Flu shot 'excuse' Aussie GP wants people to stop using

"It's a hopeless one!"

It’s usually this time every year when I have a conversation with someone in my inner circle that goes something like this:

“My arm is a little sore today”

“Oh, why?”

“I got my flu vaccine yesterday and it’s a little tender…”

“Oh, I don’t get the flu jab. I ALWAYS get sick from it. I never have the flu and the one time I got the vaccine, I got it only days later!”

It’s a conversation that doctors hear every year from skeptical patients and frustrates the HELL out of them.

But seriously, can the flu shot make you sick?

The simple answer is no.

While many people claim that they ‘catch the flu’ after getting their seasonal flu shot, the experts insist it is just a coincidence and impossible. Why? Because the virus that we receive in the flu vaccine each year is not a live one – so there’s no chance of it happening. Nudda. Nothing. Don't even think about it. 

“The flu vaccines we have in Australia don’t have any live virus in them, Dr Vicki Sheperd, NSW Health’s Director of Communicable Diseases once revealed. 

“Overseas there are live-virus flu vaccines but in Australia, the virus is killed and cut into pieces, purified, and put into the vaccines that we receive,” she added.

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Getting the flu shot is important for all of us - especially pregnant women. Image: iStock

RELATED: ‘I spent three years as a delusional anti-vaxxer’

So why do some of us get sick after it?

According to Kidspot’s resident GP, Dr Sam Hay, catching the flu from the flu vaccine is one of the biggest fallacies out there when it comes to winter health and immunity.

“The reason a lot of people end up with a cold after they get the flu shot is because we’re giving these shots in a season when colds and flus are more common,” Sam insists.

If there was any truth to it, we would be hearing everyone getting the flu from the shot, rather than just a selected few, which is what we usually hear. It's just the unlucky ones and unfortunate timing. 

“If you give one hundred people a flu shot in winter, there is every chance that about 10 percent of them will get a cold or flu the next day,” Sam adds.

Doctors say quit your whining - it didn't give you the flu! Image: iStock

Can you get sick from wet hair in winter? Dr Sam debunks the other winter health myths out there. Also, find out when the best time to get the flu vaccine is - the timing might surprise you!

Yes, you might feel ‘off’

While the virus you receive in the flu jab is not a live one and therefore won’t infect you with anything, you can feel a little ‘off’ or ‘sore’ where the injection was administered. But that's not the flu, folks. 

“Side-effects are mild, and only last a day or so,” Sam says. But that doesn’t mean we can use this as an excuse for not protecting the family.

Sam adds: “Parents, stop using this as an excuse because it’s a hopeless one!”

Have you got yours yet? 

Originally published as Flu shot 'excuse' Aussie GP wants people to stop using