Time for My Annual Flu Shot: Does it Really Work?

I never used to get one. I hate needles. It seemed like a waste of time because I knew people who got them and still ended up with…the flu. Last year I kept putting it off and ended up never getting one. If my doctor knew, he would get a bit irritated with me and start insisting I get it at his office. You see, I am Diabetic. I do everything I can to keep myself in optimum health. I eat pretty well, I exercise, I take my medicine, and usually, I get my annual flu shot.

Last year I was really busy with life and kept putting it off. I ended up all the way through the flu season without the shot, and thankfully, without the flu. So, my neighborhood pharmacies are advertising that its time for flu shots again. Is it really? It might be in some parts of the country. Here are some little known facts about flu shots.

1. They do not last for an entire year. Most people get one flu shot a year and think that takes them through the season. It does not. Factors such as strength of immune system, age, and state of health play into how robust the flu vaccine lasts. For most people it take them through about five months of the flu season. This means that it might not be a good idea to get a shot right as soon as the vaccine becomes available. This is not a medical suggestion though, as I am not a doctor. You would need to talk with your physician to determine the best timing. For me, I wait until about mid October when I get mine. I do this because its going to last me about five months, and I want to get through the bulk of the real flu season protected.
2. The flu shot is reformulated every year. It has to be because influenza strains around the world are constantly mutating. These mutations have to be factored in the next season.
3. There are multiple kinds of flu shots. The standard flu shot is a three component (Trivalent) vaccine. It covers three or four different flu strains that are considered the most broad based and far reaching. This formula is typically reserved for ages 18–64. Those 65 and older get a higher dose Trivalent shot. Additionally, those who have egg allergies have a recombinant vaccine just for them that is egg free. Its still a three component vaccine, but the egg has been removed from the formula. There is a new formula this year for the first time. The target patient is age 65 and older and helps to actually boost the patient’s immune system as well as provide a better level of immunity against the flu.
4. Above are the Trivalent formulas. There is also another category called Quadrivalent. This is a four component formula. Within this category of shot are the younger age groups. The patients getting this formula are not as broad as Trivalent shots. The key to this vaccine is what it protects against. Not everyone needs this kind of protection against the flu. Four different flu strains are covered in the vaccine. Two influenza A strains, and two influenza B strains.
5. Not everyone should get a flu shot. Its a given that if there is some allergy to a formula ingredient, a person should not get the shot. There are other reasons not to get one as well. Children under the age of six months cannot get a flu shot. Additionally, there are certain medical conditions that affect the immune system that make a flu shot a non option. One of the main ones that would need to be talked about with a doctor is GBS (Guillan-Barre Syndrome).
6. There is another kind of flu vaccine, nasal, but the CDC has actually recommended it not be used for the 2016–2017 flu season.
7. Your flu shot does not kick in right away. It takes about two weeks after the shot for it to be fully effective in your system. It works that way because after injection your body starts making antibodies to protect you.
8. Finally, you can still get the flu even if you have gotten a flu shot. Why? If your flu shot only covers three or four strains, and you get another strain of flu not covered, well, bingo, the flu is yours.

I have never bothered before this year to ask my doctor which flu shot I am actually getting. They don’t tell you either. They might assume most people don’t know anything about the flu, and probably don’t care. I care though about what is being put into my body and which strains I am being protected from. This year, for the first time, I will be asking the more in-depth questions.

Now for the answer to my original question, does the flu shot really work? Yes, for most people it does. As long as we the patients understand that our flu shot only protects us against certain common strains of flu, and only lasts us about five months, we are mostly pretty good with battling against it. There is talk about suggesting that people with health conditions, and those 65 or older actually obtain a flu shot twice a year. I think that as long as a person cannot become resistant to the vaccine like with antibiotic over use, it would be a good idea for some demographics of people to have more than one shot a year. The big trick is going to get the insurance companies to sign off on it.