thread: Flu vacc

  1. #1
    Registered User

    Oct 2010
    Gold Coast
    2,638

    Flu vacc

    Is it worth getting the flu vaccination
    I can get it for free through work but last time I had it I caught it twice as much
    Do you get it ? Why or why not?

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Feb 2010
    on a big patch of paradise.
    3,720

    Re: Flu vacc

    I got it last year for the first time. I only got one very mild cold in Sept. Planning on getting it soon. Just have to get over this shocking cold I have now.

  3. #3

    May 2008
    Melbourne, Vic
    8,631

    Re: Flu vacc

    Yep. If it's free, for sure. What do you mean you caught it twice as much? Bear in mind that the flu shot is for protection against influenza, not the common cold. I don't think I've ever had the flu, touch wood!, because from my understanding flu is awful - laid up in bed, hot and cold, fevers, shivers, nausea, vomiting, vision problems...

    But I'm not a doctor, so I'm not really sure!

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Aug 2006
    On the other side of this screen!!!
    11,129

    Re: Flu vacc

    The annual vaccination prevents against 2-5 of the worst common strains that they think will be in the population that year. It is possible to still catch other viruses & other more mild strains if the flu, but the idea of the vaccination is that you - and any vulnerable people you come into contact with - are protected from the main serious ones.

    I get it every year & there have been years when people around me have been dropping like flies - badly ill, bedridden for period of weeks at a time, but I've been fine. I think it's important if you work with vulnerable people (children, elderly, ppl with respiratory illness, aboriginal people, people with chronic illness) that you get it to protect them. But in any other kind of high traffic job (eg, where there are lots of people) or where you travel through airports or work with people who travel, then you are more likely to be exposed to some of those nastier strains too & it's worth getting done