To ask if the flu jab actually does anything?

I’m in early 60s and never had a flu jab and had flu 20 years ago as the last time. Does that mean I build up natural immunity over the years? As what I’ve heard is the flu jab makes you more vulnerable if you don’t get it every year.

This is totally it. It’s a terrible illness affecting your lungs. It’s not a bad cold. It’s the closest to death I’ve been.
im glad to see people here understand it too

i need to pay for mine. Work won’t cover

So many seem to think a cold is flu 🤣. Good luck when you actually get it

It's not going to stop you getting colds. 😂 Flu is not a cold. A bad strain of flu can kill you if you're vulnerable. They're two different viruses.

More than one virus in the case of volds.

i've had one for many years now... and never had flu in all those years so i guess the answer is 'yes it works'. i've had flu before and its nasty! add that now to the added bonus of covid and anyone getting it is in for a bumpy ride.. i'm happy to pay for my flu vaccine every year

It's not going to stop you getting colds. 😂 Flu is not a cold. A bad strain of flu can kill you if you're vulnerable. They're two different viruses.

The reason flu is not as widespread as it once was is simple. Herd immunity. Flu jabs are commonplace now. Cases will be back on the rise as stupid people stop vaccinating themselves and their kids. Just like TB.

I’ve had flu once.
It was the most ill I have ever been, and I've had sepsis!
It was 10 days of feeling like I was dying. Fever, hallucinations, coughing. Honestly couldn’t get out of bed unaided. Then 6weeks of feeling tired and exhausted. Took a good 6 months to get totally back to normal. I’m always first in the queue when the vaccine becomes available - never want to get it again if I can help it!

Whilst it's absolutely a personal choice for adults whether to have a vaccine or not, whether that be for flu or covid or something else, I will always opt to be vaccinated. I am a carer for a vulnerable relative and I ensure that both of us are vaccinated to give us as much protection as possible before flu season really starts. We had our covid and flu jabs together yesterday, one in each arm, Yep I have felt a bit shivery and some muscle aches today but I would much rather have some mild symptoms now than face full blown covid or flu again. I wouldn't try to guilt trip anyone into doing anything they don't want to do as it's their body and their choice but my choice is definitely to protect myself and my family and try to limit the spread of bugs that can make people extremely ill.

Cold and flu symptoms can overlap, both can cause congestion, runny/stuffy nose, cough and sore throat. Of course flu can then go on to cause more severe symptoms that a cold does not like fever, body aches, lack of energy etc. But not everyone will experience it the same way because, this might comes as a shock, people and their immune systems can differ from one another.

When I had flu last, it wasn't coughing and sneezing, ohhh I feel a bit rough, for a few days. It was an entire week of not being able to get out bed plus completely congested nose and throat and a heavy chesty cough. Then a few days of being able to get out of bed for an hour or so before having to go back to sleep. Then a few more days of dragging myself around at home to get basic tasks done. Then a week of just feeling rubbish but just about functioning. And I was 19!

@Barleysugar86 - I agree it's interesting and I knew there was quite the science behind picking strains and ultimately some years predications and protection offered are spot on and other years things happen to disrupt expectations and it's often a bad flu year.

Interestingly they don't necessarily pick the three most common strains for the year and there is a bit more underlying strategy than just picking the most common. A friend who works in the field explained to me (and apologies if I garble this for any scientists reading) that some flu strains can provide protection for other strains, so they will take into account that letting some of the milder strains circulate instead of including them in the jab was beneficial as that would help provide immunity for the more serious rarer strain in the population (of which only a % will be vaccinated).

I'm 57 and had flu 4 times in my life. Each time I begged to die because it is the worst feeling I've ever had. The pain in my body was unbearable, only a scalding hot bath took the edge of it. Last time I had flu was 2 Christmas's ago and I ended up with pneumonia and coughing up parts of my lung and blood. The doctor said you know when someone has proper flu is when they are begging to die. I felt this.

I've had flu once
Had norovirus for 2 days and then woke up thinking I didn't feel sick, wait why is it so hot?!
I couldn't stand the duvet touching me, hallucinating, sweating. 2 weeks in bed and the GP did a home visit which I thought were things that didn't exist
Never ever want that again, I lost 18lbs between the flu and norovirus

I was just pointing out that there are many others offered free flu injections who don't take it up so the guilt tripping some posters were trying is frankly inappropriate.

