Who is getting the Flu?

fits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124108752#Comment_124108752

Maybe it was useless or maybe it prevented you from being hospitalised. Its hard to know it’s effect on individual level.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124107915#Comment_124107915

I presume this a joke? She's suffering from the exact two things she got the vaccine for!!🙂 I mean you'd hardly be posting on boards.ie if your wife is seriously sick in hospital?

horse7

I wish it was a joke cause she's due to go on infusions for rheumatoid vasculitis in a short time and it's recommended to have pneumonia vaccine and shingles vaccine. And it's not funny being in a&e on new years eve. And finally getting a bed at 2 in the morning on New Year's Day.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124109445#Comment_124109445

Sorry, I thought it was a joke. That's not a good start to the new year, genuinely hope she get's better soon, thankfully she was vaccinated, can't imagine how bad it would have been if she wasn't.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124109247#Comment_124109247

well the GP I saw said I would have been hospitalised if University Hospital Kerry wasn't on its knees with people sick with flu already! He said I'd be safer at home, and at least in a bed hence the inhalers and steroids. So forgive me for not being down on my knees "thanking God" I had the flu vaccine! I simply don't get this way of thinking.

What on earth is the point if you end up this sick anyway? I never got vaccines in my life for flu, sometimes I got the flu, sometimes I didn't. I will revert back to this from now on and take my chances.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111344#Comment_124111344

You don’t get it. Put simply, the flu you caught would almost certainly have been worse if you hadn’t had the cop on to get the vaccine. The jab doesn’t guarantee you won’t get flu, but it very often means a milder illness and far fewer complications.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111760#Comment_124111760

I do get it. I will take my chances. This flu lasted 13 days, floored me in bed for 9 of those days, had me on steroids and an inhaler. I had no Christmas. I've lost close to a stone in weight. How could it have been worse?

you sound a bit brainwashed to be honest. I will use my own free choice and decided after a dose as bad as this that I won't take next year's vaccine. I have got through my entire life up to now with no vaccines. I got flu many times. I will rely on my own immune system as it is the only thing that stood to me these last 13 days. What is the point in getting a vaccine that does NOT cover the flu I got? My GP stated that I had a varient of flu NOT covered by the vaccine I got, so the vaccine did NOT save me from a worse fate. It didn't work at all.

Over and out.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111791#Comment_124111791

Fair play to you avoiding the Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis and Polio vaccines as a baby. I got the flu jab as did my wife did and all the kids and we were fine, other members of our extended family didn't vaccinate and were really sick. But I'm "brainwashed".

You couldn't make it up.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111791#Comment_124111791

You are still posting so yes it could be worse.

Your GP should have explained to you the potential benefits. It is the single number one thing you can do to reduce your chances of a severe dose.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-vaccines/absent-cdc-and-mismatched-subclade-k-flu-strain-experts-face-upcoming-season

In some years it is a good match - no flu. If you get the vaccine every year then over a decade run that's a few flus avoided entirely.

Even in years with poor match to circulating strain, it reduces your chances of a severe dose by a third.

No guarantees. That is probability. It is a numbers game.

Would you want a car safety feature that reduces your chances of an accident by 30-90% depending on conditions year on year?

You dont know that it was only your immune system in this bout, how much benefit your immune system got for being primed by vaccination versus flu even a different variant.

And no, you havent gotten away without vaccines all your life. Have a look at the marks on your upper arm.

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111791#Comment_124111791

How could it have been worse is you could be in intensive care. Instead, after only a couple of weeks you're out hiking. The currently active subclade K mutation is not specifically covered by the vaccine as it mutated after vaccine manufacture, but it is still a variant of one of the types covered by the vaccine so your immune system was prepped to some extent. But of course you must make your own free choices in life.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111905#Comment_124111905

and I certainly will in future. My immune system did all the work over the last 2 weeks. I'm a regular hiker in 2 clubs here in Kerry but haven't hiked in over a month (mostly due to bad weather :-)). A flat walk today was my first time out since 21 December and I was delighted to be able to do it. Great that we can all make our own choices. Thanks for your comment.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111899#Comment_124111899

oh sorry, I thought we were discussing the flu on this thread. I will clarify. I have got away all my life without "flu" vaccines until the last 2 years. Both of those years I got a flu virus. I'll survive with a stronger immune system thanks to the latest dose. Great we all have free choice anyway. Cheers

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124111838#Comment_124111838

apologies I should have clarified for you I meant flu (as we are speaking specifically about flu on this thread I didn't think I needed to explain that but obviously I do). I never had flu vaccines at all during my life and regularly got flu and survived after a week to 10 days of being floored. Just like this last flu……..happily I have survived it….. thanks to my body's own defences. So I won't be getting another flu vaccine. Thankfully we have freedom of choice. Cheers!

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124112196#Comment_124112196

No doubt your immune system did all the work either way - that's how vaccines work. So your immune system, primed by vaccination with a flu strain closely related to the strain with which you were infected, fought off a very serious flu leaving you fit enough for outdoor walks after a fortnight. Or you were infected with a flu strain unrelated to the strains in the vaccine (exceptionally low probability) and your own immune system alone with no vaccine help fought the virus. Or you had a different virus altogether - bigger chance than a totally different flu strain.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124108752#Comment_124108752

N=1

To say anything is useless because it didn’t work for you is ridiculous

Kaisr Sose

you sound a bit brainwashed to be honest. I will use my own free choice and decided after a dose as bad as this that I won't take next year's vaccine.

@mykrodot , it's you that are coming across as brainwashed about vaccines not working or being a waste of time getting. Vaccines do work, but do not guarantee you will not get the illness. The dilemma for some people is whether to get vaccinated against seasonal flu, not whether vaccines work or not. It's a choice each person has to make based on their own health or risk factors

Wompa1

In a typical year, the efficacy of the flu vaccine is 40%-60%. Much like the COVID-19 vaccine, it does not prevent you from getting the virus but should make the symptoms a bit milder if you do. I have only got a bad flu 2 or 3 times in my life. None of those times occurred in the period I have been getting the flu vaccine. I got the vaccine for more than 10 years now including in years when the vaccine was deemed suboptimal like this year and in 2014/2015.

The vaccine itself can make me feel a bit shite for a couple of days but so far it has been worth it. I was a skeptic about it at first and only got it because it was a condition of my employment at the time.

John_Rambo

For anyone wondering "Who got the Flu" over Christmas and New Year, the figures are pro rata, not raw numbers.

County Sligo had the highest reported flu rate per 100,000 population as the country rang in the new year.

Next highest were Offaly, Westmeath, Cavan, Limerick, Waterford, Tipperary, Leitrim, Donegal and Louth.
Counties above the national average also included Kerry, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford.

By contrast, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Mayo and others were below the national average.

Worth noting that these figures are based on laboratory-confirmed cases only. Many people never contacted a GP or hospital and just stayed in bed, so actual numbers were likely higher in the worst affected areas. In short, if you’re talking about where flu hit hardest per head of population over Christmas, Sligo tops the list.