Don’t Let These Myths Scare You Off From Getting the Flu Shot

Flu shots are effective and are a smart way to reduce the chance you’ll get sick this winter (especially if you get a new COVID shot at the same time ). But that’s not the impression you get from listening to the rumor mill, online or anywhere else.

There are many myths about flu shots, and it’s time to dispel four of the biggest ones.

Myth: The flu shot doesn’t work.

The flu vaccine isn’t perfect, but it’s better to get it than not. In a good year, the flu vaccine is about 70 percent effective; if we are unlucky, the rate may fall lower, but it will still provide some protection.

Last year’s flu shot was 59% to 67% effective for children and 33% to 49% effective for adults. (There have been many studies, which the CDC has compiled in a report here .) The exact effectiveness varies from year to year, with the best years generally being more than 60% effective, and less good years being closer to 25%. We won’t know the effectiveness of this year’s shots until the flu season is over, but it’s clear that flu shots reduce the likelihood that you’ll get the flu and also prevent hospitalization for severe cases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has data on all cases where flu vaccinations improve people’s health and reduce their risk of severe illness or death. They highlight research that shows that flu vaccines lead to fewer flu illnesses, a reduced risk of flu-related hospitalization, a reduced risk of heart and lung disease in people with such illnesses, and a reduced incidence of influenza in pregnant women (and protection for their babies). after birth) and significantly reduces the risk of death in children from influenza. Plus, getting a shot helps prevent the spread of the flu—so even if you’re not concerned about your health, getting a flu shot means it’s harder for the virus to use you as a springboard to infect others.

So why aren’t flu shots always effective? Other vaccines have better results; For example, the measles vaccine is 97 percent effective in children who receive both recommended doses. Here are a few reasons why the flu vaccine is a strange case:

• There is not just one type of flu. Flu viruses mutate greatly, which is why we need a new vaccine every year. People getting flu shots have to choose in the spring which strains to use in their shot this fall and winter, and if they get it wrong, the shot will be less effective. (This is exactly what happened in 2014, when the shot was only 23% effective).

• Some people react poorly to the vaccine . Flu shots are less effective in children under 2 years of age and adults over 65 years of age (although high-dose, adjuvated, and recombinant shots may partially fill the gap for older adults ). Other factors and health conditions may affect how well you respond.

Because effectiveness varies widely, scientists, including those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are monitoring which flu strains are circulating and how the vaccine currently works against them. When they change their recommendations, it may look like a slap, but in reality they are simply staying up to date with the best information available. For example, nasal flu vaccines were taken off the market for several years because they did not provide sufficient protection, but the current version of this vaccine is so improved that it is being recommended again to the general public .

Myth: I don’t need a flu shot

Depending on the year, about 8% of Americans get the flu each year. Those most at risk of getting sick or dying from the flu are young children , older adults , and people with underlying health problems. But healthy people are less likely to get seriously ill; they are not invincible.

Flu symptoms can include fever, cough, and sore throat , so they are similar to symptoms of the common cold, COVID, and other respiratory illnesses. This means that many people think they have the flu when in fact they have something else. Ask anyone who’s had a confirmed case of the flu: the flu kicks your butt , causing fatigue and body aches that last a week or more.

And, not to be too gloomy, but people do die from the flu: 5,944 of them last year. In general, this figure can range from 3,300 to 49,000 per year . By comparison, about 30,000 people die in car accidents .

There’s another important reason to get a flu shot, even if you’re healthy: Every person susceptible to the flu is a stepping stone for the virus to reach the elderly and sick. These people are most vulnerable to flu complications , such as pneumonia, and are most likely to die from the flu.

Myth: The flu shot can give you the flu.

This is a persistent myth, and it is simply wrong. Flu shots do not contain fully functioning influenza viruses . Depending on which version of the flu vaccine you receive, it contains:

• Crushed influenza viruses (most injectable vaccines)

• Isolated influenza virus protein (recombinant vaccines)

• An attenuated (weakened) version of the influenza virus that can only survive in the nose (nasal vaccine).

The latter is the only flu vaccine that contains a real virus that can replicate. But it still can’t give you the flu because the flu is a whole-body disease, and the weakened virus in the nasal spray can’t survive, replicate, or grow in the lungs or other parts of the body. It multiplies in your nose, triggers an immune response, and then disappears. In rare cases, the nasal flu vaccine can cause a mild flu-like illness in people, but cannot cause the full-blown flu .

I know some people reading this will swear that they or someone they know once got the flu from a flu shot. But remember: we tend to misremember and misunderstand our own experiences. You may remember being sick, think it was “the flu,” and blame the flu shot you received. You might also get the flu and blame the vaccine for giving it to you, rather than remembering that the vaccine is only partially effective.

If you got a flu shot and then got the real flu, here’s what could happen:

• Perhaps the shot didn’t help you that time . As we said above, it is not perfect.

• You may have had very mild flu-like symptoms after your vaccination . It’s not very common, but it does happen, and it’s not the real flu. Remember that the flu tends to be quite long-lasting and severe. A fever or cough that develops as a reaction to a flu shot will not last more than a day .

• You may not have had time to get vaccinated . You won’t be fully protected until two weeks after your vaccination , so you may catch the flu during this time.

In general, side effects from the flu shot are minimal or non-existent for most people. If there is a reason why the vaccine might be risky for you, your doctor or person giving you the vaccine will be able to discuss this with you. For example, the vaccine should not be given to infants under six months of age or to people with life-threatening allergies to the vaccine’s ingredients. Recommended for almost everyone else.

Myth: Now is not the right time to get a shot

September may seem too early to get a flu shot because the disease is not yet spreading. But remember: if you wait to get vaccinated until everyone you know is sick, you may become infected before the vaccine takes effect.

The CDC says the best time to get a flu shot is September or October so you’ll be protected if the flu season starts early, and your protection will last through the months when the flu is most common. It’s right now, and it’s never too late to get a flu shot while it’s still available in pharmacies.

The only caveat is that getting a flu shot early—in July or August, when it first appears in pharmacies—may make sense for some people:

• People who are in their third trimester of pregnancy at this time should get the vaccine to protect their baby and themselves (some of these antibodies will stay with the baby after birth).

• Children who need two doses should get their first shot in late summer so they can get their second shot closer to flu season.

• Anyone who is unable to get a flu shot in September or October should get one whenever possible. Better early (or late) than never.

The rest of us should get vaccinated as soon as it’s convenient, with the goal of getting it done by Halloween. However, if you forget about this and find that everyone around you is sick in January, you should still get vaccinated then. It will still protect you through most of the flu season.

However, keep in mind the two-week delay: if everyone around you is sick and you go get the vaccine after they cough on you, you could still get sick because the vaccine wasn’t in time to protect you. That’s why earlier is better. You are less likely to get sick and less likely to fall victim to this particular myth.

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