Flu season is upon us, just as we all thought we were going to die from “Freshers Flu”, Influenza outbreaks have begun across the UK. As the country becomes increasing sick and run down, the NHS urges for the public to get vaccinated. In recent years there has become a significant divide between communities that believe everyone should get vaccinated and communities that believe that it is dangerous or just unnecessary. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that being vaccinated for influenza “can save lives” and “reduce the chance of the disease spreading”. But the real question is, why should you get vaccinated?
There are many misconceptions surrounding flu vaccinations, so we have searched the internet to find all of the most common.
“I’m not a high-risk group” though you may not personally fit into the high-risk group, surrounding family members and friends may, hence you may put these people at risk of contracting the dreaded flu.
“If everyone else gets vaccinated, then I don’t need to” if everyone works off of this logic then no one will be vaccinated, so don’t presume you are safe because of others actions.
“I’m healthy and never get sick” Everyone is susceptible to the flu, so there is no point to chancing it.
“I got vaccinated last year” Strains of the flu virus changes annually, each year new vaccines are produced to counter them as soon as possible, secondly, the vaccination loses its potency after a year so essentially is no longer effective.
“The flu vaccine will make me sick” vaccinations will either be “inactivated” or only a single gene has been used from the Influenza virus, neither of these are sufficient to cause illness.
“The flu isn’t that bad, it’s just a really bad cold.” The flu can progress into serious illnesses and have fatal consequences.
“I’ve already had the flu” this may be the case or you may have had a really bad cold, the flu will keep you in bed, not just give you a blocked nose.
So, from here it’s up to you to make a decision on whether you should get vaccinated this flu season and please remember I’m not a doctor and not giving you medical advice just information and answers, which you can use to make your own decisions from there. Though, the flu vaccination is not compulsory, the CDC advises anyone over the age of 6 months to get vaccinated every flu season, every year.
