Areyou Getting the Flu Shot? Why or Why Not?

Yep. I do. I worked in health care and have kids in school. while they do make the vaccine for the main strain, studies show that the shot helps the body recover more quickly (and have less severe sickness) from the flu strains it doesn't match up to exactly.

I always get the shot because I'm a teacher and I'm around kids all day.

My boys get the shot because they are in school, so they are also around kids all day.

I've never gotten the flu, and only one of my boys has. When he got it, it was a mild case. The doctor said the flu shot probably helped keep it from being worse.

We did all get the swine flu the first year it was around. That totally sucked. We got it early, before the shot was readily available.

Yes!!! The first year I had my daughter...3 months after she arrived home...I came down with H1N1 on Christmas night. From that night through almost New Year's, I laid in a completely dark room in too much pain to stand even the least sliver of light. I have never been so sick in my life, absolutely felt like I could die. That year, the flu shot didn't cover H1N1, but it does now. If there is any way to avoid flu or H1N1, I am right there.

I got mine last week, my two boys (almost 5 & 19 months) have had theirs as well.

The flu shot is an inactivated virus. It CANNOT give you the flu. It will offer protection from the three flu strains believed to be most common for a particular flu season. It is not 100% effective, but should lessen the duration and severity of symptoms if you do contract the flu after getting it. The most common side effects are low-grade fever and soreness at the injection site.

I would get it if I were you.

My husband already got his through work.
My son and I are getting ours this weekend.
We don't like the flu, and we've never had a bad reaction to any shot.
We do get sick occasionally but we believe we have not got seriously sick because the shot(s) work well for us.

I got it already.
My Husband got it, free, at his work site, through his employer.
My kids will be getting it next week.

I got the shot. Hubby got the shot.
My kids get the nasal mist version.

We all have never had any side effects.
I get it because I have Asthma.

My family will get flu shots. My husband has ended up in the ER from the flu before. I have asthma so I want to avoid getting sick.

I always get it.
Becuase...why not?

I've already gotten my flu shot. I have asthma so that is a compelling enough reason.

When I was a young adult I didn't get the flu shot because it didn't cross my mind as something I needed. But then I got sick one holiday after my nephew, who was sick, coughed in my face and I felt spit land in my eye (gross). One day later, I was down and out for a whole week...fever, aches, skin sensitivity. I missed a week visiting with my relatives.

After that I started getting flu shots and haven't gotten the flu since. I'd rather take the discomfort of the shot and have a better chance of not getting the flu. My shot side effects are a sore arm and sometimes feel a little tenderness in the lymph nodes under my armpit the next day.

The problem with flu shots is that you never know if you would have gotten the flu if you hadn't gotten the shot. So it's hard to say that the flu shot did its job or not. All you know is that you didn't get the flu.

I have kids now and I'm more on top of controlling my asthma so it's worth it to me. Even if I didn't get it free through my employer, I'd still go get one on my own.

Yes, we all are, because we all work closely with the public... We cannot afford to be sick.. Our busiest season for working is coming up.

Yes. Because I don't want to catch the flu, and getting the flu shot is one way to reduce my risk. I also try to eat healthy, wash my hands, get enough rest, etc. My husband caught the flu about eight years ago and was sick for two full weeks. It was horrible. He got seriously dehydrated and had to go to the hospital for IV fluids. And he's typically a really healthy, athletic person. So I figure if he could catch it and get that sick, I'll put up with a shot.

For what it's worth, I found this on the CDC website: A randomized study (by Monto et al) looking at the 2007-2008 influenza season found trivalent inactivated vaccine (flu shot) protected 7 out of 10 people from influenza illness. Studies show that LAIV (nasal flu spray) works about as well as the flu shot. The main study that led to the licensure of LAIV was one conducted in children that showed that LAIV protected up to 9 out of 10 children vaccinated against the flu.

Heck. It's free and on-site. I can think of no good reason (unless you are a bad candidate for the shots) not to get it.

The shot is not 100%, but few things in life are.

If you have ever had true influenza, and not just a seasonal bad cold/aches which many people mistake as "the flu," you would never skip a flu shot again! Actual influenza totally knocks you out for at least a week -- how could you work and take care of your child?

My husband and I get it because my son does not. I figure that if I get it, not only might he get it but also it would be hard for me to care for him.

Nope...don't need it. It's offered and encouraged where I work. In fact, I have to send in a waiver each year to say that I'm not getting one and why. I've had the flu twice--caught from my husband two years in a row during specific times of compromise to my immune system. Otherwise, I'm never sick. I don't catch what's "going around" EVER. AND I have a fear of needles.

