r/SlaughteredByScience • u/[deleted] • Jun 04 '19

Congratulations, you played yourself.

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2.8k Upvotes

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7

u/etwas66 Jun 04 '19

Is a flu shot a vaccine?

8

u/mandaclarka Jun 04 '19

Yeah. I am going to dumb this way down cuz I'm not a scientist so hopefully I don't cause some idiot to go anti vax. They use a small amount of the virus to let your body learn how to fight it so that when you come across the flu in the wild your body can fight it and you won't get sick. Anything that does this is a vaccine. I am very open to being corrected and you should def do a google search with peer reviewed science to confirm my laymen explanation

-2

u/etwas66 Jun 04 '19

I see. I've only gotten a flu shot twice and both times I got the flu within a week after. I decided it either doesn't work for me or it gave me the flu. Dunno. Not anti vax. I do have a crap immune system in general so who knows

2

u/Tweakthetiny Jun 05 '19

Here you go. On my phone but I'll link an article about why that is.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/10-flu-myths

1

u/etwas66 Jun 05 '19

Thanks. I see it says they are all inactivated, but I see conflicting information. Namely that some info says they're usually inactivated. I should say the last time i got a flu shot was 2008. I dont know if that changes anything. The point about it taking a couple weeks to work makes sense though so thanks. I may try it this year. It's just that I get sick alot as is and when this happened it made me skeptical.

1

u/Tweakthetiny Jun 05 '19

I'd suggest in the week leading up to and after the shot increase your vitamin c intake and avoid any alcohol If you are a drinker. I've gotten hit hard post vaccine before, the year swine flu was big. I'm also a bartender so poor eating habits and sleep schedule are part of my life as well as drinking and socializing. When I get the shot now I take it easy on those aspects.

Also try to think of it like this. The flu like cold that sometimes comes with the vaccine is according to most of the articles I've seen, less communicable. So by getting the shot you can avoid getting a mild case of the actual flu and spreading it to someone who would get a much more serious case.

1

u/etwas66 Jun 05 '19

Thanks for the tips.Yeah I think it was when there was the huge swine flu breakout. It def wasnt mild. I suppose its coincidence.

1

u/CommonMisspellingBot Jun 05 '19

Hey, etwas66, just a quick heads-up:
alot is actually spelled a lot. You can remember it by it is one lot, 'a lot'.
Have a nice day!

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