|Flu Vaccine Does Not Cause Flu|
No, You Can't Get Flu From The Flu Vaccine
How many of your friends swear up and down that they were vaccinated against flu and, within a week, they were laid up in bed with—yes—a case of flu.
A lot of us believe that getting the flu vaccine will infect us with flu, and here's why that idea is so common (and so wrong):
The flu vaccine takes about two weeks to become effective in our bodies. If we're exposed to a flu virus anytime just before or after our vaccination, our bodies are on their own.
Getting vaccinated and then getting the flu... it's really just a matter of timing. Coincidence. The two events happen around the same time — getting vaccinated against flu and getting infected with flu — but one doesn't cause the other.
Throughout fall and winter, flu is what we hear about. The public health people come out in full force to get us vaccinated against the prevailing flu viruses. It's called cold and flu season, but flu is the star.
But, there are cold germs and other viruses floating around that cause symptoms similar to flu symptoms. Our default thinking is that we have flu, but the reality may be that we have a bad cold, which also stinks, but is not influenza. So, it's a self-misdiagnosis.
There are many flu viruses floating around the world. Each year, the World Health Organization and others try to determine which viruses will be dominant during that particular flu season. Sometimes they're wrong, and the available flu vaccines, which were made to fight those specific flu viruses, don't do a good job of protecting us from what's really out there.
No vaccine protects 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time. It's possible to get vaccinated against the flu strains currently in your area and still end up with flu because, for whatever reason, the vaccine simply did not protect you.
You cannot get flu from the flu vaccine because it's made to prevent that very thing from happening.
The flu vaccines that are delivered through a needle are made from totally dead flu viruses, or tiny specks of deconstructed flu viruses.
There is not a spark of infectivity left in them.
The flu vaccine that is sprayed up the nose has live flu virus in it. But, and it's a big-sized but, the virus in this vaccine is weakened to such an extent that it can't make you be sick.
So there we are.
The flu vaccines protect many people. Getting vaccinated is a good idea, and one you should discuss with your provider.
To help prevent infection, get vaccinated as we discussed, and keep your hands clean all day. Try not to touch your mouth, nose, or eyes with hands that might not be clean. Those areas are prime spots for disease transmission.
See you on the other side of cold and flu season!
Information is the power
parents have over disease.