s/o on another thread
I have never gotten a flu shot and I have never gotten the flu.
s/o on another thread
I have never gotten a flu shot and I have never gotten the flu.
126 votes
squash / 13764 posts
I didn't vote, but I did get one while I was pregnant for the first time, and will get one every year from here on out. I never got one before that.
pomelo / 5257 posts
Yup! I've never had the flu either even before I started getting the shot, but it's worth it for peace of mind. I also just want to protect the people around me. I have a good immune system but my dad, for example, does not. ETA: you can still carry the virus and pass it to others even if you feel normal.
pomelo / 5720 posts
I work in a hospital so it's required. Otherwise I wouldn't get it.
cantaloupe / 6206 posts
I never used to get it in my 20s. Then I got the flu and was out of work for a week straight with 103 fever. I've gotten it every year since then (including when I was pregnant) and have never gotten the flu again.
cantaloupe / 6086 posts
I never used to. I started when pregnant and now always do. Also around the time an immunologist I used to work with told me that you get the shot to save babies and the elderly, not yourself. I had never looked at it that way.
apricot / 435 posts
@bhbee: I think that's such a great point- these vaccinations are good for more than just avoiding illness for yourself. As a healthy adult, the flu is probably no big deal for me. But there are folks I interact with all the time, such as my 85 year old grandparents, for whom the flu could be devastating.
It also helps that I've gotten the flu shot every year, and have never had any side effects from it, so it really doesn't bother me to get it at all.
honeydew / 7283 posts
I get one every year. I've taken care of a lot of people with influenza (including several pregnant women this past year) who've needed to be in our ICU and often on ventilators. Obviously it's not common, but I'm protecting myself and my children as much as I can.
apricot / 456 posts
In healthy adults, flu shots have a 90% efficacy rate: http://www.webmd.com/vaccines/how-effective-is-flu-vaccine
Even if you don't get the flu shot, living in an environment where most people around you do is giving you protection.
pomelo / 5257 posts
@bhbee: yup, exactly. I've never had it, but 20 to 30 percent of people carrying it don't have any symptoms. As a healthy 20-something the flu might not be deadly for me, but I feel a responsibility to herd immunity and to those who are at risk.
nectarine / 2272 posts
Every year. We get it free at work. My husband is required to, i think (works at a school) and my sister is definitely required (she works at a nursing home)
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
I have since I got pregnant a couple years ago and continue to now since it's free through work
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
Yes. I used to sometimes skip years, but now that I have a LO at home I'll be getting one every year...not taking any chances!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
I never have and didn't while pregnant. I will this year because we have a NB. But I have to admit I'm a little scared to!
pomelo / 5298 posts
Same as @hilsy85. I didn't start getting the flu shot until I was pregnant but now I do every year faithfully. It's not worth the risk to getting my whole family sick to me. LO was an August baby so she couldn't get the shot for her first flu season. #2 is going to be a November baby and will have the same issue.
coconut / 8472 posts
I started getting it a few years ago. I went to see a pulmonologist for asthma and he said if I didn't get the shot and I got the flu, since I have asthma it could land me in the hospital. I told him I'd never even had it, and he said most people only get it once or twice in their lives, and when you get it it's really awful.
Last fall I got it while pregnant and I will continue to get it so that I can give my son a little bit more protection from getting it (by not transmitting it to him).
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
Never had! I wonder if I should once LO is here to protect her... But I don't get sick that often!
pomelo / 5298 posts
@snowjewelz: Talk to your OB and pediatrician about it. Chances are they are going to recommend it since you will have a NB during flu season. Kids can't get the shot until at least 6 months old.
persimmon / 1404 posts
I got one once and I got the worst flu ever not even a month later. Any time since then that I have been sick (except a bad case of strep), I have never even come close to how bad it was then. I will never get a flu shot ever again.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
@MamaG: Thanks I will (hopefully I remember!). I wonder if they'd eventually suggest it to me...
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
Yes, work gives them to us for free. I get one every year.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
I never got one before I got pregnant with Xander, but it was strongly encouraged by my midwife, so I've gotten one every year since then.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
This will be my first ever flu shot. I'm a nursing student so it's required.
grapefruit / 4089 posts
I've had to for the past few years for school, but this year I likely won't since I've graduated. I had the flu 2 or 3 times last year even with the shot, so I'm sure it can't get much worse without it.... *knock on wood*
persimmon / 1396 posts
I will get one since I work with the elderly population. I also don't want my whole family down with the flu. I make DH get one too.
persimmon / 1385 posts
Yep, every year since college. I always complain to DH that I still end up getting the flu anyway, and he ALWAYS tells me, "You didn't have the flu. Unless you are literally down for the count wanting to die for a week you got some other kind of virus." (he's a nurse)
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Yup, every year. Last year, I got the flu right before the shots were offered at work. That sucked. I hardly get sick.
ETA: My DH has severe asthma so if he gets any kind of respiratory infection, it probably will put him in the hospital for a week.
Though, its a miracle that he didn't catch the bronchitis I had a few weeks ago.
honeydew / 7488 posts
Every year and I make my whole family get one. Can't afford to have a man down over something that's preventable (well, for the most part)! Except my SIL, she insists that she gets the flu every time she gets the shot.
pineapple / 12802 posts
Yes. I have miss years here and there (usually due to being sick when the shot was offered and then never getting my butt to a clinic!) but for the most part I get one every year!
pineapple / 12793 posts
Every year since I can remember. My parents are in healthcare and always made a point of us all getting flu shots.
apricot / 469 posts
@alohaorchid: It takes at least two weeks for the vaccine to work effectively which is why it's recommended that you get the shot as early as possible. Most likely the flu was already in your system before the shot
and so the shot itself didn't cause it.
I always get it and as someone who had a January baby, I really appreciated people who got it to protect my LO when he couldn't have it himself.
pomegranate / 3533 posts
I've received the vaccine yearly (for work, but also because having a milder illness, if at all possible, just makes sense to me). I've never had the flu...and I sure have been exposed a lot.
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