Hi, if I may add my experiences to the fold.: I'm not an expert, etc., you know the drill, but I'll give you the benefit of my take.
Approx. 6 or 7 yrs. ago I had 3 rounds of shingles; one right after the other. Now I've had many things, but nothing beat shingles for sheer misery and illness. I've had them 4 times altogether and what they don't tell you is that it becomes more serious with each outbreak. It took me well over a year and I was as sick as I've ever been. I called all my doctors to see if I could reach a consensus on whether or not I should go ahead and have the 50% infection rate shingles vaccine. I have no to very little immune system left.
I finally decided on my own to go ahead and have the vaccine. I knew I couldn't survive another round of shingles, so what choice did I have? The doctors could never reach an agreement. The giving of the shingles vaccine (90-95% effective rate...that's great), was a non-event. I had to return in a couple of weeks for the second injection. Again, the same thing, no reaction whatsoever. So I then had the flu shot. No reaction.
This year I just had the flu shot about 2 weeks ago.....and it was easy, no reaction at all. So for those of you thinking about it, I thought the benefit of my experience may help. I get the flu shot each year and thus far, I've been fortunate. That's just my opinion...not that of any doctor, merely by own. Good luck to you in your decision. Yours, Lenora.