Quote:
Originally Posted by jOHN rODRIGUEZ
I have to add, I don't take flu shots. For three or four years(1998-2001) I did & each of those years I got the flu 2-3 times each year. Go figure. I a bit different though, I guess, drugs don't seem to effect me like other people.
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no, you just don't understand the flu vaccine. there are many many different strains of flu. every year one or more of these strains makes the round. it is IMPOSSIBLE to create one vaccine for every single strain of the flu in a single shot. and it is equally IMPOSSIBLE to predict which virus will spread and cause the biggest health risk each season. medical experts whose livelihood is basically nothing but predicting, tracking, and studying viruses do their best to make an informed judgment call on which strain of the flu will spread each season, and vaccines are ordered into production based on that estimation.
if you received a flu shot and you encountered someone who carried a different strain, you got the flu anyway.
fortunately for everyone, any flu vaccine will boost your ability to fight off the other strains, even though you won't get full protection. so even though you ended up getting sick, you didn't get as sick as you would have if you had been completely unvaccinated.
sorry... i work for webmd. this is all we've been dealing with for the last week.