Flu Vaccines: Dispelling Common Myths

In a recent interview, Dr. Scott Coleman, a family medicine practitioner at Park Clinic, addresses five of the most common myths and misconceptions around the influenza vaccine.

Myth 1: The flu vaccine can give you the flu.

I hear that a lot from patients. The flu vaccine can’t give you the flu because it’s a killed virus. Some people do have a reaction at the site of the injection with swelling, redness, or soreness. If you get sick around the time that you get the shot, it might be another virus entirely or you were exposed to the flu before the vaccine became effective.

Myth 2: The flu vaccine is dangerous.

I think it is important to put this in context. Risk of serious illness from the flu shot is about one in three million. You take a bigger risk getting in your car and driving to Bozeman than you do when you get a flu shot. Your risk of serious illness from contracting the flu is also much higher than any risk from the vaccine.

Myth 3: The preservatives in vaccines can cause autism and other disorders in children.

This may be one of the most researched areas of medicine. This claim has been taken very seriously and looked into at many levels and by many scientists around the world. To date, there is no medical evidence to support this theory.

Myth 4: If you are young and healthy, you don’t need a flu shot.

Odds are if you are young and healthy, don’t have kids, and don’t work with kids or in healthcare, you may not get the flu. However, the flu is a miserable illness and can make people sick for several days or even weeks and there can be serious complications even for those who are young and healthy. I don’t think it is worth the risk. In addition, healthy people can carry the virus with little or no symptoms and pass it on to others. It’s better to get the shot and protect yourself and those around you.

Myth 5: I am immune because I had the flu or I had a flu shot last year.

You may be protected from a single strain of the flu if you have already been sick, but you are not protected from the other strains that are in the flu shot. Each year, the flu vaccine is a prediction of what flu strains we will see in that flu season. As a result, last year’s shot or exposure to one strain of the virus doesn’t give you the protection you get from this year’s shot.