Be sure to get a ’flu shot

Everyone needs to get a ’flu shot.
I know we can find many reasons to avoid the shot, such as “It takes too much time,” “I don’t like needles,” or “Often it really isn’t effective.” The excuses are easy to come by.
However, let’s just debunk some of the excuses. With doctors, the health unit, the family health team, and all the pharmacies offering ’flu shots, it really doesn’t take too much time.
I was in and out—filling out the paperwork, having the shot, and waiting around to make sure I didn’t collapse—in less than 15 minutes.
Needles are a part of my everyday life so I have little sympathy about receiving the shot through a needle. The tip is so fine that it’s hardly noticed.
Now some people will have a sore upper arm the next day, but that just shows that the ’flu vaccine is working.
Now let’s examine the excuse that the vaccine isn’t effective. Yes, in no year has the vaccine been 100 percent effective against all ’flus that circulate around the world.
The best minds in the immunology world pick what they believe will be the three most likely ’flus that will spread across the world. Using the best data available, those minds will make choices about the most effective viruses to use.
Sometimes the effectiveness is really low, as it was in 2004-05 when the vaccine effectiveness was 10 percent. In 2010-11, the effectiveness was 60 percent.
Last year, the effectiveness was 47 percent of those vaccinated did not become sick with the ’flu.
But by inoculating the huge population, the ability of the ’flu to spread across communities is greatly reduced. It is simple. The fewer people who have ’flu reduce the risk of passing it on to the general public.
We know some members of the population are more susceptible to ’flu than other sectors of the population. Elderly person and those with diabetes are more likely to be hospitalized if they become sick.
However, if they had received a ’flu shot, they were considerably less likely to be hospitalized. Studies of people with cardiac disease have shown that those receiving the ’flu shot were less likely to be hospitalized.
Meanwhile, vaccination helps women before and after pregnancy, and helps protect the baby from ’flu after birth. The mothers pass the antibodies on to their developing babies.
And a study from 2013 found that those who received the ’flu shot developed less-severe symptoms than those who did not.
The simple understanding is that the more people who receive the ’flu shot, the safer the whole population becomes. And even should someone exhibit ’flu symptoms, they will be far less severe than a person who did not have the shot.
It would be wonderful that a single shot in a lifetime would protect us from the ’flu.
Work is proceeding on that front but the ’flu virus is wily and mutates into many different forms, and so creating that master vaccine will be difficult.
But in the meantime, let’s protect ourselves from the ’flus that are circulating today.