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- MYTH: You can catch the flu from the vaccine. The flu shot is made from an inactivated virus that can't transmit infection. So, people who get sick after receiving a flu vaccination were going to get sick anyway.
- MYTH: Healthy people don't need to be vaccinated. While it's especially important for people who have a chronic illness to get the flu shot, anyone — even healthy folks — can benefit from being vaccinated.
- MYTH: Getting the flu vaccination is all you need to do to protect yourself from the flu. There are a number of steps you can take to protect yourself during flu season besides vaccination.
- MYTH: The flu is just a bad cold. Influenza may cause bad cold symptoms, like sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, hoarseness, and cough. But according to CDC, the 2019-20 flu season led to at least 18 million medical visits, 24,000 deaths and 410,000 hospitalizations.
- Overview
- Misconceptions about Flu Vaccines
On This Page
•Misconceptions about Flu Vaccines
•Misconceptions about Flu Vaccine Effectiveness
•Misconceptions about the Timing of Seasonal Influenza Vaccination
•Misconceptions about Physician Consent for Vaccination
•Misconceptions about “Stomach Flu”
Can a flu vaccine give you flu?
No, flu vaccines cannot cause flu illness. Flu vaccines given with a needle (i.e., flu shots) are made with either inactivated (killed) viruses, or with only a single protein from the flu virus. The nasal spray vaccine contains live viruses that are attenuated (weakened) so that they will not cause illness.
Are any of the available flu vaccines recommended over the others?
What if a preferentially recommended flu vaccine is not available?
Is it better to get sick with flu than to get a flu vaccine?
No. Flu can be a serious disease, particularly among young children, older adults, and people with certain chronic health conditions, such as asthma, heart disease or diabetes. Any flu infection can carry a risk of serious complications, hospitalization or death, even among otherwise healthy children and adults. Therefore, getting vaccinated is a safer choice than risking illness to obtain immune protection.
Think you don't need a flu shot this year? Separate fact from fiction.
- The flu shot can give you the flu. This may be the most common misperception out there. So, let’s get straight to the point: The flu vaccine CANNOT give you the flu virus.
- You don’t need a flu shot every year. If last year’s shot kept you flu-free, why get another one? What worked then should just keep working, right?
- Healthy people don’t need a flu shot. Flu shots are only for unhealthy folks who usually get sick, right? And since you eat smart, workout five days a week and can’t remember the last time you had so much as the sniffles, you’re all good.
- The flu is just a bad cold. The flu isn’t “just a cold.” It’s a potentially deadly illness. In the United States, annual deaths connected to influenza ranged from 12,000 to 52,000 between 2010 and 2020, reports the CDC.
Our experts debunked the top flu myths to help you and your loved ones stay healthy this year: Myth 1: The flu vaccine can give you the flu. Fact: The flu shot delivered via a needle contains "inactive" virus that simply cannot cause an infection.
Myth 1: Influenza is not serious so I don’t need the vaccine. Fact: As many as 650 000 people a year can die of the flu. This only represents respiratory deaths, so the likely impact is even higher. Even healthy people can get the flu, but especially people whose immune systems are vulnerable.
MYTH 8: The flu is just a bad cold. Influenza can cause bad cold symptoms, but it shouldn’t be taken lightly. In the United States alone, the virus causes 36,000 DEATHS and more than 200,000 hospitalizations. MYTH 9: Flu can include gastrointestinal symptoms, like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
