I got a flu shot a few years ago — and a few days later I came down with the flu. Instead of risking this again, wouldn I be safer just avoiding sick people?
Probably one of the most common concerns we hear is from people who, right after getting a flu shot, got something that seems to them like flu. It is possible it could happen. After a dose of flu vaccine, it takes at least a week to become immune. If flu is in your community and you are exposed, it takes two or three days for symptoms to appear. So it is possible if you are exposed to flu to get sick before the vaccine has a chance to work. It gives people the impression the vaccine caused the flu. And the way people use it, “flu” is not a specific term. People have different ideas of what flu is. Other kinds of viral infections can cause a flu-like illness, but it is not flu. And influenza vaccine will not protect against that. Keep in mind that the flu shot cannot produce a flu infection. It is dead — it’s just protein, with nothing live in it. So a lot of this is just coincidence — either the vaccine did not have time to work, or you got something like the flu. But this is a very
