Flu shot or not?

[Liz CA]

Go easy on me. It's my first poll.  

[Lecka]

I think I had it the first time while I was pregnant with my oldest son?  I was pretty impressed it could be protective to him while I was pregnant and (iirc) while I was nursing.

I think we’ve got it every year since then.

Vivid memories of my younger son vomiting up a liquid medicine I was trying to give to him..... I would rather avoid an illness if possible!!!!!  I also had to take that son in to be checked for dehydration, with that illness, ugh.  
 

No thanks. 

[ScoutTN]

We actually have to for work, school, visiting in my mom's assisted living place.

[Joker]

I’ve only had the flu once, six years ago, but it was so awful that we get the shot every year now. We never had one prior to that. I permanently lost my taste and smell because of it so I’m not in a hurry to see what happens if I get it again.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I got one the first week it was available. 

[Storygirl]

DD18 got hers at the grocery store pharmacy in August before going to college. The college did not require it, but she has always had one every year. DH and I got ours in September. My younger kids have appointments to get theirs from the pediatrician soon.

My kids have always gotten the flu vaccine, as recommended by the pediatrician. DH and I sometimes get one and sometimes don't. I think it's important to get one this year in particular.

[Frances]

My husband is a healthcare professional and he and my son have asthma. All of us always get the flu shot. I had mine on Wednesday.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Frances

[EmilyGF]

I'm hoping to get the nasal one as there is a chance that having a vaccine with an attenuated virus helps your immune system fight viruses in general. 

@happysmileyladyOf course the flu vaccine changes every year; the flu itself changes every year. If the flu vaccine didn't change every year, we'd be getting vaccines for viruses that weren't in circulation and it wouldn't make any sense.

Emily

[Ali in OR]

We all waited in our car in line for an hour and a half yesterday to get our flu shots. We've gotten them every year since our oldest dd was 2. She has a seizure disorder and she got some type of virus that year (don't know if it was flu) and that was the only time ever that she had a seizure that we couldn't stop with our emergency meds. We had to take her to the ER. Her pediatrician told us to make sure she always had a flu shot and that we always had it also to help protect her. And none of us have ever had the flu. I think it's even more important to get one this year because of Covid, but I also think we'll likely have a milder flu season with people masked and social distancing. But a double whammy of flu and Covid would be horrific.

[Acadie]

Before Covid, yearly flu shots didn't pass my risk/benefit test. The vaccine often doesn't correlate well with circulating strains and there's more exposure to potential side effects and risks because it's an annual thing. We do vaccinate but selectively, and we've spread out vaccines much more than the recommended schedule.

This year, I don't think we'll see much of a flu season due to Covid, so I'm still not planning to get one. Depending on health risk factors and exposure, I can see why some people would. For us I think sleep, good nutrition, masking & distancing are our best protection. 

TBH what I'm focused on is how to inoculate my family against loneliness and isolation this winter when Covid cases go up, and in all likelihood my girls will be taking classes virtually again. 

[MEmama]

We have all had ours, as we do every year.

 

[Jaybee]

I got mine last weekend. I usually wait until sometime in October, but was a little afraid there might be a shortage this year. I have a propensity to respiratory stuff. I was told by a doctor (overseas) that I should get one every year, due to my frequent bouts of bronchitis. He said it had helped him avoid other respiratory illnesses as well (anecdotally). Beginning then, after a horrible winter of frequent infections, I have followed his advice. Interestingly, I have only had bronchitis once or twice since then. Whether it is just coincidence, or whether the antibodies also help fight the other viruses I am prone to, doesn't really matter to me. I'm just glad I haven't been sick near as often, so I get one every year. The other members of my family are beginning to follow suit.

[almondbutterandjelly]

Our whole family got it in August, the week before college started.  Last year, flu came early to campus and was RAMPANT.  Dd didn't get it (lives at home) nor did we.  Yay, flu shot!

[EmseB]

We got it a couple weeks ago at Rite-Aid, except for the baby who has to be done at the ped's office when he gets his 12 mo shots next week.

I would get the shot regardless,, buy especially with so many people in the house, and a baby, anything I can do to reduce risk of incidence or severity of any disease seems way worth it, IMO.

