I know plenty of people who get the flu vaccine every year, and many of them get the flu more often than I do, having had it only twice, once as a young child. On the other hand, the only time I got a flu shot, I was sick for more than a week. But the possible immediate, short-term negative effects of a vaccine aren't what I'm most worried about.
You might have had the new XE variant. Dunno what XE stands for but it’s supposed to be more virulent than the Omicron variant. Maybe only xenophobes get that variant and the folks from Maine get the upcoming Me variant. Anyway, glad you’re feeling better Ken.
I did a multi-year anecdotal study of flu vaccines in health care employees over a number of years and found the vaccine did not reduce the number of flu cases. I had no real way to measure the severity of illness other than duration, which was essentially the same. I was working with a relatively healthy population between 25 and 50 years of age. The vaccine only protects against the predominant "A" strain about 20% of the time, but the theory is that if you get the shot every year, you have some generalized immunity to every strain. They have been working on a flu vaccine that would cover all strains, but I don't know how that work is progressing, as I don't have access to that information any longer.
I might be misremembering...but I thought I once read that the vaccine only had a 1/3 chance of anticipating that year's strain, and only a 1/3 chance that if it did, it would be beneficial. 1/3 x 1/3 = 1/9 chance that it will do any good in a given year. I, too, have heard of the "works on everything" vaccine, but at this point, I'm hesitant to let my doctor inject me with a tetanus booster, much less some new technology.
The technology behind the universal influenza vaccine that I am writing of has to do with an immutable point on the virus. The flu virus changes very easily just as the coronavirus does, but a portion of the flu virus was found that did not mutate. The vaccine that was being developed was to that portion common to all influenza strains that did not mutate. It was a standard vaccine, though, not a gene therapy disguised as a vaccine.
Flu vaccines only work if one keeps their immune system strong. Since our immune systems (90% of the population) fight permanent virus-like Zoster, even a strong one may not fight off flu or colds. I once avoided yearly flu vaccines, but after I started getting them, I haven't had one cold or any flu. I went through this covid assault with flying colors and I attribute that to leaving no stone unturned in my immune system strengthening. .
When I was a kid and doctors made visits to your home, my mother called the doctor to check me out for some childhood ailment I had which included sore throat. He soaked a cotton swab on a tongue depressor with ammonia and swabbed the inside of my throat. You can imagine my reaction.
I'm still sick, by the way. Not miserable like I was before, but the congestion hasn't gone away, and the headache is still there, although not nearly as bad as before.
I know some of these bugs last a week, but it's gotta feel like an eternity when it migrates from "concept" to "me."