{"id":4643,"date":"2015-11-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/2015\/11\/02\/flu-vaccine-no-argument-compares-with-the-risk-of-getting-influenza\/"},"modified":"2023-06-23T11:08:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T17:08:17","slug":"flu-vaccine-no-argument-compares-with-the-risk-of-getting-influenza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/flu-vaccine-no-argument-compares-with-the-risk-of-getting-influenza\/","title":{"rendered":"Flu vaccine: No argument compares with the risk of getting influenza"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

When Lisa Whittaker encourages patients to get the flu shot each fall, it\u2019s not just her job talking.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Poudre Valley Hospital Employee Health nurse Robin Smith administers a flu vaccination to Chief Nursing Officer Donna Poduska.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The physician assistant at the UCHealth Family Medicine in Fort Collins and her 10-year-old son actually contracted influenza during a national vaccine shortage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was horrible,\u201d she said. \u201cYou feel sick very suddenly \u2013 fever, chest pain, cough, body aches like you\u2019ve never felt before. You\u2019re in bed for five days. That\u2019s time away from work and school. Not too many people want to spend their vacation days recovering from the flu.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the flu still kills thousands of people in the U.S. every year, Whittaker said.<\/p>\n

Despite the risk, many people still have doubts about getting the flu vaccine \u2013 often based on mistruths \u2013 that UCHealth experts can address:<\/p>\n

Argument: The flu vaccine has given me the flu.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Response:<\/strong>\u00a0No, it hasn\u2019t, according to Paul J. Poduska, infection prevention and control coordinator for Poudre Valley Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an old myth,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you get the vaccine and then within two days get influenza, I\u2019m sorry, but you were already incubating influenza when you got the vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes the body 10 days to develop the antibodies to the vaccine, Poduska said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe give the flu vaccine in the respiratory disease season, so there may be other viruses they\u2019re still vulnerable to and contract,\u201d Whittaker said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mark Berntsen, a physician at UCHealth Internal Medicine in Greeley, said some people may suffer from \u201csome side effects\u201d of the vaccine and confuse it with having the flu.<\/p>\n

But even if someone contracts the flu despite getting the vaccine, the severity of the illness is not as bad as it would have been without the vaccine, he said.<\/p>\n

A: I can\u2019t get the vaccine because I am allergic to eggs, gluten, preservatives, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

R:<\/strong>\u00a0People who have had a true allergic reaction to the flu vaccine should never get it again, Berntsen said. However, he assures people with egg allergies that an egg-free vaccine version is available and that neither vaccine contains wheat protein.<\/p>\n

Poduska notes that someone who has a history of Guillain-Barr\u00e9 Syndrome shouldn\u2019t get the influenza vaccine within six weeks of another vaccine.<\/p>\n

Those allergic to or concerned about the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in multidose vials of the vaccine can request a single-dose of the vaccine, Whittaker said.<\/p>\n

But, she added, \u201cThe most recent research does not support the argument that (thimerosal) is harmful or linked to autism.\u201d<\/p>\n

A: I don\u2019t have time to get the flu vaccine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

R:<\/strong>\u00a0The availability of the vaccine at virtually any pharmacy makes the argument of time constraints and inconvenience moot, Whittaker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome employers even bring the vaccine to the work site,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s less of a barrier now than it has been in the past because there are so many places you can get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A: I\u2019ve never gotten the flu, so why should I get vaccinated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

R:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s a first time for everything,\u201d Whittaker said. \u201cIf you become sick during the flu season and you\u2019re not protected, you\u2019re more vulnerable to the flu. There are no guarantees that just because you\u2019ve been healthy, you\u2019re always going to be healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise, people who get the flu vaccine are strengthening their immune systems every time they do so, Berntsen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have never had the vaccine before, the amount of antibodies built up will not be as much as people who have them every year,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you are re-exposed to a virus you were vaccinated against before, your body builds antibodies much quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Lisa Whittaker encourages patients to get the flu shot each fall, it\u2019s not just her job talking. The physician assistant at the UCHealth Family Medicine in Fort Collins and her 10-year-old son actually contracted influenza during a national vaccine shortage. \u201cIt was horrible,\u201d she said. \u201cYou feel sick very suddenly \u2013 fever, chest pain, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2164,"featured_media":3176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[278,2684,4097,9187,4797,257],"class_list":["post-4643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living","tag-family-medicine","tag-flu-season","tag-preventive-care","tag-readysetco","tag-seasonal-flu-treatment-and-flu-shots","tag-virus-prevention"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFlu vaccine: No argument compares with the risk of getting influenza - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Lisa Whittaker encourages patients to get the flu shot each fall, it\u2019s not just her job talking. 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