you had the whole series.

So why such short 1/2 life on the flu?  I'd also think that if I got Type 1.4 vaccine in 2014 it should have carryover for at least a few years but that doesn't really seem to be the case.

Because the flu virus changes so fast. 

Think of it like a war game. You can build the best defense possible against a specific weapon. Weapon never gets through. But next year, your opponent comes back with a new weapon that gets past your recently built defense. You need a new defense system now. THe old defense still works against the old weapon, and will not go away--as long as anyone is still shooting that same weapon, you're good. New stuff though, you're screwed.

In reply to mtn :

I'd say it's not even that precise.  They are hoping they've chosen to defend against the right weapon with a vague notion of what that weapon will be and it varies a lot how close they get.

Even if it does change, prior exposure to an H1 or H3 variant should give some level of protection to subsequent variants in those groups.   Even if the "protein jacket" it is wearing is different, it is still an H1 or H3 flu.  If you are getting a quadrivalent vaccine each year, it would not take that long to cover the common variations in a given area, which is all they are trying to do.

BTW, I would not bet my life that Hep B vaccine will give lifetime protection.  You are supposed to get your titer checked every 5 or 10 years.   I got vaccinated for Hep B about 35 years ago, and have been good when they checked it every time.  If it is low, they give you another single dose, rather than a series of three shots of the vaccine.

I stopped by Walgreens and got a flu shot today.  Free, took 15 minutes, even got a cool red band aid. 

It’s not perfect, but it’s the best we’ve got. When literally every corner store offers it, I don’t see why you would purposely skip it. 

I read this thread when it was started by Weary and thought, no worries I never get sick. 

Been in bed from Sunday to Thursday! Today I went to work and could not feel my legs. This one got me good. 

Its hard to eat too, so that does not help. 

Go get the shot if you havent.