What Your Nurse Wants You to Know About the Flu Shot

It’s almost officially fall and you know what that means! Put down your pumpkin spice latte and go get your flu shot!

What? You don’t think you need one? The CDC recommends everyone over 6 months old to get the flu vaccine. Or maybe you think the flu isn’t that serious. True, most healthy adults with the flu get only a few days of fever, body aches, cough, and sore throat. Sounds fun! But each year an average of 36,000 deaths occur in the US due to flu or complications from it. The highest rates of flu infection and complications are for young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with medical conditions such as asthma or impaired immune systems. Even if you don’t fall into one of those categories and want to risk being ill, you can still spread the virus. Before you realize that your sniffles are really the flu, you may have shared the illness with your coworkers or family.

Or maybe you heard rumors about scary side effects. I get it. Everybody is just trying to do their best with the information they have. And there’s a lot of bad information out there. But honestly, the most likely reaction you’ll have after the flu shot is a sore arm for a day or so. That’s it. Some adults report fever or body aches after receiving their flu shot but studies show that doesn’t happen any more often than it does after receiving a placebo shot. You can’t get the flu from the flu shot. It contains pieces of influenza virus so that your body can learn it and be prepared to fight off the real thing, but it does not contain live virus. Kids who have never been exposed to the flu virus can develop a fever within a few days of their vaccination. While uncomfortable, this shows that their immune system is recognizing those virus pieces as invaders and is preparing antibodies to fight off the live virus if necessary. Always talk to your doctor about medications, but usually some acetaminophen or ibuprofen can keep your kids comfortable and the fever down.

Other rumors say that the flu shot doesn’t even work. It is not 100% effective at preventing the flu, that is true. The World Health Organization (WHO) must decide every year which strains of influenza to include in the flu vaccine based on which strains are commonly causing infections and are predicted to be the culprits the next season. It takes 6-8 months to manufacture the next season’s supply of flu vaccine and the virus can change or a different strain can become popular during that time. Often the vaccines are 40-50% effective. Considering the only downside is a sore arm, I’ll take cutting my chance of getting the flu by half. Plus, the vaccine may offer some protection from severe outcomes such as being hospitalized if you do end up getting the flu. Your health insurance company, your employer, those community flu shot fairs, they wouldn’t be providing the vaccine if it didn’t help. It costs money to make, ship, and give the shot. But it costs more money if you get sick. Studies show that flu vaccination reduces the costs of health care, productivity losses, and absenteeism. To the tune of $87 billion yearly in the US.

The shot can only work if you get it before the flu virus finds you. Try to get it done before the end of October, but getting it later in the year is better than nothing. Flu outbreaks can start as early as October and peak in February or later, so you’re still susceptible through the spring. Many workplaces now offer flu shot clinics, as do pharmacies, and of course your doctor’s office.  

For more information visit the CDC website, most notably Prevention and Control of Influenza with Vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2010 and Prevention and Control of Seasonal Influenza with Vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — United States, 2017–18 Influenza Season. Always check with your primary care provider when making medical decisions.