Flu jabs - live or dead?

[scorza]

i've never known anyone get the flu, people often get a bad cold and think its the flu but i'd wager it rarely is...

i personally have never had it and never had a jab... is it really that common or dangerous? i just tend to get the customary 1 cold a year

Yes it's dangerous. I had it once before I started having flu jabs and I had real difficulty breathing - my Salbutamol inhaler which normally sorts out my asthma when it flares up just wasn't working. I was young and fit back in those days and almost ended up in hospital

I don't think 'flu is particularly common, but the problem is when it does arrive it's very infectious. 'Flu epidemics and even pandemics are common compared to other viruses.

 

[Rich_L]

I have a very rare kidney problem (its called IGA Nephropathy if anyone was interested) and I have to have a flu jab every year. I had one last year and I spent 2 months in hospital and up to this day suffer from the effects of having it (it triggered a condition called Heonch Shoelin Pupora, which is very annoying). So yeah...thats my experience with them...nearly killed me :|

Me too (well the IgA bit, the rest not so much!)

 

[ALLI]

I think the flu jab works on previous strains, but it won't stop you catching new strains. That's why you're meant to have them yearly, iirc. It's more damage limitation than total prevention.

I'm diabetic and have the jab every year with no real worries.

 

[Minstadave]

I think the flu jab works on previous strains, but it won't stop you catching new strains. That's why you're meant to have them yearly, iirc. It's more damage limitation than total prevention.

I'm diabetic and have the jab every year with no real worries.

They actually predict the strains likely to be hitting the UK over the winter and immunise against the subunits that make up the likely strains. Flu is a very rapidly changing virus, both via mutation and recombination of its HA and neuramidase subunits, so every year we see different strains and need a new vaccine.

Sometimes the predictions can be wrong and we'll be hit by an unexpected strain that the vaccine doesn't protect against.

 

[Monkey Puzzle]

Viruses are not living. So neither.

missed the point?!

 

[Sweetloaf]

Sometimes the predictions can be wrong and we'll be hit by an unexpected strain that the vaccine doesn't protect against.

Either that or and new vaccine must be manufactured damn quickly.

Trust me, that's a ball ache

Incidentally, the company I work for make a "live" intranasal vaccine, no jab required

 

[Wyrdo]

My wife gets the jab every year as she suffers with very bad asthma. I don't bother as I don't see the point, as people have already said, most people who claim they have the flu just have a bad cold, I've had colds but never had the flu.

Of course now I'll probably get struck down with really bad flu this year.