Can the FLU SHOT give me the FLU?
Spoiler Alert - No!
As winter approaches, it’s time to start heading to the doctor’s office or your pharmacy of choice to get yourself and your family protected from the flu this season. But when I remind patients that it’s time, I often get hesitation because of fear that getting the flu shot might instead cause one to get the flu. The flu vaccine, however, is just fragments of the influenza virus, not a live vaccine, and therefore cannot make you sick with the flu.
Here are several reasons why this misconception is so common:
Immune response. Most of the symptoms you feel when you are sick are actually caused by your immune response — the natural way your body fights off infection. Mucus is created to trap invaders (such as viruses and bacteria) so you can cough, sneeze, and/or blow them out, plus the temperature of your body increases so that the virus or bacteria can’t survive. All of this leaves you feeling tired and achy. It's not uncommon for the flu vaccine to stimulate this immune response, which can cause you to feel a bit out of sorts for a day, but quickly resolves and leaves you prepared to handle the actual flu virus with no muss, no fuss.
Delayed protection. You might not know that it takes about two weeks for the flu vaccine to be fully effective. This is why the big push to get vaccinated is now, in October, even though flu season doesn’t really hit Maryland until December. So if you were to get your flu shot on Monday and get exposed to the flu on Tuesday, you could be sick with the flu in short order and understandably want to blame the vaccine! The best way to avoid this is to get your vaccine early.
Cold season. The timing of the flu vaccine often coincides with the typical cold season. Influenza is no common cold, but if you were to get sick with a cold virus right after getting your flu shot, you might be tempted to think it was because of the vaccine.
So now that you know the flu vaccine can’t give you the flu, it’s time to get yourself protected so that you can stay healthy this winter. Many locations, such as Walgreens and Target, will give you a $5 coupon when you get a vaccine at their store, so reward yourself with something fun for protecting yourself and our community from the flu!
