If you’re like me, you’ve hated needles your whole life. I used to put off vaccinations until the last possible minute, asking myself if it was really worth a little pinprick just to stay healthy.
In lieu of just receiving my second and final meningitis B shot this past winter break, I was still seeing signs for flu shots and it got me thinking: are flu shots as effective as we have been lead to believe?
No, I don't think they are. I've only ever had the flu once and despite the pressure of doctors, teachers and other nosy parents, to this day I have never gotten a flu shot, and I probably will never get one in the future.
I grew up with a mom as a microbiologist, so I’ve always trusted her opinion on illnesses. She always told me that it was never worth getting a flu shot because scientists just used old flu viruses to make the vaccination, meaning it doesn’t work a lot of the time since there are so many strains of the flu.
Today, I’ve decided to put this theory to the test and figure out once and for all whether we would actually benefit from flu shots or if it’s just a waste of time, money and pain.
To begin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that flu vaccines can’t cause the actual flu. However, the vaccine can vary in its effectiveness, so people who receive the shot can still get sick. The CDC also says that if you were exposed to the influenza virus before the shot or in a two-week period after the shot, you can still get sick from the flu.
Another large contributor to its effectiveness is whether or not the creators of the vaccine are using the correct strain of influenza. If the flu vaccine isn’t matched well to that year’s most popular strain of influenza, the vaccine doesn’t hold favorable odds of working.
Even if they are matched well, it still might not work. There’s only a 40-60 percent decrease of your chances of infection from receiving the vaccination.
And to top it all off, new studies have found that annual vaccinations can actually weaken the vaccine, leaving you more susceptible to the flu.
OK, after all those facts, let’s break things down.
The actual vaccine can’t give you the illness. So for the past 19 years of my life, I’ve been living a lie. I would like to take this time now to apologize for my arrogance — sorry to all the kids on the playground when I told them this was true. I guess I never really knew what I was talking about and didn’t cite my sources correctly by shrieking “because my mom told me so.”
On the other hand, though, it seems like a large gamble for a flu shot to actually work. The virus itself mutates so much that it really isn’t possible to prepare your body for any and all types of influenza for the impending flu season. To me, it’s like trying to vaccinate yourself for the common cold — there’s a reason why we call it “common” and not “rare.”
So will I seriously consider getting a flu shot next fall? Honestly, no. The risk doesn’t seem worth the reward, since I see having a needle stuck into my flesh as a risk. I even consider myself a hypochondriac, and a flu shot just doesn’t seem that beneficial if I already consider my immune system to be jacked. Thank you to the pretzel I once ate off the gymnasium floor; you’re the real MVP.
But to those who think I’m crazy and will probably die from the flu in an ironic way, I’ll race you to the end and we’ll see once and for all who had the superior immune system.
