I have refused to get one since - and have not had the flu since.
When I was in the work-a-day world, I'd watch the young folk all dutifully get their free flu shots, and then, within the next two weeks, come down with the flu. And they were always puzzled that I didn't.
My theory is that when you are given the flu shot - a live bug - it weakens your system. Then along come a different flu strain - your immune system is weak and blam - you get sick.
I protect myself as best I can with hand sanitizers, washing hands, careful what I touch when out, etc...and if exposed to someone who's ill, or if I get that first tell-tale sharp twinge in the nose that indicates the germs are setting up base camp - I grab a clove of garlic, smush up the end and sniff it several times on each nostril. I repeat this every hour for 2-3 times.
hard to prove a negative - but I'm an old lady - and I remain - knock on wood - flu free.
My daughters almost died of a respiratory virus (RSV) when they were 6 weeks old. RSV is just a more severe cold virus, and they almost died of it. The doctors have always recommended them getting the flu shot, and this is the first year in 11 that one of them has ever had the flu.
I’ve had bad flu when I didn’t get the shot. I have asthma, and it would quickly turn into me getting pretty sick. I would have to be put on heavy duty steroids to get over it.
As of October, one of my daughters also has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder and a heart arrhythmia. So far, she hasn’t got the flu that my husband and I have had. I really don’t want her to get sick because illnesses lower seizure threshold.
The flu shot hasn’t been a live virus for years and years. It’s not even a killed virus anymore. It’s antigenic particles - protein bits from the coats of killed viruses chosen from the three most likely of that year’s influenza viruses. The antigens teach your immune system to react. Two type A viruses and one type B influenza.
The only way the shot can make you weak is if your body decides to make too much of certain antibodies and doesn’t have enough resources to react to new infections. Not likely for healthy people.
The vaccine gurus pick next fall’s 3 strains in January and February. They’ve already ordered the eggs a few months ago (to grow the virus in).
The trouble comes when the a strain is so different that it doesn’t share the antigens chosen.