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Comment by kzrdude | Hacker News Reader

Who gets a yearly flu shot? Genuinely curious.

Well, anyone who has regular visits to a doctor at all, or has prescriptions filled regularly at a pharmacies, will probably pestered about getting flu shots yearly, at least.

If you are young and healthy, I don't think they are pestering you for your sake, but to build immunity and prevent its spread. Healthy people should really look at flu shots as a kind of duty to their fellow citizens, who may be more vulnerable.

I'm sure it depends a lot on your location and peer group. In San Francisco, where I live, it's very common for healthy 20- and 30-somethings to get the flu shot every year. I try to remember to get it every year, and there's always friends or coworkers reminding everyone about it every year.

Lots of people, I think. My extended family group chat always has a "did you get your flu shots?" thread around October of every year. Last year when I took my family for the shots, there was a line of probably 100 people on a weekday afternoon.

I do. It's free in Canada, just walk into any pharmacy and you're out in 10 mins.

Depends on the province. In Quebec, for example, the flu vaccine is (currently) only free for at-risk individuals (https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/advice-and-prevention/vaccin...). Ontario, however, has a universal program.

Every grocery store pharmacy here gives them out for free, so it's pretty easy to do so.

I do as I am around people with suppressed immune systems for various reasons

Most of the people I know at least? It probably varies a lot by location, subcultures and socio-economic groups.

I and most of my siblings try to get it every year.

It's recommended for anyone with frequent contact with children.

It depends on the country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#Recommendati...

Oversimplifying, it is recommended for people with more than 65(50) years, people with chronic diseases or HIV, and pregnant women and babies from 6 month to 5(2) years. Also people that work or live with them. But each country has it's own rules and recommendations.

In the US, it's recommended for everyone who's not allergic or under 6 months old.

I read about the 2017 and 2018 US vaccination rates on the CDC website recently, those years we got an estimated low 40% range vaccination on adults and in the 60% range for children vaccinated.

Last year I was told that we were at risk of, or no longer had, herd immunity due to that. I don't recall if it was specific to our university, city, or other geographical region.

I stopped getting the flu shots in my 20s because I would always get sick despite the shot. I was convinced in my mid-30s to start getting them again. I still get sick, but it's not as bad as when I skipped the shots.

(I know at least a couple times I ended up getting the shot that prevented a variant that we didn't get. There's enough of a time gap that the shot isn't causing the symptoms.)

Around a third of Canadians [1]. Although the statistics are a bit old.

[1] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-624-x/2015001/article...

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