Flu vaccine: still probably for the best

[steuard]

Last weekend, I decided to go ahead and take advantage of the college's flu vaccination offerings. I had a choice between a shot and a nasal spray.

With the shot, you get jabbed with a needle that squirts dead flu viruses into your arm. This inspires your body to produce antibodies to them, so side effects may include a sore arm, fever, and aches.

With the nasal spray, you get live flu-like viruses squirted up your nose. They're designed to be inactive in internal body heat, so they can infect your nose and possibly throat but not your lungs. Not surprisingly, side effects may include runny nose, headache, sore throat, and a cough.

I opted for the nasal spray, but maybe I should have just opted for a different week: I've got to grade exams, but I've felt tired and sniffly for days. Annoying, that. (It may not be entirely the vaccine's fault, but I'd be surprised if there were no connection at all.)

Comments

[beth_leonard]

Interesting. I've always gone for the shot because I'm a cheapskate. Now I have two good reasons to take that option.

I got the flu the first winter after I graduated from Mudd, and I was so miserable that I've had the flu shot every year since. I don't normally get very sick when I get sick and usually just shurg off most colds, but that experience was enough for me to never want to get the flu again.

--Beth

[steuard.livejournal.com]

At least here, the two options were exactly the same price. I think there have been improvements in the nasal spray that make it more stable and thus cheaper to transport and store (refrigeration rather than freezing).

I haven't seen numbers on the relative likelihood of side effects for the two vaccines. My vague sense is that they're more common with the spray (since the CDC explicitly calls the side effects of the shot "rare" in some places, while the language I've seen for the spray has tended to be fuzzier), but I wouldn't swear to it. And of course, the shot obviously has the "side effect" of the needle jab and whatever mild-to-moderate irritation follows that, independent of the contents of the vaccine.