[Jim Noble]

I don't take flu vaccine myself. I believe the risk of doing so is greater than the benefit

It's a bit of a crapshoot.

When a lethal Influenza A strain emerges (or one that causes brain damage), it is likely that vaccination will have provided you with some benefit.

But you don't get to know the year in advance.

FWIW, the risk of harm is pretty small. Do think about it-as one of the few, the proud, the FRelite-we can't afford to lose you.

[snopercod]

Also, I live out in the woods in a very rural area of North Carolina, not in a city. Can't find a job, so I stay at home and work on my house (and FReep) most of the time. I think I'm pretty safe.

OTOH, a while back I visited an old cemetary just down the road from me. There was an area there with hundreds of small headstones as if children were buried underneath. The date on all of them was 1895. I came to find out later that it was an epidemic of some kind - either smallpox or influenza.

[FormerACLUmember]

I have had 25 years of flu shots. Never a side effect. No flu in 25 years.

I also take Flumadine if possibly exposed to the flu, or if traveling in airports. This inhibits the replication of type A viruses (80% of flu viruses).