Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Flu Shots 2014 Update



Made my annual trip to Walgreens today for my Flu shot.  Takes only 6 seconds after you get paperwork done (answering 6 questions) and they are ready for you.  Painless, small needle, and it must be short.  I don’t look.

My local Walgreens is having trouble getting the senior grade of vaccine  so I had to take the normal grade.   Better to have the double-strength if you can get it.

Note that your body starts building immunities immediately after the shot. But you don't get the full immunization  benefit for two weeks.  So it's not wise to wait till flu season to get it because you would need at least two weeks head start.

My Walgreens location has already seen several flu cases but they expect the number of cases to pop up dramatically in the next three or four weeks, so don’t wait.  

My nurse said she hears people say  "well, I got a flu shot, but I got a cold or I got the flu"   She says that could well be because they got the shot and were exposed to flu virus or cold virus in the two weeks following.   

The shot will not make you more susceptible to a cold or flu, so that's nothing to worry about, but it starts protection immediately, but won't fully protect you for two weeks.

Of course the shot is free for all senior citizens under Medicare or maybe just free because we are seniors. Or it might be free to all people with insurance. 

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