I get my flu shot every year. I've had the flu several times, including the H1N1 strain, and I very nearly died in 2010 from complications of the flu. So no, I will never skip the flu shot. I got mine a few weeks ago.

I have asthma anyway, so I always need it, but I'm pregnant this year, so it was doubly important to get it this time around.

My husband never gets the shot and has never had the flu.

We will get the flu shot. I get it because I work with kids. My kids get it because they are at school. My husbands gets it because he is exposed to everything we bring home, and he can't afford to take time off work if he gets the flu.

I did some research on the flu shot several years ago. It was shortly after they came out.

The news articles and medical reports I read said that if you got the flu shot you had a 25% chance of catching the flu. If you didn't get the shot, you had a 20 % to 25% chance of catching the flu.

If the chance of catching the flu is the same or close to the same, why bother? In my case, I hate shots. So I've never gone to get the flu shot.

BTW, I've never gotten the flu.

Good luck to you and yours.

I got it a few weeks ago because my personal risk of getting the flu and getting really, really ill is very high. If I got it, because of my health and immune system--i would possibly be hospitalized. So yes, I got it and all of my family members got it. Good luck with your decision!

I wont get it and neither will my kids. If my husband wants one that's up to him. I have gotten it a few times and right after have gotten SO sick. Sicker than I have not getting the shot. And my kids have crazy reactions to the shots that are required for them to have. So I am not taking a chance with one I don't have to give them!

I've never had a flu shot, 43 yrs old and I think I've had the flu once.
My wife on the other hand is fanatical about getting it.

Nope. I've never had O..
Neither has my husband--unless the got them in the service--not sure.
My son for O. until he was about 3.

Chances are, unless you've been swabbed and tested you can't be "sure" you have or have had H1N1. Few are truly tested.
Most assume they do, and so do their docs.

Anyway, we don't have any of the high risk factors and are all generally healthy. I can't remember the last time O. of us (knock wood) had the flu.

So...we cover coughs, wash our hands and make sure our environment is germ free.

I've never gotten one, and neither have my husband or kids.
I can't really tell you why, I don't know (?)
I guess it's because we so very rarely get sick that I just don't think about it. I even made it through three years of working with germy little first graders without getting anything worse than a cold.
Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm older...

If free? yep! I have not found out if I get it free this year.

Every year my husband, an MD, asks me to get the shot and to take the kids. And I have not once had the time to commit to this errand. So, I always plan on taking the shot, but have never done so - yet.

And my kids usually get the flu, but I do not. I get sinus infections.

Some years I get it, some years I don't. I'm not this year -- everyone else in my family has gotten it, I'm relatively healthy, so even if I get it, everyone else will be protected, so I'll keep my $25...

You should do some research on this, because I have not done any extensively....but if I recall, there are so many different strains of the flu virus that a flu shot simply cannot cover them all. So, like 8 kids dad points out, the chances of you getting the flu (a strain your shot didn't cover) are pretty much the same as if you get the shot.

I have always gotten a flu shot each year.

Guess what else I get each year. The flu.

I won't get it this year. I will take my kids, just because I will feel like a bad mom if I don't. =)
And Bridgett is right, it doesn't give you the flu, but some people do experience side effects that may seem somewhat flu like.

Nah, I will probably skip it this year - but I haven't fully decided yet. I have gotten it every year for the last 5 years or so - it usually puts me out of commission for 3 or 4 days, and this year I just don't want to deal with it. I know that getting the flu is worse, but I think I will be fine.

Do you typically get influenza every year (or close enough to every year)? Do you feel as if you'd benefit from getting it?

I get the flu vaccine because I'm immune compromised and so is one of my daughters. If I don't get it, then I do get the flu. The ACTUAL flu where I'm laid flat for close to two weeks with full body aches, headaches, unable to eat, wanting to die and get it over with... the whole nine yards.

If I happen to get the flu after having had the vaccine, it's so mild that it lasts only a few days and is tolerable. I can at least sleep it off and function.

Therefore, both my middle daughter and I require the extra protection. That means that everyone in our house also must be vaccinated. We can't take any risks.

No because it's often not the same strain as the one that goes around.

And my immune system is so strong because of the way I supplement that I never ever EVER get sick anymore. No colds, no flu, no more bronchitis, and all that stuff. My allergies are gone too. My son was the only kid on his dorm hall who didn't get H1N1 or even a cold when everyone else got at least something.

But my mother lives in a retirement building and they all get the shot because so many of them have health problems. Living in crowded conditions makes it easier to pass things around too.