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Comment by framebit | Hacker News Reader

Personal anecdata about this flu season.

I got the flu shot. My spouse did not. They ended up getting the full-blown flu with 103 degree fever and a positive flu test at the doctor. I, on the other hand, felt kind of crappy but I wasn't knocked on my feet and my temperature was normal the whole time. I asked our doctor if I essentially had a milder version of the flu because I got the shot and he said that was basically the case.

So get your shot! Get your shot for herd immunity, get your shot to (apparently) stave off the worst of the virus, get your shot, get your shot.

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You're correct. Basically what happens is your body still gets primed for some type of flu and produces antibodies. The predominant circulating strain H3N2 is genetically a bit different than the vaccine strain of H3N2. So even though you don't have exactly the right antibodies, you still have some that can recognize the circulating strain and can start the response a bit earlier than someone with no antibodies.

Similar anecdote here. Everyone living in our house got the shot, with the exception of the newborn infant who was too young to get it. The infant was the only one who got the full-blown flu (very scary, but they are fine now). Everyone else who had any symptoms just got a case of what seemed to be a bad two day cold.

I've heard differing opinions as to whether the shot really helps cases be less severe if you do get it, but I've heard a lot of similar stories recently.

As a counter anecdote, I got the flu shot and still ended up out of commission for 4 working days + a weekend of recovery.

Still get your flu shot as it helps prevent spread and probably saved me a trip to the hospital. But don't expect to be immune.

Same thing. Got the shot. Got the flu. It was annoying but didn't need a trip to the doctor or hospital.

A friend without shot who got the flu at the same NYE party as I did ended up needing to go to the doctor to get tests and tamiflu.

Interestingly, the doc was able to test for the specific strain (#2) and they were also entered into a national database.

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