As one who worked with inmates (25 yrs), I was mandated to be TB tested annually. The Hep A and B vaccines along with the current flu vaccines were offered but not mandated. The Hep B vaccine made sense in that carrier status could prevent my ability to render care for a prolonged time period. In my circumstance I didn’t consider Hep A a great enough risk for the vaccine considering it’s primary transmission is improper food handling. The risk/benefit ratio for the flu vaccine, for me, wasn’t great enough to warrant it’s usage. From my research, the effectiveness for the vaccine for any given year over time was in the 40-50% range. Complications from the vaccine are in the 5-9% range. As I mentioned before, I rarely became sick in spite of my patient pool.
Aren't most of the people with serious complications also those most at risk if they get the flu?
Granted that this is anecdotal information, but I'm over 60, in many years have been part of one organization or another of 200 - 1000+ people who got flu shots (from employer, church, etc.), not to mention all the other people my wife and I know (relatives, friends, etc. -- my wife is VERY gregarious, not to mention her having a huge Facebook "family",) and in all that time, and of all those people, I do not know of ONE person who has had any worse than a mild complication from a "flu shot."