To ask if the flu jab actually does anything?

I just get my vaccine every year as I'm immunocompromised
Booked for my Covid and flu vaccine together in a few weeks

Exactly this. My DH had flu and I didn’t catch it despite continuing to share a bed. It definitely works.

@itwasnevermine , flu changes every year an attempt is made every year to come up with a vaccine which will combat that year’s strain. The protection you get each year accumulates every year adding new strains you will be protected from so that by the time you are older your body contains many, many strains to which you have an inbuilt protection. You could never hope to achieve this degree of protection by starting to have flu jabs when you think you’re becoming more vulnerable. It’s a really good idea to have a flu jab every year even if you need to pay a modest sum for it.

I have had flu twice and it was horrendous. I felt wretched for many weeks both times. I am very grateful indeed to be able to have a flu vacccine.

Depends on the year: it's created each year on the basis of the preceding southern hemisphere flu season. So it depends on how difficult that flu was and speed of mutation. So efficacy will vary from as low as 20% up to 80ish.

Wheres the 'injecting receivers so the 5g masts can activate you' when you need her!

Think there's something to do with the water too?

The real flu I had about 16 years ago was so bad I wanted to die, and was shocked I didn’t. My little kids had it at the same time but I couldn’t look after them and thankfully they recovered quicker. We were in a holiday rental for Xmas with a load of family but couldn’t participate in Xmas at all. I’ve paid for the flu jab ever since just for the chance of avoiding being that sick ever again. Covid was also nasty, but not as bad, for me. The flu jab is totally worth it, IMO

When I had it several years ago I was very ill. I live alone and I'd never felt so isolated and frightened. I've had a yearly vaccination ever since. I rarely even get colds but I'm not risking being so ill with flu again.

There was a cold that went though our family - triggered breathing problems in about half of us - needing nebulous and inhalers and triggering long term asthma in some of us. Several HCP said to seperate family members it was likely a flu virus rather than one of the other 200 cold viruses out there - but how true that is not sure as no-one was testing what the virus was or explaining why they thought that.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/coldflu.html?CDCAArefVal=https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/coldflu.htm

Even the CDC say without testing the type of virus because symptoms can overlap it can impossible to tell colds and flu apart - and they talk about more likely and generally - and generally flu is worse than colds but some virus and some immune systems will though up differences.

Unless you work with vulnerable people or in an environment where you are highly likely to be exposed to flu (eg healthcare, caring, a school or nursery), that is exactly why your employer offers the vaccine for free 😂 That doesn’t mean it doesn’t benefit you too.

As PPs have said, there is no way you can know whether you have had flu unless you were tested as, just like COVID, flu can be asymptomatic, mild, very serious, even fatal. The NHS offers the vaccine to those most at risk of serious illness (the elderly, the immunosuppressed, people with asthma etc) and young children (not because they are vulnerable but because they are super spreaders of the virus and the vaccine is less effective in the elderly).

It’s unlikely that you have never had flu, Studies suggest that children catch flu every other year on average, adults about every five years. You just haven’t been seriously unwell with flu. Maybe because of the vaccine.

You don't want flu, for me it was worse than COVID. It isn't common so the chances of you getting it up to now would have been fairly slim. If your workplace are paying for the vaccine I assume you're in a high risk environment (either you or your clients) so it is wise to keep taking them up on the offer. You do not want flu.

I was a bit laid back about flu jabs as I was young and healthy and had never had flu. Then I caught it. And had complications. And ended up with lung scarring.

I've had flu twice. So bad I missed Christmas when I was early 20s anx then again in my 40s which knocked me for 6 for weeks.

I get the jab even though it doesn't protect against all strains just the most likely ones...its all a bit of a guess.

But you may not get flu often...when you do it's not nice.

Well I don't know how but it definitely happened. I last had the jab in 2019 and I got pneumonia soon after I got the jab. No flu since then!. Happened in 2018 as well but 2019 was the worst i had ever had. But I still wear my mask though

Does that mean if you get a vaccine with flu virus you end up contract 36-55% won't get flu?

Or is it saying dependent on the match - so flu viruses not in match will still be circulating - that overall it reduced risk of getting any flu that year by that much?

I have had flu twice and it is really really nasty. People call a heavy cold flu, but they are not the same. I was bedridden for a week last time.

Believe me it’s worth it. I’ve just been researching a family tree where young people died from flu. It’s not a mild illness.

I remember being surprised to learn, too, that flu can be mild - I also have a couple of memorably awful experiences with flu and assumed flu had to be like that, but no.

Re considering masking on public transport to avoid the heavy colds though - yes, go for it! I've never stopped masking in high risk situations since COVID started, and not only have I not yet had COVID, but also, I've had only 2 colds since the start of the pandemic (and in each case I know where I caught it, one at the dentist and one at an unmasked gathering of friends). I used to get a few colds every year that would lay me low - I've come to realise that for me (not speaking for anyone else of course) masking is worth it just for avoiding those, even without considering ongoing COVID risk.

Because colds and flu aren't the same symptoms for a start. A cold will be streaming nose etc. Flu is more fevery, body aches, complete lack of energy.

A cold is NOT just mild flu! People who seem to keep insisting it is are bloody ridiculous.

You cannot contract flu but only experience a cold. That's not a thing.

The risk to you from flu should be very low OP. Although the 1918 pandemic disproportionately hit people aged 20-40 I don't think that's happened since.

But by getting the jab you're helping others who are at risk. I think some people underestimate just how serious flu can be. We lost a family member to it. He was in his early 50s and although he was a smoker he had no underlying conditions and was considered otherwise healthy.

So thank you OP - and everyone else - who gets the jab.

www.gov.uk/government/news/18000-flu-related-deaths-in-past-2-winters-as-jab-uptake-falls

I've had flu twice. Once when I was 26 and I got post vital fatigue syndrome afterwards which was hideous. The second time I was 43 and I was in bed for 3 weeks. Crucially, I was off work for 3 weeks and as I was self employed I had no money which had quite the impact. I've had the flu jab every year since then. Proper flu really is debilitating. You can end up.with pneumonia from it. I know of someone who died of this in hospital aged 32.

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This is not possible as the flu vaccine in inactivated! If it were a polio vaccine for eg and you had a compromised immune system this may be possible as it is a live vaccine. If you caught it then your dd had a cold which appeared shortly after her flu jab!

Yes this is more or less my situation. I have always had a flu jab and slept next to my husband who had flu, without getting it.

My OH had never had a flu jab but I have asthma so always got one. He caught flu and was in bed for a week. I looked after him but didn't catch it.

He has the jab every year now!