[teachermom2834]

We got our a month ago I think. The pediatrician I had for my oldest ds (22 years ago) strongly pushed the flu vaccine and as a young mom who hadn't yet been exposed to the anti vaccine messages, I agreed to it without much thought.  When my oldest was about five there were multiple flu deaths in the preschool age set in our city and that scared me. We have gotten it most years though might have skipped it when we were without insurance. We never had any side effects and even if the flu wouldn't have killed us, I never wanted to deal with it going through the house if it could be avoided. Once my kids got to be older teens I didn't want them to get the flu and miss weeks of dual enrollment or work or sports or whatever. I always harass my college kids about getting it. I figure they get so run down and they just don't need the stress of missing class or getting behind in their studies.

This year I thought it was more important than ever. I just don't want anyone to get sick with anything right now. 

FYI- if you live near a Publix you can get a $10 gift card for getting a flu shot there. So you can take your family in and then go get Pub Subs for dinner or let your kid reluctant about a shot pick out a treat or something. It makes getting the shot less annoying if you come out with $40-$50 in gift cards like we have.

 

[SquirrellyMama]

I voted other. I have had the flu twice that were diagnosed. Once in college when I thought I was going to die, I was so sick. So, so sick. The 2nd time wasn't too bad, but I was definitely sick. 

I have gotten flu shots in the past, but many years I did not. I can't tell you if the years I got them it was helpful or not since I didn't get the flu every year I didn't have the shot.

I will be getting the flu shot, because I am convinced it is a help to others that I don't get the flu. Either because I won't be passing the flu on to others or because I won't end up in the hospital with the flu. At least, that is the hope.

Kelly

[Carrie12345]

We do not typically get flu shots. We all (well, those who were born) did get the flu once, over a decade ago. 
We will be getting them this year, and most likely every year from here on out.  I wasn’t exactly ANTI to begin with, but I’ve certainly become more pro.

[Liz CA]

My mother's doc ordered a different one for her so she can avoid some of the common substances the serum is stored in, i.e. egg protein and formaldehyde. She found out she was allergic the hard way.

I will likely be told at work to get one. Should I talk to my doc to see if I can get the "special" one? Does anyone know what substances they are using to preserve the serum?

Edited October 4, 2020 by Liz CA

[regentrude]

I teach hundreds of college students who live in dorms, so I definitely get the flu shot every year. The one year the vaccine was in short supply I got the flu and was very sick. No wish to repeat that experience. With Covid, seems even more a reason to get a flu shot.

Edited October 4, 2020 by regentrude

[Lady Florida.]

Other, because I already got mine and that wasn't an option.

[SounderChick]

We already got ours.  We have been kind of lax in the past getting them if we were already at the doctor or if it was easy.  Since the big girls had pneomonia this year we are being extra cautious.

[wathe]

45 minutes ago, Frances said:

My husband is a healthcare professional and he and my son have asthma. All of us always get the flu shot. I had mine on Wednesday.

Similar.  I'm a frontline HCP and the whole family has asthma.  For us it's a total no-brainer.

[Terabith]

Already got mine.  Target is giving away $5 gift cards, at least for kids, with flu shots.  

[sassenach]

I've done flu shots for as long as ds has been alive- so 20 years. The last time I got the flu was 22 years ago.

[Selkie]

We all get flu shots every year. Our doctors' office is having several drive thru flu shot clinics this month, so we will go to one of those.

[Ottakee]

We have all had ours already.  I work in the schools and one dd has asthma.

We get them yearly.

[HSmomof2]

Already got mine this year. I’ve had one every year after I was extremely ill with the flu in 1995. Haven’t had the flu since I’ve been getting an annual vaccine. 

[MercyA]

1 hour ago, Acadie said:

Before Covid, yearly flu shots didn't pass my risk/benefit test. The vaccine often doesn't correlate well with circulating strains and there's more exposure to potential side effects and risks because it's an annual thing. We do vaccinate but selectively, and we've spread out vaccines much more than the recommended schedule.

 

59 minutes ago, SquirrellyMama said:

I will be getting the flu shot, because I am convinced it is a help to others that I don't get the flu. Either because I won't be passing the flu on to others or because I won't end up in the hospital with the flu. At least, that is the hope.

 

57 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

We will be getting them this year, and most likely every year from here on out. 

This, this, and this. 🙂 

I've never gotten one before, but am planning on getting one this year. 

Dumb question, maybe: are pharmacists as skilled at giving shots as nurses? We have some real pros at our doctor's office.

[Ottakee]

15 minutes ago, MercyA said:

 

 

Dumb question, maybe: are pharmacists as skilled at giving shots as nurses? We have some real pros at our doctor's office.

