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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flu jab - yes or no?

146 replies

BetterCallSaul99 · 17/09/2020 20:45

My parents are in their 70's. Never had it. They are great for their age, fit and healthy.
Me and my husband are pretty much the same. But wondering if it would be for the best. I hear so many stories about people who have been ill after that immunisation I genuinely don't know what to do myself or advise my parents. Me and my husband did have flu a couple of years ago and it was the worst illness we have ever experienced. Would not want to experience it again however isn't it certain strains so having the jab is no guarantee anyway? Thoughts please.

OP posts:
purplecorkheart · 18/09/2020 20:43

Got mine today (around lunchtime) and had it last year. I could feel the inject site for about 24 hours. Not sore but just could feel it. Other than that nothing.

eaglejulesk · 18/09/2020 21:33

People can post as many times as they wish. It's not your place to tell anyone how often they may post on a thread.

I shall consider myself told off! What I meant was, as the OP has asked a serious question she has a right to get genuine views - but having the same one posted over and over and over again is hardly helpful. Posters with an axe to grind are at best annoying, at worst can be harmful.

MitziK · 18/09/2020 21:48

Thalidomide is safe. Unless you're pregnant. That's why it's still a useful prescription medication.

So is ibuprofen. Unless you're pregnant or asthmatic or have gastric issues/take it for too long/on an empty stomach. That's why it's still a useful medication.

I want to know why my area reckons no flu jabs until October, though, if other people have already had theirs. Supplier issues, apparently.

Mind you, seeing as we're already getting kids off with flu like symptoms, it'll be hardly surprising if there are more idiots less well informed people saying 'they caught the flu from their vaccination' in a couple of weeks' time.

TPS2009 · 18/09/2020 22:16

After having the flu for three weeks that left me bedridden and eventually in hospital last year , I will always get my flu vaccination annually

Cissyandflora · 18/09/2020 22:49

My children had the nasal spray so late last year. I think it was November. I really wish they’d get it sooner. I normally pay private for the flu Jab. This year it looks like my age group will be offered a free flu vaccine so as long as this doesn’t mean a long delay then I’ll take a free one. I’ve noticed private patients can get it now but free nhs ones are not available.
I am another person who has had severe flu several times in my life. Absolutely awful. It’s not a bad cold as anyone who has had it can attest to.

Almostlegible · 18/09/2020 23:00

Actual flu, which I am fortunate never to have had, sounds extremely nasty.
The flu jab is important to help protect not just yourself but other people who are more vulnerable to a very bad outcome should they contract it.
If you live with a person who was ‘shielded’ then you can get a free jab.
If there is a second wave then the NHS will need all the help it can get.
So why not do something to keep yourself and others out of hospital.
As previous posters have said, you can’t get flu from the flu jab.

VestaTilley · 18/09/2020 23:28

I have an autoimmune disease so have been having it for years. I have never been ill afterwards.

Houseplanted · 18/09/2020 23:32

DS has an an autoimmune condition that can be triggered into relapse by the flu jab, it’s still more important for him to have the flu jab that not as the flu could be deadly.

pigsDOfly · 18/09/2020 23:42

Can't imagine why anyone would hesitate to get a flu jab.

People saying they never have a jab and haven't had flu for many years are not unusual. It's not something you're likely to get every year but when you do it can can lay you very low and be very serious; many thousands die every year from it.

As pps have said, you can't get flu from having a flu jab.

didireallysaythat · 18/09/2020 23:43

I get the flu jab as I don't fancy getting the flu and probably more important, I don't fancy passing the flu onto others.

TheNighthawk · 19/09/2020 00:33

DS has an an autoimmune condition that can be triggered into relapse by the flu jab, it’s still more important for him to have the flu jab that not as the flu could be deadly.

That's interesting, as I also have an autoimmune disease and have just been invited for a flu jab - wondering whether to go as I have been having a lot of trouble with flares over the last few months and absolutely NO rheumatology presence/treatment available.

I have never had a flu jab and haven't had flu for 40 years, but remember what it was like when I used to get it most years in my teens and 20s.

The only reason for having it would be the possibility of concomitant flu/corona, but, of course, the flu jab is only 20-35% effective and I notice the NHS is not using any of the more effective quadrivalent vaccine as recommended by WHO for higher risk groups this year

MustShowDH · 19/09/2020 02:03

I'm trying to decide about meeting DD have the nasal flu vaccine.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with that?

FippertyGibbett · 19/09/2020 06:38

@MustShowDH

I'm trying to decide about meeting DD have the nasal flu vaccine.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with that?

The advice from your GP would be to have it.
bobbiester · 19/09/2020 07:05

Worked for me. Other year had the jab. That winter I had to spend weeks visiting a relative on a hospital ward where there were many cases of laboratory confirmed influenza. Including relative. Not average coughs and colds. Laboratory confirmed influenza. And despite being there all the time I never got it.

ittakes2 · 19/09/2020 08:07

The children’s nasal spray flu vaccination is live - it’s the injection for over 18s which is not live. Over 50s get a different injection to the over 75s.
I had the vaccination earlier this year and was not sick.

