Since other posters are mentioning it, I edited my earlier post to reflect that of the three people I know diagnosed with the flu right now, none of them had the flu shot, and two were children.
We all got flu shots this year, but I'm not holding my breath that they will work for us, I've had bad luck with them preventing influenza in the past, and it always turned to pneumonia for me. Let's hope this year they will be effective. Hope you all stay healthy out there
Who's to say that if you're not sick, they're not already working for you? If you're out and about in the public then there's a good chance they are!
We have dodged both strains, but all did get a pretty bad head cold after New Year (of course mine developed into a sinus infection that won't clear so a visit to the ENT with nasal swap ensued). My kids' school was very hard hit by the flu just before Christmas break, particularly 1-3rd grades. At one point half of the teachers and 60% of the kids were out in those three grades. The school actually had a specialized cleaning company come in over the holiday. There was no difference in infection rates between vaccinated vs non-vaccinated kids.
It's been pretty well established that getting a flu shot may not completely prevent you from getting the flu, BUT, chances are that if you do get the flu, symptoms will be less severe than if you had not had the shot, as a pp mentioned already. This, alone, is a reason to get the shot since flu can wreak havoc, and kill.
We all hear about people who died from the flu, but we don't often get to see what actually happens. I took care of someone who nearly died from flu, but didn't. The amount of damage to his body shocked (and saddened) even me. It strengthened my resolve to do whatever I could, for myself and my family, to prevent it, if possible. We all made a point of getting our flu shots in the fall.