We have gotten ours at the pharmacy the past few years.  Just quick and easy.   Our pharmacist has been excellent.

[Corraleno]

I haven't gotten flu shots in the past, because once I discovered I had severely low D levels and started supplementing, I hardly ever get sick (maybe one cold per year). I don't remember the last time I had the flu. But I will definitely be getting it this year and will probably continue to get it in the future.

[AmandaVT]

I'm getting mine on Tuesday - our school has a mobile health hub that comes regularly and this week they're coming to offer free flu shots for any student or staff member that wants them. They also come to offer free dental care to students that can't afford it which is awesome.

[historically accurate]

We've gotten them off and on over the years. We'll probably get them every year from here on out. We got ours a couple of weeks ago at Walgreens. 

[Garga]

Wow! I have it on my calendar on Monday to call and get us scheduled for shots.  Now I’m wondering if I’m really late to the game.  

In the past, I thought the wisdom was to get the flu shot in Oct or even Nov because flu season kicks in more in Dec-March.  

 

Oh well, I’ll be calling them at around 10 on Monday to get scheduled. I always wait a little bit on a Monday for non-urgent things, in case someone who got sick overnight is calling as soon as the doc is open.

[Heatherwith4]

I got mine last week at Walmart pharmacy.  Very easy and fast.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

13 minutes ago, Garga said:

Wow! I have it on my calendar on Monday to call and get us scheduled for shots.  Now I’m wondering if I’m really late to the game.  

In the past, I thought the wisdom was to get the flu shot in Oct or even Nov because flu season kicks in more in Dec-March.  

 

Oh well, I’ll be calling them at around 10 on Monday to get scheduled. I always wait a little bit on a Monday for non-urgent things, in case someone who got sick overnight is calling as soon as the doc is open.

Our local news has been urging people to not to put it off. 

[Pawz4me]

DH and I have already gotten ours at our doctor's office, but I need to prod DS21 into stopping at Walgreen's and getting his. For us it's always a no brainer. And that's even more true this year.

[math teacher]

I plan to as soon as I am over covid.

[katilac]

All four of us got it last week. One of my young adults has a needle phobia and also feels pretty bad after getting it, but last year she had the actual flu instead and decided the shot was worth it to improve the odds. 

[J-rap]

We got ours a couple weeks ago.    The last time I had the flu was in 1997, and I was so sick, my dh had to come home from work several times/day to change our baby's diaper.  I couldn't even lift my head.  Since then, I've had the flu shot every year.  I think it's especially important this year.  

Oh also, the last time I got the flu...  That very day before my symptoms set in, I was at a hair salon getting a haircut.  It was later that night that I suddenly developed a fever and chills.  I felt so badly thinking I had probably infected the woman cutting my hair.  So I also get the vaccine to avoid spreading it to others.

[teachermom2834]

53 minutes ago, Garga said:

 

In the past, I thought the wisdom was to get the flu shot in Oct or even Nov because flu season kicks in more in Dec-March.  

 

 

It did used to be recommended in October but it has been pushed earlier and earlier over the years. We usually see it advertised at the pharmacies in August. 

If you can't get into the doctor we have had good luck with grocery store pharmacies just walking in. I remember one year we made appointments at the CVS Minute Clinic early in the day for later that day. It seems all the urgent care and in store clinics are often easier and faster to get into than the regular doctors offices around here. 

 

Edited October 4, 2020 by teachermom2834

[prairiewindmomma]

I caught the flu mid-October last year, the day before we were due to get our shots.

We all got our shots last week.

[Spy Car]

I had mine. I've been intermittent. Not this year.

No goofing around this time.

Bill

[Shoeless]

I already got mine this year.  I will take kiddo in this week to get his and gently nag DH to get one.  

I was inconsistent in getting flu vaccines in the past.  Not any more, since I learned that flu can spread asymptomatically, too.  

[melmichigan]

We've had ours.  We get them the middle of September every year. (Not sure how to put that in the poll so I voted that we will.)

Edited October 4, 2020 by melmichigan

[Jean in Newcastle]

40 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

It did used to be recommended in October but it has been pushed earlier and earlier over the years. We usually see it advertised at the pharmacies in August. 

If you can't get into the doctor we have had good luck with grocery store pharmacies just walking in. I remember one year we made appointments at the CVS Minute Clinic early in the day for later that day. It seems all the urgent care and in store clinics are often easier and faster to get into than the regular doctors offices around here. 

