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

[steuard.livejournal.com]

I'm not prepared to claim that the nasal vaccine would give everyone a sniffle every time, or even that it would give me a sniffle the majority of the time. I was already a little tired and stuffy when I got it, so I may have been particularly susceptible. And for what it's worth, my symptoms were still fairly mild: if I hadn't had an intense week of grading to deal with, I might not have been nearly as bothered by them. At worst it felt like a low-grade cold; it certainly wasn't remotely as bad as the flu usually is. (I think I've been achy after getting the shot in the past, too, even though that's supposed to be uncommon: I may just tend to react more to vaccinations than most people do.)

I decided that between 1) working at a school and 2) having a pregnant wife, I had plenty of reasons to get inoculated this year. :) I'm not terribly consistent about it.