Flu jabs in US vs UK

[Star555]

As an expat in the US for many years (healthy adult with no underlying conditions), I never got the flu jab on a regular basis until last year after Covid started. (Of course I got the Covid jabs and other one-time standard jabs like hepatitis etc.)The American GP I see for my annual physical exam always told me to get the flu jab but I refused. It never made sense why back home I would only have to get the jab during pregnancy and then annually after age 65+, whereas in the US everyone including children, regardless of age, is told to get the jab annually.

Other expats in the US -- did you and your DC get the flu jab annually pre-Covid? Besides financial reasons (e.g. US can afford jabs for everyone annually but the NHS is poor so only offers it to at-risk groups, US has fewer holidays so workers can't afford to be ill with flu), is there any scientific basis for why healthy people should NOT get the flu jab each year? If the NHS offered free flu jabs to all ages annually like the US, would you and your DC get it in the UK during normal non-Covid times?

The only time I ever got the flu jab was the winter I immigrated here. It was a requirement for my immigrant visa so I got it in the UK from the GP just before my embassy interview. I was eligible for a free flu jab every year in the NHS as I was considered an “at risk” group but I never used to take it,

My American husband gets one every year but I don’t. I don’t see the need. I work completely at home and have done for years (not just since COVID) and I’m healthy.

I’ve always paid for it in the UK. The cost effectiveness of NHS treatment is based on the price to the NHS, not on the cost to the individual, so for people they are unlikely to end up treating for flu then the price of the jab isn’t worth paying.

For most people on an individual level, paying £10 for a flu jab is good value compared to the risk of being ill for a week or two - even if you’re not that likely to get so ill you need a GP or hospital treatment.

My DCs do get it annually on the NHS a due to their age, DH gets it for free as he is immunosuppressed and I normally pay for it every year.

We would happily pay for it every year.

I've usually had one for free but not an NHS one.
Last year, DH and I both bought one. This year work have given a prepaid voucher to anyone who requested one (and DH has paid for one). In previous years we both got them free through work.

yes I usually paid to have one, before I became eligible for a free one, and I would continue to do so

Been in the US 10 years now and had the flu jab every year since we've been here, my DS's pediatrician always offers it to me when he gets his. I've had flu, it was hideous so if I can reduce my chances of getting it again then I will!

Besides financial reasons (e.g. US can afford jabs for everyone annually but the NHS is poor so only offers it to at-risk groups

Does the state pay for them in the US?

If the NHS offered free flu jabs to all ages annually like the US, would you and your DC get it in the UK during normal non-Covid times?

I’ve had it for the past few years, either provided by work or paid for myself so yes would get it I provided by the NHS.
Children over 2 get it on the NHS already, so yes DD has it.

@SickAndTiredAgain

Besides financial reasons (e.g. US can afford jabs for everyone annually but the NHS is poor so only offers it to at-risk groups

Does the state pay for them in the US?

If the NHS offered free flu jabs to all ages annually like the US, would you and your DC get it in the UK during normal non-Covid times?

I’ve had it for the past few years, either provided by work or paid for myself so yes would get it I provided by the NHS.
Children over 2 get it on the NHS already, so yes DD has it.

In the US insurance provides the flu shot at no extra cost. Those that are not insured can still get one at no charge as most grocery stores, etc offer “free” flu shots to their customers. They are cheap enough that the stores can afford to offer them at no charge. They make more than the cost of the flu shot back on a basket of groceries.

Not in America, but the Middle East and we are offered (and take) free flu jabs every year. You can either get them done in a clinic or they do them in malls etc. I used to pay for them in England.

@Star555 the NHS criteria for free adult jabs by aged has broadened www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53847025
It’s over 50 now, with 65+ getting an enhanced recipe for extra protection.

Here in the USA now I get my flu jab every year because it’s free. In the U.K. I only got it because I was a healthcare worker. There are lots of things in the U.K. healthcare system that are rationed based on cost: benefit ratio. If it was free in the U.K. I would get it every year. Why wouldn’t you?

Never had one until I moved to the US. Have it every year now

I get it annually and have done since I had DC. We pay privately at a pharmacy- costs £9. In fact, thanks for the reminder, I should book in.

I'm not an ex-pat. I used to get a free Flu vaccine due to my job.
I now pay around £12 to get the vaccine in a pharmacy and it's with every penny.

I had the flu in my 20s , when I was not in any risk factor. I've never been so ill in my life. I lost 10lbs in 10 days through vomitting. I only ate jelly for a week. Getting out of bed to go to the bathroom hurt so much I could cry. I could not get dressed, sit up, read or watch TV.
It happened right over Christmas/ New year.

No way would I sign up for a repeat informance.

I just googled it and only 48% of adults get flu shot in USA. Considering it will be much higher in older adults and at risk adults it's probably quite a bit lower in low risk groups.

I've had it once in my life, didn't have any bad side effects just didn't bother after that.

Most people in USA also get an annual checkup starting once they're an adult... In the UK you can't get a checkup. You're only allowed to see a doctor with an issue, no preventative care until you're like 40 i think.

