Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Flu Shot?

The wife, and I got ours Monday. Do you believe in the shots?

The only time I ever got one, I got the flu about 2 days later. I thought I was gonna die.

I just got my first one ever today......mainly because its free on Medicare. Do you have to get one every year?

Same here brother! I'll take my chances and supplement that with 1000mg of Vitamin C

Yes, every year. The flu is caused by more than one specific virus. Plus, the viruses mutate.
Every year, scientists take a SWAG at what the 2 or 3 mist likely bugs will be, the vaccine addresses these.
But even when they get it wrong, the enhanced immune response, plus the fact that the viruses are similar means you get some protection.

Its not perfect, and not magic, but it works. The naysayers are not lying, but, just because you got the shot, then got the flu. Once. Means nothing.

The flu itself is a pet peeve for me.
Many who say they have "the flu" do not even know what it is.

I believe they exist.

I don't get them, though, since their effectiveness is pretty low, the flu being capable of undergoing mutations called antigenic shifts, unlike viruses such as polio, which are highly amenable to vaccines, since incapable of said mutations.

Considering its low effectiveness, and the risks associated with the vaccine, I haven't had one in quite a few years. I only get the flu every three or four years, which is about the rate I got them when I took the shot every year. You just ride it out. It's not hard to avoid catching it, either, if you avoid other's coughs and keep your hands from your face unless you literally just washed them.

I get one every year. My wife is the nurse at my Dr and insists on it. Never got the flu after getting it myself.

Yes
Get it

Got mine yesterday. Have had one every year for as long as I can remember.

Of course some idiots think you get the flu from the shot.

I have gotten a couple. Mostly when the wife was pregnant.

Normally I dont.

Been getting them about 10 years new, never a problem. Last week they popped my left arm with the flu shot, my right with a pneumonia vaccine. 3rd time for the pneumonia over the years. By evening I was getting a fever and my right arm was swelling up. Had a high fever all night and part of the next day. Took nearly a week for the swelling and fever to go down in the arm. Dr called a couple days after the shots to report on my blood tests so I asked about the high fever. He just laughed it off as "some people get a reaction". He did manage to tell me my A1C was at 6.7 and to "keep doing what your doing".

Two days isn't long enough for the vaccine to start working. Been getting them for a few years; haven't gotten the flu. Also, the vaccine only covers the strains the CDC predicts will be common in a given year. Some kinds will slip through the cracks.

I don't spend much time around strangers, and have gotten pretty hardcore about using wipes on shopping carts, after using them on my hands. Haven't had a cold in a couple years either. Not touching your face after being in public is another good idea to help you kep from getting sick.

In bad flu years, they recommend you get a second one later on, in Jan. or Feb.

My doc went to med school and I didn't.
He said get the flu shot .
I have for repast five years an have not had the flu.
Go one last week.

What was it, 5, 6 years ago when they guessed wrong and the whole bloody world got the flu?

Oops!

The youngest has MS and her Neuro recommends everyone around her on a daily basis get the shot. Lynn makes the appointments for everyone and makes damn sure no one skips getting it.

i take mine from wahlgreens, each year religiously. my wife doesn't do them. she's five years younger, and we're both still alive.

for me, it's a cheap insurance policy. for her, she doesn't do them at all.

She's smart, LOL.

lol. it's arguable that i'm a bit smarter. i'm older by 5 years, and still percolating. and to add to the menu, i also take the pneumonia shot. it's there, so why not?

Got one one year and after i got over that i swore i will not get another.

Consider yourselves lucky boys. About six months ago I let my Dr. convince me that at my age I should get a pneumonia vaccination by sweetening the pot the same old "and Medicare will pay for it" line. Sure enough within a week I had pneumonia.
I'm passing on my anual flue shot this year.