If you have the flu jab do you worry you’re still going to catch flu?

[solarlights]

Spoke to a few friends this week, all double jabbed for coronavirus but all anxious about going places in case they catch it. It got me thinking about the flu jab. Same friends get the flu jab then don’t think twice about catching it all winter. One friend has mild asthma, they’re all aged 40-50 but otherwise they’re not particularly vulnerable to any illness.

You will get loads of people coming on to say 'it's not the same as flu!' - which of course is correct but that isn't the point you are making here and fwiw I wonder about this myself.

No vaccine is 100% effective from what I am aware but I don't think one has been so widely discussed before, how effective is it after one dose? two doses? to new variants? Usually people just get their vaccines then carry on.

Levels are high which makes people nervous, plus everyone now fancies themselves an expert in vaccines. Every year, vaccinated or not, you could catch flu and it could kill you but people seem to have forgotten that other viruses even exist.

Well, I don't know about 'worry' but I know it's a possibility, I suppose.

Flu vaccines are only about 50% effective even in a good year, and if they get the mix wrong it can be less than that.

I think the concept that a vaccine isn't a 100% impregnable shield for everyone is a new concept for some people.

A few years ago my gran caught flu, despite having been vaccinated. She then got pneumonia and died. It does just happen, sometimes.

We've also had almost 18 months of constant media and government fear-hype around covid, which obviously doesn't usually happen with flu. I think in future years, when getting a covid jab becomes more normalised, and it's off the front pages a bit, people will worry less.

I've currently got Covid and had the AZ jab x 2 in the spring.
Having already had Covid in December 2019 (yes!) I'd say the illness is milder this time.
Still unpleasant though.

@Usual2usual that’s exactly what I thinking. Numbers are of coronavirus cases are obviously very high but I wonder how many are actually ill. Obviously we don’t know cases with flu because we don’t test but I read that 3/4 of flu cases are asymptomatic so could be much more prevalent and similar to coronavirus than we think.

I don’t worry. But I have been hospitalised with flu despite having the flu jab. Think that might have been the year they got the best guess for which strains was wrong.
Otherwise I get whatever jabs are on offer and forget about it.

I don't worry about catching flu but I'm low risk. I so know I could still get flu despite being vaccinated. However, it would be less likely and less severe and I would protect my loved ones who are at higher risk. I get the flu vax each year, I've never had any side effects. Win win

I do worry that I’ll get the flu even with the flu jab, as iirc it normally only covers 3-4 strains at the most and those are ahead of time predictions. So it’s entirely possible you come into contact with a different strain.

Plus tbh these days it’s not just the flu that’s an issue, but all sorts of variants of paraflus and other respiratory illnesses that go about. (A family member has had a stem cell transplant, so ever time they are ill they have to be swabbed and whatever it is sequenced - and there are a lot of varying paraflus going around all winter, some of which are like colds and some of which are more like flu symptoms in severity). So I’m always aware that flu is just one thing out there.

I think it is the high infection levels along with covid being an unknown quantity for so many of us.
Im double jabbed but also CV so am still being careful.
We all need to assess our own risk and perhaps more help with that would be useful for people going forward. A lot of low risk people seem terrified whilst others at high risk couldn't give a fig.

I don't actively 'worry' but I do know that there remains the possibility of a strain of flu that is not covered by the jab.

The government publishes weekly flu reports (every year, except last year when it was merged with the covid report) and I'd usually keep an eye on whether it's a good or bad flu season.

When a new flu emerges off-season, it caused considerable concern and containment measures were introduced - eg quarantine around cases and prophylactic retrovirals (2009)

We do test for flu by the way, and publish numbers based on that and a range of other proxy measures.

What's going to be dodgy about the upcoming flu season is the sparseness of evidence from Southern Hemisphere on which variants are in circulation, so the predictions on which to include in the vaccine are that bit less well founded.

Most people have only a tenuous grasp of risk analysis or probabilities. That’s why they buy lottery tickets! Risk for most people is about perception, not fact.
If you are an anxious, pessimistic soul, you will not feel safe despite endless doses of a super effective vaccine. And conversely, if you are a Covid denying bon viveur, you would go out maskless to socialise in crowds even if the local infection rate was the UK’s worst.
As for flu vaccine - until last year, it was only given to the elderly or those with serious health conditions, and such people are usually more pragmatic about their chances of survival long term.

If as many people around me had flu as have Covid right now - yes I would be worried about getting flu.

As with everything, I suppose, risk comes down to a balance of liklihood of something happening along with consequences if it does.

I have no spleen so always have the flu jab - among others.

@scaevola
We do test for flu by the way, and publish numbers based on that and a range of other proxy measures
I didn’t know that. I suppose I mean we don’t try to test basically the entire population twice a week for flu whereas we do go coronavirus. So we have no idea of the actual prevalence of flu during flu season as many will be a asymptomatic.

