Hehe, yah, tell that to the victims of the flu pandemic of 1918.
Perhaps it's because every once in a while a nasty varient comes along and it's a whopper. I haven't ever had a flu shot and I get the flu every 20 years or so. I did have this strain about two months ago and it was a brute, a good two weeks to get over the worst of it and another two to fully recover, can't recall ever being this sick. One can try and keep up the immune system, I must admit when I traced back where I was exposed it was at a time when I hadn't gotten much sleep (apparently lack of sleep is an immune system killer).
BTW, from what I understand the strain that caused the 1918 pandemic is still out there living in ducks and most likely it'll some day take the jump again from ducks to humans.
Didn't know if your cold and coats was tongue in cheek but getting cold doesn't increase your risk of cold or flu, we get them in winter because we're more often in enclosed places with recirculated air.
SARS came from fowl. Maybe it already did.