Many myths abound about influenza and flu shots, questions about the safety of the shots and as to whether the injection is necessary at all for those who call themselves healthy. Almost 57,000 deaths were blamed on influenza and pneumonia in 2013, and in the U.S.. the two illnesses were in the top 10 causes of deaths. Those deaths weren’t myths. Many of them could have been prevented by a seasonal flu shot or nasal spray. But there are many myths that prevent even the most educated from getting a flu vaccine.
For instance, a prevalent flu myth is that getting the vaccine will give you influenza or, subsequently, something worse -- like pneumonia. This perception is based on many factors, some coincidence.
All flu vaccines are either made of inactivated, noninfectious viruses or recombinant flu vaccines that contain no viruses at all. So the vaccination couldn’t give you the flu if it wanted to. Side effects were mostly chalked up to the placebo effect.
Another possible reason for this belief is that most of us cannot truly tell what it is that ails us, the flu or a cold. Many misread the signs and assume that a flu shot gave them the flu when it is allergies or a cold.
And because the flu shot can take up to two weeks to build up to full immunity, you may get sick before that in the ‘tweener time – while you assume that the shot gave you the flu.
Or the flu shot didn’t work or wasn’t as effective as for other years. Each year, researchers figure out which of three or four flu strains will comprise the flu vaccine and nasal spray. Some years, the researchers are more accurate with flu inoculation coverage than with other years. It is always a well-calculated guess. So for a particular person, the flu shot may well not have been effective as other years.