Question for Musukebba

[Ghekogiddy]

Hiya

Just wondering what are the chances of still catching flu even if you have had the jab.

Also if you do catch one of the three strains after having the jab, would it be to a lesser effect.

Thanks

You would do better with a PM than posting this! :)

I think Musukebba is brilliant for giving us all info and advice and I'm always grateful for it. We have to remember though that she is likely to be rather busy at the moment and when not busy likely to be somewhat shattered.!

Thanks

Have PM Musukebba - hope it goes lol.

She is brilliant at giving advice.

Im not the person that you have asked but I was immunised this winter with this years seasonal flu jab, and I caught infuenza B which is part of the vaccination, my children also caught it, and they were vaccinated too. I was ill for only a few days with mild fever and cold like symptons, but the kids were ill for 6 - 14 days, and my son developed a chest infection after it and was hospitalised for two days.

We know we had influeza b because I was swabbed for it, before I had my c section on the 23rd december. I think the kids would have been really bad, had they not been vaccinated ( they have asthma) and docs said i would have been a lot more ill, as I was pregnant at the time. I just hope to god we dont get this swine flu as well, as we are only just getting back to normal after having norovirus before the flu!

I'm also not musakebba, but can start to answer this until she's around.

There are many strains of flu, and all strains change/mutate over time.

The seasonal flu vaccine covers the 3 dominant strains of flu that were predicted to be circulating this season (H1N1 swine flu, a second influnza "A" and an influenza "B". Within these three types, there is the specific virus used (identified by place and year it broke out in the population). The jab offers good, lasting protection against these three influenzas.

It offers no protection against other flu strains which may still be in circulation in addition to the 3 dominant strains.

Flu viruses change over time, and the protection becomes less effective - with the first changes, you'd expect to see cases which have broken through the protection, and which are typically mild. As the virus changes further however, it shifts (in effect) to become a separate strain and the previous immunization may be ineffective.

the health protection authority say that the strains of influenza B that are around are similar to the vaccine strain. Yet I still got ill, and my children.

Hi Ghekogiddy and everyone else :
Apologies for not answering sooner: on-call duties prevailed I'm afraid . However I think the others have answered your questions, really; in the sense of explaining that vaccination can indeed protect against severe disease rather than 'infection' per se.

One other thing Gheko, how long after having the jab did you start having symptoms?
I only mention it as it can take up to two weeks for immunity to come up after having the jab so if you were unlucky enough to be exposed to it before or soon after having jab you'd still get ill.
Official data says vaccine is about 70-80 per cent effective at preventing the diseases and for those deaths where vaccination status is known, only one had been vaccinated.

Hey MedicalEd

I had my jab a few months ago so quite a while after i caught the flu. Our doctors were on the ball with contacting vulnerable groups.