Child has flu - will I have any protection?

[DustyGlow]

I strongly suspect my child has flu - raging temperature today.
I’m wondering whether I might have any existing protection - I had flu last December and had the vaccine on Monday. I assume the vaccine won’t have kicked in at all yet but might last year’s flu have left me any antibodies after a year?

I realise I’ll probably get ill but hoping it’s not going to completely destroy me for Christmas!!

Marginally yes

Influenza cannot be diagnosed just from having a raging temperature.
Many viruses cause this.

Your body has some natural immune fighting ability to viruses anyway unless you have pre existing conditions that change this.
Flu vaccine alone doesn't just help either immunity from influenza, it stops you getting as poorly as you possibly could.

It’s just she’s never ill and I know it’s going around. She’s felt nauseous, temp is over 40 and she’s started with a dry cough. So I think it’s a strong possibility.

It ruined Christmas last year! Hoping to have a better luck this year. I wish I’d had the vaccine earlier! Thankfully kids are vaccinated so will not have it too bad hopefully.

You have no idea if your child has flu or not. It could be anything.

I doubt that you'd still have protection a year on I know the antibodies last around a year but they can weaken overtime and is probably ineffective now. The new flu jab wouldn't have kicked in as much but you've still had it so hopefully it'll just give you mild symptoms if you do catch it!

It could be Covid. I have had those symptoms and two positive lateral flows.
two people in my house got it. Three didn’t!
there’s no way of knowing but you could take vitamin c and make sure you rest lots to keep your strength up

My daughter had flu just before Christmas last year, then my mother had it (both diagnosed with a swab test). I managed to avoid it despite looking after both of them, though goodness knows how. I may have been asymptomatic. It isn't guaranteed you'll catch it - you might be lucky.

Unlikely you will have protection I am afraid from last year. From what I read the strain of flu is different what they predicted so the flu vaccine may reduce the symptoms but you are less immune thar other years. Also I think I read it takes two weeks for the vaccine to fully kick in.

Can you get hold of a LFT for influenza? Be careful, I am vaccinated and have just been laid low with it after catching it from dc. It really was extremely unpleasant. I took zero precautions though stupidly

A. The vaccine doesn’t protect against all strains of flu anyway. I think in the news it said protection is about 30%.
B. Plenty of people go their whole lives without experiencing severe flu, even without the vaccine.
C. Everyone experiences flu differently - some people get knocked flat, for others it’s like having any old cold.

All you can do is wash hands thoroughly, open windows to let the fresh the air in the house, and hope your immunity is good.

One thing I do (and I’ve no idea if it works or not but I saw something online about it once and it made sense) is when I’ve been exposed to colds or been to crowded venues I do nasal rinsing for a couple of days (I have a proper kit with the saline packets but you can buy a ready made saline spray). Apparently because cold/flu viruses take hold in the lining of the nose and grow from there, flushing them out before they get going can help.