To urge you to get your flu jab…

[sundriftwanderer]

i got flu over Christmas and it’s genuinely been the most poorly I’ve ever been. It hit me out of nowhere on Monday night and I’ve been so unwell. Night sweats, fevers, diarrhoea, the most horrendous cough, sinus congestion, a three day headache. I tested positive on Wednesday (I only tested because my dad had it), but I knew before that I had it.

Im at the point now where I slept until 11am today, had a bath at 7pm and I could go back to bed now and probably do another fifteen hours. It’s been horrendous. I’m hoping I’ve turned a bit of a corner, but I can’t imagine how it would be if I hadn’t been vaccinated.

My dad tested positive on Monday and had to have an ambulance today, thankfully he’s not gone in to hospital but he’s been asleep for pretty much five days now. He’s also vaccinated and I dread to think what would’ve happened if he wasn’t. I think we could’ve lost him.

It’s been awful. Please get your vaccine, it could’ve been a lot lot worse.

my Understanding is we follow Australia who have their season before us and we go for vaccine strain based on that but this strain evolved and therefore we have a bad flu year.

But your dad had it and still ended up going to hospital in an ambulance?

They’re myths. Like turbo cancer

As I said, he didn’t need to go to hospital. The paramedics have said the jab is the only thing that stopped him going in!

I paid £24 for a private jab 3 weeks ago. Money well spent. DH has flu. I’m fine

The only possible chance you've got of getting a flu jab at this point in the season is via your GP, but that's not terribly likely.

I was talking to my friend just before Christmas who is a pharmacist for Boots. Because flu was in the news quite a bit in the lead up to Christmas, they had loads of people coming into store, asking about the jab. They've got none left, and haven't had any in for ages.

The time to get the vaccine is between early September and mid November. After that, you've missed the boat really.

No one, registered medic or otherwise, is qualified to say something as categoric as that.

I'm pro vaccine (in line with eligibility). The majority of people on MN won't have had a flu vaccine (because it's not deemed necessary for most age groups).

I don't like scare mongering, and the purpose of this thread appears to be just that. By all means share eligibility criteria, however asserting that the vaccine is the only way to avoid being unimaginably unwell is simply not true. It's alarmist and unnecessary.

Same here - I had an appointment booked for January and they’ve (Boots) just cancelled it.

Of course they are able to say that given the presentation someone would have ended up in ICU if not vaccinated!

I have only had flu once and it was horrendous. I literally couldn't stay awake. I ended up with a chest infection and four weeks off work. I hope you and your dad feel better soon.

Only a PCR test could determine what strain of flu you and your Dad were infected with, it's entirely possible you're not even vaccinated against the strain you have!
The ambulance crew can give an opinion, they can't however give a categoric conclusion (nor should they attempt to).

You can find info on the Boots and Superdrug websites, I’m HR for my company and I introduced the company buying it for staff who opt in. It’s. Its not very expensive though and worth it in the long run.

Paid for mine just before Christmas.

I was hospitalised with influenza A and pneumonia, it was awful. I did have the flu jab previous, and consultant agreed that it helped.Was given Tamiflu, nebulisers, antibiotics felt like shit, and spent my birthday in hospital in isolation. I always advise my people to have the jab.