The only time I have ever been hospitalized with an illness was when I had complications from the flu. I’d gotten my shot in plenty of time that year, but it was one of those mismatch years and I got a strain that wasn’t covered by the vaccine. My doc later told me that my illness likely would have been even worse if I hadn’t gotten my flu shot.
I still get an annual flu shot.
FWIW. :-)
But if politics is playing a role in flu vaccine creation, and that info becomes public, God help folks tasked with protecting public health cuz their job just became exponentially more difficult.