Flu Vaccine

As health professionals, we are cultivated and groomed over the countless years of training to have a great sense of empathy. As a practicing pediatrician and father, of course I am empathetic to the kiddo with their first ear infection or strep throat. But my empathy doesn’t just stop at caring for the little ones in our lives. I am also empathetic to the plight of one of the best friends to a pediatrician; I feel sorry for my friend the flu (influenza) vaccine. 

I know this sounds crazy, but just hear me out.

I mean, it is already tough enough being a vaccine. No kiddo or parent wants to see their child in pain from a shot, no matter how quickly that pain passes. But knowing the alternative may be coming down with a vaccine-preventable disease, this form of preventative medicine is something the vast majority of families agree with. Yet we still hear time and time again, about the black sheep of the vaccine family, the flu vaccine.

Every year the flu vaccine comes out, and I hear lots of, “I never get the flu vaccine, and I never get the flu.”  Or, I hear the exact opposite: “I got the flu vaccine last year, and I still ended up sick with the flu.” The truth of the matter is that in the USA, the flu vaccine does more to prevent illness and loss of life than any other vaccine we offer. So how did the flu vaccine get such a bad reputation? Frankly, it drew a lot of short straws.

The first of these short straws is the fact that we offer the flu vaccine at the height of cough and cold season, and a lot of people who get a “regular” cold will think that they got the flu just based on the time of year. Sometimes it is tough to tell if you have a seasonal cold versus the influenza virus. Both can have a cough, runny nose, and fever, but flu is notorious for such bad full body/muscle aches that really all you can do is just lay in bed even when you don’t have a fever. If you are under 2 years of age, are over 65 years of age, or have a chronic condition and have the flu, you may even be thinking of going to the emergency room because of the symptoms. Yeah, the real flu virus is no joke.

Another tough break for the flu vaccine is that the scientists and doctors who formulate the flu vaccine are kind of, for lack of a better word, guessing. Now I know what you are thinking:  A vaccine that is just a guess? Yes, but it is an extremely (and I mean extremely!) educated guess with a long history of success. The flu vaccine every year usually covers 2 strains of flu type A and 1 strain of flu type B. The problem is the flu virus is smart and will change parts of its genetic material to evade our immune systems every year. What is in the flu vaccine this season is based on what infectious disease specialists think the big flu bug will be this year by looking at historical and current epidemiological (dealing with diseases in populations) info from around the world, pretty awesome right?

To make matters even more difficult for the flu vaccine, there are hundreds of different flu viruses out there. The seasonal flu vaccine can’t protect against all possible strains, but it does its best to protect against the most dangerous and most likely flu culprits. So yes, even though you get the flu vaccine, you can still get infected with one of the other strains, though these strains should be less treacherous than those protected against by the vaccine.

Now it is easy to see how one of the most successful interventions in medicine can get such a bad reputation at times and why I feel bad for the flu vaccine. But don’t get me wrong, I feel worse for the kiddo miserable from the flu who did not get that season’s flu vaccine. So be sure to contact your provider’s office to get your flu vaccine today!