I got it this year for the first time and had no problems with it, but it is basically a game of Russian Roulette as there is no way of knowing in advance what your reaction will be, or whether you will catch the flu (it only protects against certain influenza strains and not against a lot of other strains or other viruses that result in flu-like illnesses).
I only got it this year in case we had a bad flu season and I have a nephew who just started school so might pick it up there and pass it on to me. I don't know yet whether I will get the vaccine in future years. A pity it is not like a lot of other vaccines where you just have to get one to three shots and you are vaccinated for life
If you didn’t have a reaction this time, it’s reasonable to think you would not have a reaction next time. It’s all the same ingredients except for a different strain flu, and the bugs are out and about over the winter anyway. The difference is that the vaccine Contains only a tiny tiny amount of non-infectious fragments of those bugs, whereas out in the wild you get hit with the real thing.
OTOH, It is said that most people don’t catch the flu that’s going around every year, the flu is the one that knocks you out flat completely even if you’re healthy. Usually one gets some variety of cold virus which is a different species of creature, At least that’s how I understand it, I am not a biologist.
What I do know is that whenever I get the flu shot, which now is always, I’ve only had a mild case of whatever instead of weeks of misery. It’s not supposed to have any effect on the common cold, but perhaps not fighting off a low-grade case of the flu (because the vax acts as an early warning system) lets your system deal with colds better. Of course it could also be a random chance +/or not going to the office every day and so forth, but since I live in a filthy big city and across the street from the high school I figure that one way or another I’m going to be exposed to A bit of every seasonal bug.
It’s difficult to draw conclusions from doing experiments on yourself, And when you finally get one with a little confidence it might not apply to other people who have what appear to be the same illness.
