Haven’t they determined that the efficacy of the Flu Shot is ~10%?
I did a little research on that once. They always trot out the 30,000 deaths a year from flu. A few years ago, the actual death rate was around 280.
I’ve gotten one flu shot in my life, in the early 70’s. Since then, I think I’ve had the actual flu maybe twice.
The efficacy of the flu shot varies every year. I think that last year, it was only about 40% effective against the most widely circulating strain, the H3N2 strain. In some years, the efficacy can be 80-90%. The reason the efficacy varies so much is because the people who determine which flu strains to include in the vaccine are looking at currently circulating strains and using that data to make a prediction about which strains will be most prevalent several months from now. In other words, they are much like weather forecasters. Sometimes, they are very close in their predictions. Other times, the circulating strain shifts, so that the dominant strain is not what they predicted.
In any case, some protection is better than none. If you have been vaccinated against a strain that is not a circulating strain but is similar to it, your immune system will still partially recognize the virus. If you get sick, the resulting disease will not be as severe.
There might be some crossover immunity between strains. Makes it a worthwhile thing for me almost every year.
“Haven’t they determined that the efficacy of the Flu Shot is ~10%?”
You can still get the flu after the vaccine. Your system gets overwhelmed. But the antibodies will lessen the severity. If you don’t have much exposure, you probably will not get the flu. I’ve had the flu once in 10 years and I get the vaccine every year. My doctor gets it every 3 years and he gets the vaccine. If you get the flu, get Tamiflu for everyone in the household.