I'm not sure why the NHS staff are just people means - I know they are just people I wasn't thinking they were lizard people ffs but they are a large group offered the vaccine in higher risk area than most of population and take up in monitored.

I was not implying there was anything suspect about flu injections - especially as I have serval times said probably in Op best interests - and said I have it every year and clearly said my kids have it and some years DH.

I'm not anti vaccination in any way shape of form so don't know why you are trying to imply I am.

However there is a risk to every vaccination - just really small - and a risk to not having it. Where op lies on that depends on many things unique to her and her situation. Saying otherwise and implying a 70 year old risk for flu is same as mid 20 years old is just rubbish.

Op could probably skip flu injection this year and be absolutely fine - but taking it reduces her risk of getting flu and not being really ill.

Some years I have a bad reaction to flu vaccination end up ill afterwards - its rare not clear it's the vaccination and in my case clearly better than flu - it's not as clear cut in Op case (or all NHS workers cases) - and it's disingenuous to imply it is.

If it was vital she have it NHS would be offering it free - for her its her employer doing so - it's a nice to have but she under no obligation to have it.

I started getting it the year I got pregnant and get it every year since. So does my child. My kid’s cousin got it so bad ended up in hospital at 2 yr old (no underlying health issues).

I’ve had flu twice (I’m 60), my husband four times (65) and it’s awful. His led to pneumonia twice. We were relatively young then and didn’t have jabs.

Anything that will either prevent or reduce symptoms is very welcome. We all get our jab, the children have had them since young too. Adults now, they still do. Never had flu.

SmileyHappyPeopleInTheSun
People who work for the NHS are just people, the leaders in the various parts of the NHS spend lot of time creating campaigns to try to persuade staff to take the flu jab, because flu is dangerous. I have seen the research that some hospitals have done. The uptake reflect the uptake of vaccination rate across the UK population, not surprisingly.
The low take up is not a reflection of scientific uncertainty or any doubt about the vaccine itself, it is a reflection of all the intersecting beliefs and behaviours of british people. Not linked to valid risk taking assessments.
Or as my dad would have put it when I defended doing something stupid by saying everyone else does it. " if everyone else jumped off a cliff would you.".

I got the flu vaccine once in 2011 while pregnant and was horrifically ill after it. Our daughter had it once when she was 4 and ended up in hospital a week later with 'the flu.' Haven't had a vaccine since. Had my second actual flu this year - the first was in 1997, and just stayed in bed, ate garlic and drank loads of water. My mother is 83 and doesn't get the flu vaccine - the last one she got was in the 1990s and was very ill after it. She is a big socialiser and is fine.

In the 2023 to 2024 season:

• 42.8% (503,499 out of 1,176,102) of all frontline health care workers (HCWs) in NHS trusts with direct patient care received the influenza vaccine in England: a decrease of 7.1 percentage points compared with that seen in the 2022 to 2023 season (49.9%)
• the response rate for the final survey was 93.6% (218 out of 233) for NHS trusts and 9.9% (642 out of 6,459) for GP practices, a higher response rate than the 2022 to 2023 season
• this is the third consecutive season to show a decrease in the vaccination of frontline HCWs, and is the lowest uptake since the 2010 to 2011 season
• seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in NHS trusts ranged from 7.1% to 82.2%
• the proportion of NHS trusts that achieved vaccine uptake of 75% or more was 1.3% (8 out of 228 organisations submitting data)
• the highest vaccine uptake in NHS trusts by staff group was 48.7% in all doctors and the lowest vaccine uptake was 38.2% in total support staff
• the highest vaccine uptake in GP practices by staff group was 68.8% in all nurses and the lowest vaccine uptake was 59.0% in total support staff

There's a lot of NHS staff offered free injections by NHS who don't take it up.

So I don't think we need to guilt trip the Op into taking an optional jab and trying to work out if it's worth it to her. (Probably is but still worth thinking about)

You can’t know how unwell an individual would have been if they weren’t vaccinated but you can look at differences in symptoms/outcomes between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, taking into account other factors that will affect how a person responds to an infection (eg age, health) to see what effect vaccination has on reducing symptoms or influencing outcomes, @Allthegoodnamesarechosen.

Vaccines don’t always stop you becoming infected but they can reduce symptoms.