View Single Post
Old Sep 21, 2009 | 12:44 PM
  #20  
JGordon's Avatar
JGordon
Senior Member
 
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 5,152
Likes: 0
From: Golden, CO
Default

Originally Posted by Red X
There's obviously some chance that the flu vaccine is not for the same strain as whats out there. Its all about guesswork with a little bit of luck.
Definitely, though flu scientists have gotten very good at predicting flu strains based on reported cases, and most years the flu vaccine is a pretty good match for the strains that are floating around. Though there is always the danger of a new strain (like H1N1 last year) popping up that nobody has ever seen before.

Forgot to mention that if you've ever had a flu vaccine in the past and didn't have a severe adverse reaction then, your chances of having a reaction to the vaccine in the future are way less than 1 in a million as the vaccines are always made out of the same type of stuff.
Reply