Hacker News Reader

The flu didn't bother me 'til it knocked me on my ass for two weeks and I had brain fog for several months afterwards. The cost of a flu shot is a few bucks, a few minutes to get the jab, a sore muscle and mild symptoms for a day. That for 20-50% efficacy chance to avoid that 2-week monster flu? I'm in.

View on HN

One big issue is that colloquially "the flu" is used to describe bad colds and other illnesses. Almost no one who has "the flu" has influenza. Thus people underestimate how bad influenza actually is

Actually I believe that in itself is a misunderstanding. Flu may be more likely than a cold statistically to hit someone badly, but it's quite possible to get the flu mildly, and it's quite possible to get really, really bad cold. The same way Covid being statistically more dangerous than the flu doesn't mean that every person getting infected by Covid has a worse time than every person getting the flu.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com