How well do flu shots work?

[Gibsons]

I got my flu shot before Christmas (regular not h1n1). I wake up this morning and after throwing up for a few hours, get an extreme fever and my body is incredibly sore.

I think my work gave me a placebo.

No sore throat or cough? Doesn't sound like influenza. Vomiting is a pretty uncommon symptom in adults as well.

 

[BassBomb]

i didnt take h1n1 or flu shot
i didnt get the flu

YMMV

 

[destrekor]

No sore throat or cough? Doesn't sound like influenza. Vomiting is a pretty uncommon symptom in adults as well.

Not really.
As he said, symptoms were gone in short order so wasn't influenza anyhow.
But, vomiting is actually a hallmark of the flu. Most influenza strains are fairly weak though, and in general, most people don't eat a lot because they feel nauseous. Influenza rarely forces dry-heaving, but food often forces the nausea to peak.
I know when I get a true case of the flu, I'm basically not eating anything until the nausea subsides enough for my stomach to scream in agony demanding something, and first instinct is always something like soup. I rarely actually vomit but the urge is almost always there if I don't mentally fight it.

Then again, whenever I get the flu it's almost always pretty nasty. I've had influenza enough I think I have most of the lesser strains defended through immunity, so I only get it when the flu season brings a more virulent strain around town.
No H1N1 yet, I think the media panic helped surge a lot of students on campus to get the shot. Thankfully, as this quarter would have killed me if I had got it. Can't ruin this quarter, last finals are tomorrow.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Meh all I know is my brother was required to get it in the navy. One day, everyone would get their flu shots on the ship. Within a couple days, half the ship was sick with the flu.

Didn't seem to really help matters any.

He gets the flu much less often now that he's out of the military and doesn't get flu shots.

 

[Ruptga]

The vaccine is a waste of time and money. Sort of like playing the lottery.

Whoa, where is this lottery where the I have a 70% chance of winning?