 

Check on the protocols in your area. This year I had to sign up online. They weren’t taking walk ins because of COVID-19. Also there were a lot of screening questions that were different from previous years.  (Mostly COVID-19 screening questions but also ones on allergies). 
 

I was unable to get flu shots for many years due to being immunocompromised .  I was so glad when I was able to start due to being on immunotherapy. 

[hopeallgoeswell]

We've never taken a flu shot and have never gotten the flu.  As per our doctor, we keep our vitamin D levels in the optimal range and keep our immune function high in many other ways.  Also, it's usually well under 50% effective, the vaccine does not prevent spreading influenza to others if you do happen to get sick, getting vaccinated every year might lessen overall vaccine effectiveness, and it has an extremely high payout in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (over $1,000,000,000).  I don't think it should be mandated, either, but that's a whole other can of worms.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/past-seasons-estimates.html

"We identified seven influenza-positive patients who had been vaccinated: two symptomatic household contacts and five index patients. We were surprised to observe that both the proportion of positive samples as well as the viral load among vaccinated cases was similar compared to that among non-vaccinated cases. The only study known to us where these questions have been studied [35] reported similar results. Also this finding may have important implications for the parameterisation of modelling studies. Caution should be taken to avoid misinterpretation, though. It does not mean that the vaccine is not effective. Of 67 vaccinated household contacts only two (3%) contracted influenza. Similarly, in the cited publication by Couch et al., vaccine efficacy for symptomatic illness was 93% and for any shedding 70%, but the probability of being asymptomatic among those who shed was 86% (6/7) in vaccinated and 45% (5/11) in non-vaccinated." https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051653

"Self-reported vaccination for the current season was associated with a trend (P < 0.10) toward higher viral shedding in fine-aerosol samples; vaccination with both the current and previous year’s seasonal vaccines, however, was significantly associated with greater fine-aerosol shedding in unadjusted and adjusted models (P < 0.01). In adjusted models, we observed 6.3 (95% CI 1.9–21.5) times more aerosol shedding among cases with vaccination in the current and previous season compared with having no vaccination in those two seasons. Vaccination was not associated with coarse-aerosol or NP shedding (P > 0.10). The association of vaccination and shedding was significant for influenza A (P = 0.03) but not for influenza B (P = 0.83) infections (Table S4)." https://www.pnas.org/content/115/5/1081

"Our analysis did not suggest any evidence of vaccine interference when we considered previous-season vaccination. However, the analysis using 5 years of historical vaccination data suggested a significant difference in current-season VE among frequent vaccinees compared with nonvaccinees." https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/59/10/1375/2895694

[Tree Frog]

I haven't ever had the flu shot and haven't had the flu, despite dh landing in the hospital with the flu. He is required to get the shot for his job. 

I'm undecided about this year, though I'm leaning against it. Generally, other than mountain cedar allergies and a cold once in a while, I'm healthy.

[catz]

Almost every year we've been slow/lax with the flu shot someone here has got it.  It's so miserable when you get the full blown flu.  And no one here has gotten it after getting the flu vax. So yes, my daughter and I got it last weekend at a really handy pop up drive through clinic.  In and out in like 20 minutes. My daughter was able to get the flu mist.  My husband has an appointment this week.  I will encourage my college kid to go get one - they've made it extra easy on campus to get one this year.  If he comes home for thanksgiving not having had the flu shot, we will run him through a drive through clinic here in November.  

My college kid got through his first year of college without even a minor cold living in the dorms.  He had the flu shot, did a multi + elderberry, and had an air purifier in his dorm room (and yes he had a roomie).  There were covid cases in town by the time he moved out, likey in his 1200 student dorm too.  There was tons of pneumonia, etc rolling through last february/march prior to lock down.  

ETA - another motivator for us is my mother (74 - but on a number of autoimmune drugs) lives alone, my FIL (89) lives alone and we are finding ways to get together with them.  

Edited October 5, 2020 by FuzzyCatz

[ScoutTN]

We get ours at Publix because they give a free $10 gift card for each shot. Me + 2 kids = dinner from the Publix deli. Double win!

[Emba]

Obligatory other: I’m not getting one, because I’m allergic but my kids will get one. I don’t have them do it every year, but last year and this year my mil is undergoing chemo and so I want to minimize her exposure in any way I can.