Got a free flu shot at my wife's retirement seminar back in October. Had a cold for maybe two days since then but no flu. Got my shingles shot maybe 2 years ago and insurance covered everything. I do remember looking at the paperwork and being surprised that it was more expensive than I would have guessed.

The VA is very good at demanding a flu shot each year, I also got a shingles shot this year at the VA. I have no idea the cost as its covered by the VA.

River

Have not got the flu shot. I am allergic-get sicker with the shot than if I don't get one. I do keep up with the pneumonia shot though since I have Pulmonary Fibrosis. I did not get the shingles shot yet. I ahve had a lot of friends that got the shingles from the vaccine and I have a neighbor that is a DR and she doesn't recommend getting it just yet until there is more research and use info available.

yosam7532 (imported) wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:18 pm Have not got the flu shot. I am allergic-get sicker with the shot than if I don't get one. I do keep up with the pneumonia shot though since I have Pulmonary Fibrosis. I did not get the shingles shot yet. I ahve had a lot of friends that got the shingles from the vaccine and I have a neighbor that is a DR and she doesn't recommend getting it just yet until there is more research and use info available.

As a rule, you CANNOT get the SHINGLES or the FLU from the vaccine. They use DEAD virus. It is not possible to contract the dieaase from DEAD virus, only develop anti-bodies.

Sometimes,

developing antibodies hurts too, like a mini flu syndrome.

Si?

I can only speak for my experience..I've gotten the shot every year for the past 15 years or so, and never experienced any negative symptoms..None..And never had the flu, either...Jackie

I get one every year also. Where Medicare pays for it, why not? My wife and mother-in-law do also. My mother-in-law (who is 96) got a small cough a few days ago and when they swabbed her nose to see how things were they told her she had the flu...a mild case but the flu. No fever, headache, or anything but the little cough...which could have been caused by sinus drainage.

Wife worked in nursing homes and refused to get a shot because she had seen so many seniors get the shot and then get sick. I told her she was full of hooie because the vaccine was made from dead viri, went down and got mine and promptly got sick. The next year I skipped and was at an office in Phoenix when the UPS guy made a delivery. He was coughing and made the comment that he was just recovering from getting sick after getting the flu vaccine.

In my head I want to think that the disbelief in flu vaccines is all a bunch of paranoid nonsense, but there sure seems to be a lot of annecdotal evidence out there.

Year before last, Grandpa (then 83) got the flu shot. He got the flu. Damn near killed him. The next year, no shot; no flu.

Was it last year with the big whoop-tee-doo over the swine flu, or was that 2011?

No matter...

The big local factory here, according to the rumor mill, told all their employees they would get this shot - or lose their job. So, the husband of a lady I know from high school got his. Guess what? He got the flu. They fired him. He never got over it, either. Six months later, he was dead from one of those "rare" side effects.

So I'm prone to go with the anecdotal evidence here.

The numbers as presented to me concerning the Flu shot are that during childhood the protection is very good (over 80%) as you age the effectiveness diminishes until after age 65 the most you can expect is 30% (old guys are supposed to get an enhanced more powerful shot). The primary reasoning for getting the shot is that it reduces the severity of the disease and thus reduces the mortality significantly. --FLO--