Flu Shots
Q: It's the start of flu season and my employer is offering flu vaccinations. Should I get a flu shot?
The flu vaccine protects against Influenza. You can catch a cold from other pathogens, but genuine Influenza is pretty awful - it kills 30,000+ people in the United States every year.
The flu vaccine isn't 100% effective - it's only 60-80% effective, which still isn't too bad. For this reason flu vaccinations don't work on the individual level as well as they do on the community level. The more people who get vaccinated and develop an immunity, the harder a time the flu has getting toehold and spreading through the entire community - including to older or less healthy people who will get hit harder than you.
Let's say matrushkaka's boss's kid has a flu. The boss is vaccinated so he's got only a ~25% chance of catching the flu from his kid. matrushkaka is vaccinated so she's got a 6.25% chance of catching the flu from the kid through her boss. And I'm vaccinated so I've got a 1.5% chance of catching the flu via matrushkaka and her boss. It's exponential growth in reverse. Rather than every flu victim passing their disease on to two or three new people, at every generation there's a better-than 50% chance that it'll stop - as long as that person is vaccinated.
Despite vaccine availability, 5-10% of the population contracts influenza every flu season. The numbers are this low mostly because other people have a robust immune system or an immunity because they've been vaccinated. If you don't get vaccinated you're basically freeloading on the protection that other people in your community are giving you by getting vaccinated.
Getting vaccinated will give you and your community protection through the entire flu season, and you might even have partial immunity next year when the flu season starts again. Getting vaccinated is a part of being a responsible community member by doing your part to avoid spreading disease. You should do it.
The flu vaccine protects against Influenza. You can catch a cold from other pathogens, but genuine Influenza is pretty awful - it kills 30,000+ people in the United States every year.
The flu vaccine isn't 100% effective - it's only 60-80% effective, which still isn't too bad. For this reason flu vaccinations don't work on the individual level as well as they do on the community level. The more people who get vaccinated and develop an immunity, the harder a time the flu has getting toehold and spreading through the entire community - including to older or less healthy people who will get hit harder than you.
Let's say matrushkaka's boss's kid has a flu. The boss is vaccinated so he's got only a ~25% chance of catching the flu from his kid. matrushkaka is vaccinated so she's got a 6.25% chance of catching the flu from the kid through her boss. And I'm vaccinated so I've got a 1.5% chance of catching the flu via matrushkaka and her boss. It's exponential growth in reverse. Rather than every flu victim passing their disease on to two or three new people, at every generation there's a better-than 50% chance that it'll stop - as long as that person is vaccinated.
Despite vaccine availability, 5-10% of the population contracts influenza every flu season. The numbers are this low mostly because other people have a robust immune system or an immunity because they've been vaccinated. If you don't get vaccinated you're basically freeloading on the protection that other people in your community are giving you by getting vaccinated.
Getting vaccinated will give you and your community protection through the entire flu season, and you might even have partial immunity next year when the flu season starts again. Getting vaccinated is a part of being a responsible community member by doing your part to avoid spreading disease. You should do it.