Flu v Flu shot

[Judge]

I have had the flu since last Thursday. I did not get a flu shot. First, I hate needles and second, I am not convinced they either one, help or two can't create more harm. The rush to create this new vaccine has me concerned. Two years from now are we going to start seeing birth defects...or some other physical problems that can be linked back to the vaccine? I am curious how others feel about this. Anyone else had the flu or the shot? I have worked in a prison now for the last 4 years so I have been subjected to every disease known to mankind! I am usually very resistant to these viruses et al but this one has knocked me down. I expect I will be able to return to work by this coming Tuesday so all in all I have been incapacitated for about 5 days. I have taken Theraflu Excedrin and drank so much water and Sprite that I feel like my fish! (have not lost my sense of humor through it all). So here's the question: Had I spent the $24.99 and got the shot how would my condition have changed, or would it? It has been said that if you get the shot within the first two days it can help. I am not convinced that there would have been any difference. What do you think?

[ZeroSystem]

I'm skeptical as well. I've been working retail for 3 years now, and have also been very resistent, or so I thought, to getting sick. Just a couple weeks ago however I got the flu, and it was way worse then anything I've felt in a long time. Maybe I'm just not used to getting sick? I don't know, but I don't think the flu shot would have prevented it personally. I don't really have anything to base that on, other than like I said I'm skeptical about the whole thing. Even if it did help, like you said, no one knows the side effects of this new vaccine, and to me thats a scary thought. Even asprin can have some scary side effects, so whats to say of this new shot? Isn't there another vaccine out there that people have started showing concerns about because of it's increase in child autism? I thought I remember hearing something like that before..

Thats another thing that I think bothers me the most. I have a child, and the fact that there is far more pressure to give them the vaccinations, is somewhat frightening. Simply because, just like in this new vaccines case, I don't know what the side effects could be. It's a terrible thing to think about. Plus it's hard enough having to witness, and sometimes help, give the multiple shots required for the vaccines. And to think it's a requirement to get into preschool these days!