Can I get the Flu from the Flu shot?

 This is a very common question I get during flu season.  It is a serious question from the patients who ask, and it is a main deterrent in the fight against the flu.  If you think the West Nile is scary, the Influenza virus kills up to 30,000 people annually.

To put minds at ease, it is impossible to catch the flu from the flu shot. There are no living organisms in the vaccination.  The dead virus particles cannot cause a disease. 

What some people might feel when they get the vaccine is possibly a reaction. And by reaction that means the immune system responding by building antibodies against the flu particles.  When the Immune system is in hyper drive, sometimes people can fill ill, but the large majority of reactions from the flu vaccines are smaller reactions.

Some people get a localized reaction and their arms are painful where they received the vaccine.  When I got the shot last year I felt sore for 3 months.  However, it is possible to still catch the flu even if you had the flu vaccination.  If this happens usually it is a mild flu illness.  This happened to me 2 years ago.

Finally, it is impossible to catch the flu from the flu shot, and because this year's flu is vicious, it is more important than ever to get the vaccine.  It is not even peak season and we're seeing very high numbers of influenza like illness as well as positive flu numbers in the ER and clinics in this area.

In fact Texas is one of the highest number of positive flu like illnesses and flu positives in the nation. 

So my all means please get your new flu vaccine as soon as possible if you haven't received it already.