have you gotten a flu shot this winter?

Hell yes, months ago.

Early October. Get one every year, I work with the public too much NOT to do this.

Always get one ASAP. I work in a busy office on a large college campus, so the risk of exposure is high. Resolved to not discuss it at work this year, because it's depressing to hear crazy anti-vax bullshit from people I used to like and respect.

i am gonna get one tomorrow, if I can. i hear I NEED ONE!! never had one before.

Yes, in September.

yes, at work

Tried to on Saturday but the pharmacy was out.

Yes, in early Oct. as soon as County Health Dept. offered (cheaper and often earlier than local drug stores)

At least three states running low on vaccine; 47 states got flu running rampant! (first time I've ever used that phrase; cool)

seeing Jenny McCarthy on New Year's Rockin' Eve, grrrr

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I missed the work flu shot, this is the first year in ages that I haven't had one
keep meaning to go to the pharmacy, I feel like I am a terrible person

Nope, and have never gotten one. Or the flu either. A mistake -- I work on a college campus.

http://gs1.wac.edgecastcdn.net/8019B6/data.tumblr.com/dac54e930b503534095185b63dbde249/tumblr_mgoc401f581qaaafzo1_500.png

Got one this past weekend. My little skirmish with swine flu a few years ago is something I'd rather not go through again.

doc said it's a good idea if ya got a myeloma, so October for me too

amazed the sneezing fuckers on the F train ain't killed me yet

I never used to get them and I was all "I knew somebody who got a flu shot and then got the flu" here on ILX and an ILX poster with some smarts was like, "GTFO and get a flu shot" and I've gotten one every year since then. Got it in October this year, plus a TDAP booster just in case.

feeling guilty about not getting one but I'm really lazy

also I don't do this my strategy until now has just been 'don't get the flu' it always worked

I'm not sure if I am actually forcibly required to, but I am basically required to get one. Basically someone offers them to us for free one day and they usually don't hurt at all and I'm not allergic to eggs or have a history of Guillain Barre, plus I reduce my risk of killing patients (which is basically Goal 1). Not a ton of downside.

My co-worker who never gets a flu shot and maintains she doesn't need one because she has never had the flu called in sick today with... the flu.

Got one today, my first ever. I haven't had the flu since high school but it sounds terrible this year and my gf is substitute teaching 3 days a week so she'll be around all the monsters passing it around.

I have a had a cold for the last couple of weeks so I haven't gotten one. Or can I get one when I have a cold?

seeing Jenny McCarthy on New Year's Rockin' Eve, grrrr

― dow, Monday, January 14, 2013 9:06 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh yeah, I was watching it with my kid, who basically only wanted to see Gangnam Style, and every time she showed up on screen, I just started cussin her out.

btw the nurse who gave me my shot said it takes about 2 weeks to develop 'okay' immunity and about a month to get all the way up there

"I knew somebody who got a flu shot and then got the flu"

I am this person. Had the worst flu of my life after having flu jab. Spent night in bed with window open, fan positioned blasting cold air on me lying in bed with nothing on but underpants and a nurse giving me cold sponge baths every couple of hours. It was fucking horrible.

Never had the flu jab since, never had anything worse than a bad cold since.

in a segment last night designed to counter myths about the shot, ABC News' doctor dude insisted that it was impossible to get the flu from the shot -- the more sore your arm, the worse you feel, the better the news, he insisted, because it's the body fighting and integrating the shot -- but you CAN already have the influenza virus in your system and by coincidence happen to get flu symptoms.

That's a pretty amazing coincidence but I will defer to science on this matter.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/misconceptions.htm

Also in Chicago at least, you can walk in to any Walgreens between October and... I don't know, it's still going on now, and get a flu shot. Easy breezy. Costs $35, I think? But if you have insurance, your insurance will reimburse you.

I've never gotten one because it just seemed alarmist and only partly effective and on the same lines as ppl who rush to their doctors and demand antibiotics for absolutely everything. In the last couple of years it seems they've been getting more...normal? Not just for ppl with compromised immune sys or w/e but, per this thread, everyone! I shd probably change my mind....

