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Flu Vaccine Myths, Misconceptions
By Anita Manning, USA TODAY
(Sept. 26) -- Flu shots can't cause the flu. But this is perhaps the most persistent of the myths about flu vaccine, experts say.
The viruses in flu shots are dead. In the nasal spray vaccine FluMist, they're live, but weakened and unable to grow in the lungs and cause illness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends flu vaccine for more than 238 million of the USA's 300 million citizens, including children 6 months to 5 years old; pregnant women; people age 50 or older; and anyone with a chronic medical condition such as asthma or diabetes. It is also recommended for health care workers and people who live with anyone in those risk groups.
After getting a flu vaccine, many people experience symptoms such as a runny nose or achiness for a day or so. That means the immune system is responding, and it's a good sign, says Neil Schachter, a lung specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and author of The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds & Flu (Collins, $14.95). "It means your body is processing this material (in the vaccine), but it's not flu."
Among other vaccine myths:
--I was vaccinated and got the flu anyway. Flu vaccine prevents influenza, not illnesses caused by other germs, says epidemiologist Kathleen Gensheimer of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. "What people don't understand is there are multiple respiratory viruses out there," Gensheimer says. But, she says, "it's not impossible to get the vaccine and still get flu." In years when it is well-matched to the flu viruses in circulation, the vaccine is 70% to 80% effective in healthy adults, less in older people.
Flu vaccine takes about two weeks to become fully effective, so people exposed to flu during that window may become sick. But even when it doesn't prevent infection with flu, Gensheimer says, it does reduce the risk of severe flu complications.
--I've never had flu, so I don't need a shot. About 20% of the population catches flu each year; nobody is completely immune, the CDC says.
--The flu shot causes side effects. Flu vaccine is very safe and is given to millions of people each year. Some people get soreness at the injection site or experience mild flu-like symptoms, caused by the body's immune system responding and building up to protect against infection with the real thing. These symptoms usually last a day or two.
--I'm not getting a flu shot because I'm pregnant. The physical effects of pregnancy put women at risk for serious complications of flu, and studies have found no harmful effects on the fetus associated with flu vaccine. The CDC says women who are at any stage of pregnancy during flu season should be immunized.
By Anita Manning, USA TODAY
(Sept. 26) -- Flu shots can't cause the flu. But this is perhaps the most persistent of the myths about flu vaccine, experts say.
The viruses in flu shots are dead. In the nasal spray vaccine FluMist, they're live, but weakened and unable to grow in the lungs and cause illness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends flu vaccine for more than 238 million of the USA's 300 million citizens, including children 6 months to 5 years old; pregnant women; people age 50 or older; and anyone with a chronic medical condition such as asthma or diabetes. It is also recommended for health care workers and people who live with anyone in those risk groups.
After getting a flu vaccine, many people experience symptoms such as a runny nose or achiness for a day or so. That means the immune system is responding, and it's a good sign, says Neil Schachter, a lung specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and author of The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds & Flu (Collins, $14.95). "It means your body is processing this material (in the vaccine), but it's not flu."
Among other vaccine myths:
--I was vaccinated and got the flu anyway. Flu vaccine prevents influenza, not illnesses caused by other germs, says epidemiologist Kathleen Gensheimer of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. "What people don't understand is there are multiple respiratory viruses out there," Gensheimer says. But, she says, "it's not impossible to get the vaccine and still get flu." In years when it is well-matched to the flu viruses in circulation, the vaccine is 70% to 80% effective in healthy adults, less in older people.
Flu vaccine takes about two weeks to become fully effective, so people exposed to flu during that window may become sick. But even when it doesn't prevent infection with flu, Gensheimer says, it does reduce the risk of severe flu complications.
--I've never had flu, so I don't need a shot. About 20% of the population catches flu each year; nobody is completely immune, the CDC says.
--The flu shot causes side effects. Flu vaccine is very safe and is given to millions of people each year. Some people get soreness at the injection site or experience mild flu-like symptoms, caused by the body's immune system responding and building up to protect against infection with the real thing. These symptoms usually last a day or two.
--I'm not getting a flu shot because I'm pregnant. The physical effects of pregnancy put women at risk for serious complications of flu, and studies have found no harmful effects on the fetus associated with flu vaccine. The CDC says women who are at any stage of pregnancy during flu season should be immunized.
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