Well, one good thing is that I won't bother to get a feakin' flu shot this year! Actually maybe

[brewens]

if things look way better than I think they will, I'd get the flu shot if it was all clear to go out again. I'm thinking that is doubtful before next spring. It's probably more likely I'll be waiting to get a booster for COVID.

I was always about the first in line for the flu shot. My job for the last 12 years I worked was registering blood donors at blood drives, and doing the little mini-physicals. That had me in schools, all over university campuses, and in hospital waiting rooms, sometimes all week. I would have had to have been out of my mind not to get it.

[Deuxcents]

1. I'm getting my flu shot as usual

Got Influenza A in ‘19 n I never want to be that sick again

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Actually, if you got Influenza A in 2019 you have a very strong immunity

to future influenza A that will probably last decades.

The reason most people over the age of 50 in 1918 never got that flu was that about 50 years earlier there was an outbreak of a similar type A flu. Those alive then got it and died, or survived, or were somehow already immune/resistant to the flu.

So go ahead and get a shot if you want, but it's probably not necessary.

[abqtommy]

5. Me too! Thanks. I also plan to continue masking, distancing and sanitizing. I don't remember

having the flu but I sure do remember NOT having it!

[ret5hd]

2. So, what's the real downside to getting it this year?

[brewens]

3. Right now, the risk of getting COVID going to get the flu shot for one thing. If I go nowhere,

the risk is zero. I'm single and retired. I don't even have to let anyone in. My flu risk will be about as close to zero as you can get.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I never get a flu shot.

Haven't had flu since about 1972.

I got influenza any number of times in the 1950s and 1960s. I'm pretty sure I got the Asian flu in 1957, which was a type A flu. Which means I'm probably still protected from another one. I'm sure at least some of the rest were type B, maybe even type C. Here's a link that I hope is helpful: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/types.htm

This is NOT intended to persuade someone else from getting a flu shot. If you think it's a good idea for you, then go for it.

[USALiberal]

10. Silly, people, ignore this post and get your shot!! Nt

[hlthe2b]

7. Are you kidding? I will be getting my in early September. No way do I want to have influenza

nor a flu infection confused with COVID-19. Yes, the return to masks will help reduce the risk for both, but why the hell would you not want the added protection?

Like those who now have gotten lax with the hand-washing and surface disinfection, despite the fact that gastrointestinal viruses have gone nowhere--as a recent increase in norovirus outbreaks would attest...

[Wounded Bear]

12. I usually wait a little later...

but that is controlled somewhat by my normal doctor visits in the fall.

But I will get my flu shot, for sure.

[KarenS]

8. I am waiting just abit this year bec

I read they may combine the flu & covid booster

[Chainfire]

9. When I go to my Doctor's office in Sept. she will ask, "Have you had your flu shot?"

When I tell her (what she already knows) that I haven't she will tell me to stop by the lab on the way out and get it, along with the pneumonia shot. When the Doc says "Jump" I ask "How high?" If I do what the doctor says, and I get sick, at least when I am on my deathbed I don't have to be flagellating myself about my idiocy.

[Wounded Bear]

11. I will. Entirely different virus...

I will say, though, that all the masking and distancing last winter is most likely what suppressed the flu season. If we do that again (I sure am we'll probably have another small flu season.

But I'll still get the shots. VA gives them to me for free.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. This makes no sense at all.

[Maru Kitteh]

14. As an infection control nurse I gotta tell you I think that's a TERRIBLE idea this year.

Last year there was very little influenza. Here's why:
- Masking. Everywhere.
- Scrupulous hand washing by many
- Social distancing
- Working from home
- Increased emphasis on cleaning high-touch surfaces at grocery stores and other public-facing businesses
- Hand sanitizer suddenly appeared everywhere
- Schools and churches were largely operating on hybrid and virtual models, limiting contact
- Large gatherings were often limited by law and/or poorly attended
- Summer camps, band camps, state tournaments and other youth events that typically featured young people by the hundred in close quarters for days at a time were mostly limited or cancelled
- There was a much stronger ethos of staying home when you felt ill
- Increased emphasis on cough etiquette

ALL OF THOSE PROTECTIONS ARE RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW NOW

Influenza WILL return, and infection with both influenza and COVID will happen to some at the same time.

If you start with an asymptomatic or mild breakthrough case of COVID and you contract influenza at the same time? All bets are off on the severity of either of your illnesses, lingering effects and your chances of survival.

Get your flu shot.



Nurse /out

[Hortensis]

15. Any combination of flu, pneumonia, and Covid killed most of those dead

from "Covid." But we have vaccines against all three -- pow, pow, pow!

Secondary pneumonia kills by far most of those who die from "influenza," not the flu virus itself.

Pneumonia also is a major cause of death from Covid. The two pneumonia vaccines protect against various pneumococcal bacteria. Covid pneumonia can be caused by those and others as well. Flu vaccination also provides additional protection against severe Covid illness.

And now, we have delta. It's bad, and we shouldn't assume it'll be the worst before this over.

[marie999]

16. The VA clinic gave us our Moderna shots outside.

There is probably a good chance they will do the same with flu shots.