QueenOllie · 19/09/2020 11:31

@TheNighthawk if it helps I have 4 autoimmune conditions and have the jab every year Smile
I get a sore arm and that's it, never been unwell

Bassarid · 19/09/2020 11:59

Definitely. I think everyone who can have it should do so

MitziK · 19/09/2020 12:09

@TheNighthawk

DS has an an autoimmune condition that can be triggered into relapse by the flu jab, it’s still more important for him to have the flu jab that not as the flu could be deadly.

That's interesting, as I also have an autoimmune disease and have just been invited for a flu jab - wondering whether to go as I have been having a lot of trouble with flares over the last few months and absolutely NO rheumatology presence/treatment available.

I have never had a flu jab and haven't had flu for 40 years, but remember what it was like when I used to get it most years in my teens and 20s.

The only reason for having it would be the possibility of concomitant flu/corona, but, of course, the flu jab is only 20-35% effective and I notice the NHS is not using any of the more effective quadrivalent vaccine as recommended by WHO for higher risk groups this year

I'm in a flare at the moment (shit, aren't they?).

Apart from the fact that I have never had flu when I've been vaccinated that Autumn, which, as I've been around people who have undoubtedly had it, means that for me, it had a 100% effective rate, if, using your figures, I then had a 1 in 5 or 1 in 3 chance of being as ill as I've ever been before with flu - or dying of it - instead of being guaranteed to catch it without a vaccination - well, I'm happy to reduce the chances of my catching it by between a fifth to a third of encounters.

Just think of it another way - if you knew that there were five drinks put in front of, you had to have one, but they were all contaminated with E-coli, would you shrug and say 'might as well get on with', or would you take somebody up on the offer to replace one contaminated drink with a clean one?

And if there were only three drinks, and one was replaced with a safe one? And there's a chance with both that if one drink was replaced, all of them were replaced with clean, safe ones?

TheNighthawk · 19/09/2020 15:14

MitziK

Just think of it another way - if you knew that there were five drinks put in front of, you had to have one, but they were all contaminated with E-coli, would you shrug and say 'might as well get on with', or would you take somebody up on the offer to replace one contaminated drink with a clean one?

And if there were only three drinks, and one was replaced with a safe one? And there's a chance with both that if one drink was replaced, all of them were replaced with clean, safe ones

It's not so much that - generally I agree with you, but weighing low efficacy against the increased possibility of stimulating either worsening existing disease or another autoimmune disease, particularly Guillain-Barre, which is particularly associated with flu vacs. Especially as I will be largely staying in/wearing mask etc. Hmmm.

MitziK · 19/09/2020 16:24

Well, for something that you've been told/read/heard is low efficacy (no idea where from, I'm just accepting what you have said), I think 100% success rate in not getting flu at all both whilst taking various immune suppressing medications (methotrexate, Humira, steroids, hydroxychloroquine, etc, etc) since I was first eligible for vaccination, is pretty good.

In addition, there are the aspects of the overreactive immune system creating cytokine storms in response to influenza infection and the subsequent exacerbations of AI disease after infection.

Any autoimmune disease puts you at risk of having another AI disease diagnosis in the future - T1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease, Sjogrens and RA, RA and Uveitis, Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis, Parathyroidism, Scleroderma and Lupus, any of the above with IBD - they're all frequently comorbid. Which doesn't mean they caused by vaccinating against something that is highly likely to cause severe illness in itself.

A mask won't - can't - protect you. They're supposed to be to protect others from you. Largely staying in isn't living in a sterile bubble as though you're in a negative pressure hospital room following bone marrow destruction or working in an underground laboratory on Smallpox research - you'll still be outside at times.

Of course, an opinion is an opinion. But in mine, from lengthy experience, there is no way of ensuring you cannot come into contact with any virus that is transmitted in the way influenza is. The best you can do is take the protection that is offered to you because it's better than none at all. And then you can be like a twat like me - having direct physical contact with 10-45 people actively shedding flu virus every day at work last winter and, despite taking biologics, be absolutely unaffected by it all.

I'd also recommend that you press for your AI disease to be properly treated. I've still been able to access treatment - I'm sat here waiting for my new biologics to be delivered at this very moment and I've been told to call the nurses' number during the transition process at any time if I feel I'm not improving enough or flaring more and I'll be able to access an im steroid shot through a face to face appointment within 7-10 days.

I think, having had both AI disease and influenza, along with having had vaccinations (side effect - slightly tender shoulder when pressed for 3 days, solution - don't press it, then) and been able to sail through every flu outbreak in recent years - except the couple where I hadn't been able to get a vaccination in time and was incredibly ill as a result - I think the lack of efficacy/maybe it'll cause side effects argument is weaker.

Just wish I could bloody get one now. They're not available in the area yet and I'm on the waitlist with five pharmacies and the GP now, as I'm getting genuinely worried with the numbers of kids at work coming down with flu like symptoms (not Covid ones, and I've probably already had that in March).

Aneta12345 · 28/11/2020 20:24

OMG , flu from the vaccine???!!! What a joke , this is NONSENSE !!!

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