Worried the Flu Shot will Give You the Flu?
Right now we are in the middle of the flu season, so I thought I’d spend some time this season writing about the flu and other winter illnesses. Can you get the flu from the flu shot? is a common question. Although I am not a proponent of mandatory vaccinations of any kind, and I have reservations about several facets of the manufacturing process and safety of some vaccines, I do think it is smart to get a flu vaccination.
As a nurse, whenever I recommend this to someone, inevitably a few will tell me that they refuse to get vaccinated, for the flu, because
they are afraid it will give them the flu.THE FLU SHOT CANNOT GIVE YOU THE FLU!!! “but I’ve gotten the flu previously, right after I had the shot”, they tell me, or they know someone who has.
There are several reasons for this seeming phenomena, but none of them are because the flu shot caused the person to get the flu.
Here are some of the reasons a person could get the flu after getting a flu shot:
- The shot didn’t have enough time to work. Flu shots work by injecting a small amount of the Killed influenza virus into the persons body. The body then recognizes the virus and makes antibodies against it. Theses antibodies circulate within the persons immune system for a period of time. If the body then encounters the influenza virus during the time these antibodies are circulating, they fight off and kill the virus before it has enough time to multiply and make the person sick. It takes time for the body to make enough of these antibodies. If the person contracts the flu virus before enough of the antibodies are made, the person can get sick. It takes a full 2 weeks for the body to produce enough antibodies to make it possible to kill off the flu virus, and can take up to 6 weeks to be fully effective. This is why we should all get our flu vaccinations at the very start of the flu season, or even a few weeks beforehand.
- The person could have been exposed to the flu before they even received the flu shot. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), the influenza virus has an incubation period of 1-4 days, with an average of 2 days. This means that you probably won’t experience any symptoms or have any clue that you have the flu virus replicating inside of you, until 1-4 days after you’ve caught it. In fact, a person is most contagious, and therefore more likely to spread the flu to others, during the day or two just prior to feeling sick. This is why it is so easy to spread. We give it to, and catch it from others, before there are any symptoms present. Add to that the locations where people generally receive the vaccine: doctors offices, clinics, and drug stores, (where sick people tend to be), and it is very easy to see how this can happen.
- They have been exposed to a different strain of the flu virus. Every year, scientists try to determine the most likely strains of the flu that we will encounter. There are 3 main types of the influenza virus, types A, B, & C, These can further be broken down into subcategories of these types, with many different combinations. Although there is a science behind the determination, it is still kind of a crap-shoot as to whether the vaccine made for a given year will be for the exact type of flu virus that surfaces during that season. People who travel are at a higher risk for this problem, because different types of the virus, or mutations of them, may be more prevalent in other areas, and we tend to have more natural immunity to what is local to us. Even so, there is some cross immunity among the different types of the virus. A vaccine for one type will still give some protection against the others, and if the flu virus is still caught, the symptoms are usually not as bad, and/or the illness usually does not last as long.
- They have a similar illness that is not the flu. Many different illness are spread around during the flu season, such as colds, pneumonia, stomach flu, and other stomach viruses, (what people usually call the stomach flu is actually not the flu virus at all. The flu is a respiratory virus. Although nausea and vomiting may occur with it, this is usually due to the fever that results from the flu). A flu shot is only effective against the influenza virus and not other viruses and bacteria that can make us ill.
As stated before, the influenza shot is a killed vaccine. Meaning it is dead and cannot multiply or grow inside you and make you sick with the flu in any way. In fact each and every batch of the vaccine is tested to make sure that no live virus is present. This information applies only to the “shot” that prevents the flu.
The intranasal spray, to prevent someone from contracting the flu, is the live flu virus. Although it is a very, small amount and is a weakened form of the germ, it is not enough to make most people sick, but enough to activate the body into making antibodies against it. Once the virus travels farther in to the lower regions of the respiratory tract, the higher body temperature kills the virus off, (this is why our bodies react with fevers to may illnesses. It is the natural way to kill off many viruses and bacteria). I will have another article coming this week all about thermometers, and how to use them effectively. This is the time of year to get prepared with all the supplies you will need before the winter illnesses strike.
Whether or not you are worried about contracting the flu yourself, think of those around you. If you get the virus you may expose a lot of people, especially your loved ones, to it before you even realize it. Young children, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses may not be able to cope with the illnesses as well as someone who is generally healthy. so you could be the cause of a lot of misery, (and yes, possibly even death), for someone else just choosing to not get yourself vaccinated.
Of course, certain people, such as those who are allergic to eggs, should not receive the flu shot, (eggs are used in the manufacturing process). In theses cases, they may be able to take the intranasal spray instead. Of course consultation with your doctor the best recommendation, but your reason for not getting the flu shot should not be due to any of the misconceptions about the flu shot discussed above.
(P.S.If you liked this post, I write medical and health related articles for publications, websites, and blogs. For information and pricing, email me from the contact page.)
Data collected from Canada and Hong Kong during 2009-2010 showed that people who received the seasonal flu vaccine in 2008 had twice the risk of getting the H1N1 “swine flu,” compared to those who hadn’t received a flu shot
While the initial findings were largely discounted, new research confirms the link between the flu vaccination and an increased risk of more serious bouts of pandemic illness
There are major differences between naturally-acquired immunity and vaccine-induced immunity. With vaccination, you are creating an antibody, but as recent research has confirmed, unvaccinated children naturally build up more antibodies against a wider variety of flu virus strains than vaccinated children
Vaccines are never 100 percent protective because they provide only temporary, typically inferior immunity compared to that your body would receive from naturally contracting and recovering from a disease
Hi Robin, thanks for commenting.
Yes, I agree that there are differences between natural and vaccine acquired immunity; our bodies which are designed by God can do this so much better than things designed by man ever could. But unfortunately, many people, especially young children in daycare, and the elderly, cannot stand to risk acquiring the virus in order to obtain possible immunity, their systems would be too overwhelmed when contracting the flu.
When we talk about natural immunity, we must first understand that some groups i a population do not have the “standard” ability from natural immunity that the average person has, nor the standard risk, (as children in daycare have a much higher exposure risk). True, vaccines aren’t 100% effective, and only temporary, as is natural immunity. And, I have a BIG problem with many of the ingredients and the processes by which vaccines are produced, neverless, they do provide a big measure of protection for those that are the most at risk of dying from a bout of the flu, and it is not enough that only THEY get vaccinated. Those they are exposed to, basically, most everybody, need to be vaccinated in order to protect them.
Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe in self-determination when it comes to vaccinations, and other manners of healthcare for that matter. I would never support vaccinations becoming mandatory.
The problem with many of the studies such as the one that you mentioned, is that the regular flu vaccination did not protect against the H1N1 flu virus, as we know, and the largest group of people to get vaccinated for the regular flu virus where healthcare workers, who would have had a much, much higher exposure rate to people with confirmed cases of H1N1 than the general population, so therefore, yes, more of them would have gotten the H1N1 virus than many of the people who did not get vaccinated against the regular flu virus, just by means of risk of exposure.
Again thank you for reading and commenting. I appreciate you.