Do Influenza Vaccines Work?

Houhusky said:

NorthwestFresh said:

GrundleStiltzkin said:

Fire_Marshall_Bill said:

Flu vaccine: racket for big farm

If they make it work, pay ‘em

My purpose for this thread is how can anyone know if the vaccines work? If someone who takes it gets the “flu,” which happens to my wife every other year it seems, the medical community just say “whoops, wrong strain” which is odd because I don’t take an annual vaccine and haven’t had the flu in almost 20 years. The kids get the same shot as wife and they don’t get it, either.

Makes no sense to me.

The flu vaccine is completely the opposite problem from a coronavirus vaccine

Coronavirus have a low mutation rate but have the "check valve" I described above that prevents mutations but also prevents typical anti virals or vaccines from working

The flu, specifically influenza A has a very rapid mutation rate due to the way it replicates its RNA polymerase and that the influenza genome is segmented and can mix during infection.

The flu vaccine each year is the best the guess at how the various virus strands will mutate and what will spread the most that season.

You and your wifes different reactions to the seasonal flu are a combination of luck, exposure, and genetic superiority.