Originally Posted by JGordon

Serious side effects from flu shots are incredibly rare -- about 1 in a million (300 people in the US total if every person was vaccinated). The rate of being hospitalized from influenza-associated conditions are ~667 in a million (200,000 every year), and the odds of dying are about 120 in a million (~36,000 every year). With the potential for a bigger flu season this year due to H1N1, the odds are clearly in your favor if you get vaccinated. I'll be getting both the regular and the swine flu vaccines this year. The Swine flu vaccine has side effect rates that look to be very similar to regular flu vaccines based on the data we have so far.

I've been getting flu vaccines every year for the past 8 or so. The one year I didn't (forgot), I got the flu right after Christmas, ended up missing 1 week of work, losing about 15 pounds, and it took me months to get back to normal. Both of my grandparents were hospitalized with flu-related conditions, likely from me passing it along to them.