It's quite different. NHS is very reactive, USA is much more proactive (if you have insurance of course)

If you get flu you are immune to that and similar strains for about 3 years, so for a healthy person actually catching flu is horrible but more effective than a jab.

In the UK everyone can have the jab but if you are not at risk then you have to pay the £8-12 cost.

It never made sense why back home I would only have to get the jab during pregnancy and then annually after age 65+, whereas in the US everyone including children, regardless of age, is told to get the jab annually.

That's not the case in the UK any more. C and P from NHS website

are 50 and over (including those who'll be 50 by 31 March 2022)

have certain health conditions

are pregnant

are in long-stay residential care

receive a carer's allowance, or are the main carer for an older or disabled person who may be at risk if you get sick

live with someone who is more likely to get infections (such as someone who has HIV, has had a transplant or is having certain treatments for cancer, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis)

frontline health or social care workers

All school age kids are also going to ve offered the nasal flu vaccine this year - they've been increasing the age range on that over the past 8 years or so. Tgats assumingvthey xan fit in the covud and vlu vaccinations at school..... on current performance I'm not convinced they can cope with the numbers.

Our insurance gives us points (that add up to a discount on the premium) for completing various recommended preventative things, one of which is the flu shot--so we get them.

Thank you everyone! I'm actually surprised that so many of you (who are not at-risk) have chosen to get the flu jab every year, either by paying in the UK or free in the US. This makes me re-think my pre-Covid decisions to skip the jab. I have been ill with fever before (rarely though, perhaps once every 3-4 years) and have been in bed for a week taking paracetamol, but nothing like the suffering that @Torvean describes. (I did have pneumonia once which was hellishly horrible and I though I'd die of coughing, but I tested negative for flu even then.) I always thought that flu was just a "normal" fever and cold for an otherwise healthy person. I was also biased by a Chinese colleague in the US who herself never got the flu jab, saying that the body's natural immunity should be allowed to develop -- people are fine without flu jabs in Asia, so the US/UK should be no different.
I did get the flu jab last year and this year as well for extra protection during the Covid pandemic, and was thinking of discontinuing once the pandemic is really over in a year or so. Maybe I won't do so!

You are right @Shelddd that everyone, regardless of age, in the US gets one annual "free" (no insurance co-pay) checkup for preventative care. I do go to my GP annually for that, and have routine blood tests done for cholesterol, etc. Having the annual checkup just gives me peace of mind to know that my body is fine (I have a high-stress job and am not as active as I ought to be). The only things the GP has "prescribed" at those checkups are vitamins and more exercise.

I didn't have these annual checkups back home before moving to the US, but now I feel like I would want to continue the annual checkups if I move back home in the future (it has been on my mind but given the current state of affairs in the UK I'm not sure this is a good time to move back). Do any of you pay for annual preventative checkups like this in the UK, even if you have no underlying conditions and are under 40? Are such checkups, done privately outside NHS, becoming more common in the UK nowadays?

Our body does not develop immunity from flu, measles, mumps , rubella, Polio etc

And ppl who've had the flu not a bad cold can tell you exactly how bad it is.

I didn't have these annual checkups back home before moving to the US, but now I feel like I would want to continue the annual checkups if I move back home in the future (it has been on my mind but given the current state of affairs in the UK I'm not sure this is a good time to move back). Do any of you pay for annual preventative checkups like this in the UK, even if you have no underlying conditions and are under 40? Are such checkups, done privately outside NHS, becoming more common in the UK nowadays?

You can pay for them here but they're a bit pricy. I've not done one yet but look into them occasionally.

I’ve never had a flu jab. Wouldn’t have occurred to me really but this year I might.

@Torvean

Our body does not develop immunity from flu, measles, mumps , rubella, Polio etc

And ppl who've had the flu not a bad cold can tell you exactly how bad it is.

Yes it does, but to the strain you have caught.

www.healthline.com/health-news/year-born-can-determine-immunity-to-flu-strains#Before-and-after-1968

Theories about the 'Spanish Flu' appearing to target young people are based on the fact young adults and children had not been exposed to that strain of flu.

I didn't have these annual checkups back home before moving to the US, but now I feel like I would want to continue the annual checkups if I move back home in the future

As a PP said they are available privately but lots of GPs run 'well woman' and 'well man' clinics.

I get a flu shot very year in the US, because it's an easy way to minimize the risk of getting a nasty illness. It also happens that I make money on getting it because my insurance company pays for it but then the grocery store where I get it gives me a $10 gift card for doing so.

We've all got the flu jab every year since we moved to the US about 15 years ago.

My healthy 50 year old step sister in the UK died of flu. I also lost a University friend to flu when we were 18.

I've had flu twice and never want to get it again. First time was when I had a small baby as well as two toddlers. DH had to look after them for more than a week because I was too weak - he couldn't go to work. Fortunately I could breastfeed lying down so someone would put my baby next to me, he'd feed, then they'd take him away again.

The UK makes some strangely short-sighted decisions about health, especially preventative health. Not offering flu shots to everyone, especially given how overwhelmed the NHS is, seems totally daft to me.