I think availability has definitely increased. I don't remember being able to walk into a drug store and get a flu shot before a few years ago, and I'm not one to go to a doctor unless I have an actual ailment. Also as I get older, I get more risk averse and also have more money so I am motivated and able to get a flu shot, and I'm in Walgreens to buy packing tape and lipstick anyway so...

partly effective beats nuthin

Never had a flu shot, because I've had the flu about 3-4 times in my life. Probably won't get one this year, but I might start getting them next year, a concession to decrapitude as I hit 50.

I got my first ever flu shot yesterday - and immediately had a panic attack and thought my throat was swelling shut. Everything's cool, though!

I last had influenza sophomore year of high school and it was terrible. I was out sick for two weeks, lost about 20 pounds, was incredibly weak... can't afford to do that now with a job and shit. So I went ahead and bit the bullet.

Yeah. Yesterday on NPR, a specialist said it was 60% effective, one of the better vaccines. Especially because this winter's epidemic includes so many severe cases.

Yes, in September. Always get it, along with a pneumovac shot. (I had my spleen removed when I was 20 so I gotta be v careful).

I've gotten a flu shot for as long as I can remember. Never really gotten a bad bout of flu either, at least during flu season. in Baltimore at least, EVERYONE IS SICK, or getting over a sick, or feeling a sick coming on...I had some mild weakness/aches/nausea about a week ago that soon passed, now for the past four days i've had a killer sore throat but not much else. my gf hasn't left the house or the couch since last wednesday, save for a day of school and a doctor's appt. lots of downtown abbey watching going on over there. she didn't get a flu shot; i believe i was spared. better living thru chemistry

downton*, described to me as 'maggie smith and other rich white british ladies w/ no problems'

I never got them until my current job, which provides them as a benefit, but I think I'll continue to get them from now on. I've still come down with serious respiratory viruses during flu season a couple times since then. They may or may not have been different strains of the flu, but my doctors never ordered lab work. Still, I believe the epidemiologists.

First one ever this year, b/c free if you are at work the day the visiting nurses are here to give them. After getting swine flu 2+ years ago and some other flu last year, I am ready to have a year of not getting the flu.

I didn't, but then I got the flu and wished I had. Housemate got the flu jab (from Boswells dept store in Oxford!) And it only cost a tenner, which I would gladly pay now to get rid of the residual chesty cough that wakes me up every night.

I'm definitely getting it next year.

I keep hearing about the flu but I don't know a single person who has it!

A dude I dated for a while almost died from pneumonia last week, though, so I guess that could be flu related.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i did

I went to get one tonight but they were out

Didn't expect this result based on posts in this thread.

Yeah. Yesterday on NPR, a specialist said it was 60% effective, one of the better vaccines. Especially because this winter's epidemic includes so many severe cases.

― dow, Wednesday, January 16, 2013 10:55 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's about right, but it's also an average. it's much more effective in younger, otherwise healthy people - getting a flu shot if you're young isn't so much to protect yourself (though it does) as it is about protecting the vulnerable around you. with very few exceptions, everyone should get one every year

the no votes were shamed into silence

Good. Now go get those shots.

I've never gotten one because it just seemed alarmist and only partly effective and on the same lines as ppl who rush to their doctors and demand antibiotics for absolutely everything

Probably worth noting that vaccines don't work the same way as antibiotics, so that risk of creating resistant strains of diseases through overuse that you find with antibiotics is not present in vaccines. Widespread use of a vaccine actually makes it much more effective.

Herd immunity!

i have a death wish, that's all

fuck me, I blew off the flew shot this year and have had fever for the past five days

yeah i need to still get one :/

i got the FluMist nasal spray. i react terribly to flu shots, big and painful purple spot on my arm for days, even weeks afterward.

Currently waiting in one of the longest lines I've ever been in in one of two flu immunization clinics serving one of the largest cities in Canada. At least the line is moving fairly quickly.

http://io9.com/every-single-flu-vaccine-myth-debunked-1648554144

I have at least two coworkers who don't believe in flu shots.

Every year, they distribute free flu shots at my job. I have had two coworkers over the years who were afraid of needles. We managed to convince both of them to get it, but in one case it took a few years.

Have made an appointment to go get one in half an hour, thank you for this important reminder to get off my ass.

Gone down with some cold/flu form before i got a chance to. Will next week when the antibiotics end.