You didn't have to be particularly old or ill to get an NHS flu jab pre pandemic: in 2019 it was all over 65s, all pregnant women, care home residents and all carers (home or institution) and healthcare staff, all children aged 2-11, and all those whose medical condition put them at higher risk from flu (eg all those with asthma, regardless of his mild/severe) and immediate household members of those exceptionally at risk from flu (often not in the published info, but definitely happened)

The only addition this year seems to be the addition of all those who live with a covid CEV person.

@PoorPawsPickPawpaws If they were only testing the people who were actually ill with coronavirus do you think the numbers would be as scary?

[quote solarlights]@scaevola
We do test for flu by the way, and publish numbers based on that and a range of other proxy measures
I didn’t know that. I suppose I mean we don’t try to test basically the entire population twice a week for flu whereas we do go coronavirus. So we have no idea of the actual prevalence of flu during flu season as many will be a asymptomatic.[/quote]
Why do you think sentinel testing is inadequate?

Or do you think it's fine but the the wrong weight is being given to the findings? Do you think it under- or over- reports?

One day, if we're lucky, it's how covid will be monitored (too many cases for this to be on the near horizon - that's both here and worldwide).

I've never had cause to doubt that sentinel testing is being used appropriately and that those who assess the results, alongside other evidence, are doing a good job. But very happy to learn more about it if someone points me in the right direction !

I do worry in the sense that I take more precautions during flu season despite having a flu jab.

[quote solarlights]@PoorPawsPickPawpaws If they were only testing the people who were actually ill with coronavirus do you think the numbers would be as scary?[/quote]
Npt sure TBH. Right now we have about 1/3 of a fairly large team with symptoms + positive tests. Some have been pretty ill despite being double jabbed. Not hospital ill, but pretty incapacitated.

This is more than we've ever had off at any point in the pandemic and these people do not all work in the same location (most have been at home), so it's not just a local outbreak.

It could be a host of other reasons, but it feels closer to me now that it has before s I shall continue to keep my head down and try to stay out of trouble.

I have had flu once, at the time I was young and healthy and I've never been so ill. Now I have multiple health conditions that are made worse by infection I make sure I have my flu jab as soon as possible. I'm fully aware that it may not work, there are lots of flu varients and they are not all in the vaccine.
Do I worry about catching flu in a public place? No.
Would I go within a mile of someone I knew had flu? No chance.

As for flu vaccine - until last year, it was only given to the elderly or those with serious health conditions, and such people are usually more pragmatic about their chances of survival long term.

I have mild asthma - I’ve been offered an NHS flu jab for the last 15 years. Since 2007 my workplace has offered us all free flu jabs each winter. My daughter, aged 8, no health conditions, has been having the nasal flu vaccine at school every year since since Reception. It’s been possible to buy £10 flu jabs at Superdrug etc. for years now. So I don’t think the flu vaccine is as rare as you suggest!

I have high risk factors around the flu. I get my flu jab as early as I can in the season. The kids and DH get vaxxed to offer a fire break. I keep an eye on the phe weekly flu figures every so often to see if the flu jab was a good match for the circulating viruses. I try and keep off public transport and out of busy environments - which is easier said than done at Christmas. And then, after that, I try and get on with things as normally as possible because the flu virus and chronic respiratory illnesses are just one of those annoying things in life.

I am double vaccinated but don’t want to catch Covid. Because my children are unvaccinated. And because I don’t want us all to have to stay in doors for 2 weeks. Both are not factors for flu

If I know it's "going around", sure I worry about it. More so when people closer to me start to get poorly

No, when I have had the 'flu jab I haven't worried about catching the 'flu - and I dread it. I've had it about six times in my 61 years and it was awful.

There's no point in worrying in advance though. One year in the 1990s I did have the vaccination and 'flu. Not a pleasant experience. I know the jab doesn't protect against all strains but that was the only time it happened.

I have a chronic condition. Every year for the past 20 years got the flu jab. Every winter I try to keep myself "safe" from whatever kid/husband brings home. I have used more sanitizers than I care to count, or tissues.
I have not had any stomach bugs. The 3 times I did catch the cold I ended up in hospital. Enough incentive to do all I can against it.
No, I'm not anxious per say, but regardless of vacc I do my best to keep away from the big triggers: flu, noro, etc....
And I'm not more worried now with covid and being double vaccinated: still do the same sanitizing routine, keep mask on, keep my distance, don't go to crowded places. I am doing all I can.
Yes, I am a bit worried for september and school, but had my teen vaccinated, he will be wearing a mask (his own choice). Again: we can't do more. And I can't/won't keep him home for another year.

I would be happier/feel safer if I saw that others are doing their best. But it is just not going to happen.

[quote solarlights]@scaevola
We do test for flu by the way, and publish numbers based on that and a range of other proxy measures
I didn’t know that. I suppose I mean we don’t try to test basically the entire population twice a week for flu whereas we do go coronavirus. So we have no idea of the actual prevalence of flu during flu season as many will be a asymptomatic.[/quote]
Looks like they might start testing for flu as they do for covid

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/delta-variant-mass-testing-for-flu-can-help-nhs-beat-winter-triple-whammy-3mk8s3fxx