'Flu vaccine

[Bouleversee]

Does it prevent infection or, like the Covid jab, does it just make it less severe?

[kempiejon]

My understanding is prevents. Though of course only for about 60% of the possible 'flu viruses that are abroad each year.
Ask bard. https://bard.google.com/?hl=en

The flu vaccine can both prevent infection and make the flu less severe if you do get it. The vaccine works by exposing your body to inactive forms of the flu virus, which helps your immune system develop antibodies against the virus. These antibodies can then protect you from getting sick if you come into contact with the real virus.
The effectiveness of the flu vaccine varies from year to year, depending on how well the vaccine matches the circulating flu strains. However, even when the vaccine is not a perfect match, it can still provide some protection against severe illness.
A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that flu vaccination reduced the risk of hospitalization from influenza by 41% among adults aged 65 and older.

[XFool]

My understanding is prevents. Though of course only for about 60% of the possible 'flu viruses that are abroad each year.
Ask bard. https://bard.google.com/?hl=en

The flu vaccine can both prevent infection and make the flu less severe if you do get it. The vaccine works by exposing your body to inactive forms of the flu virus, which helps your immune system develop antibodies against the virus. These antibodies can then protect you from getting sick if you come into contact with the real virus.

So is that really any different from the COVID-19 vaccine (or most vaccines)?

Few Vaccines Actually Prevent Infection – Here's Why That's Not Actually a Problem

https://www.sciencealert.com/few-vaccines-actually-prevent-infection-here-s-why-that-s-not-a-problem-with-covid-19

"There is a subtle yet important difference between preventing disease and preventing infection. A vaccine that "just" prevents disease might not stop you from transmitting the disease to others – even if you feel fine. But a vaccine that provides sterilising immunity stops the virus in its tracks.

In an ideal world, all vaccines would induce sterilising immunity. In reality, it is actually extremely difficult to produce vaccines that stop virus infection altogether. Most vaccines that are in routine use today do not achieve this."

[Bouleversee]

Thanks, both. Rather what I expected. Does it make any difference whether the transmitter of the infection (in either disease) has been vaccinated or is it just the recipient's status which is significant?

Having been instructed to shield as soon as Covid became established, I managed to avoid it until April this year when I picked it up in a queue outside a clinic dishing out the booster jabs for the elderly and vulnerable. No fun being laid low by any illness when you live on your own but it wasn't as bad as I think it would have been if I had caught it before I had already had several jabs. The other members of the queue were of similar status but someone (or many, including me) must have been infectious despite being well jabbed.

This Sunday, I was supposed to be having a visit from a relative of my late husband, plus his young family, but he phoned this a.m. to say he thought he had 'flu and perhaps had better not come unless he feels better tomorrow after spending today in bed. I have, of course, had the latest 'flu jab and was hoping to tell him when he phones tomorrow that he needn't worry about me as I have been vaccinated but you have confirmed my fears that that might not be the case so I'd just have to keep my distance. I did tell him that it might be an idea to take a Covid test as I was aware that a number of people who thought they had 'flu had contracted Covid in fact. Que sera sera!

[Dicky99]

Thanks, both. Rather what I expected. Does it make any difference whether the transmitter of the infection (in either disease) has been vaccinated or is it just the recipient's status which is significant?

Having been instructed to shield as soon as Covid became established, I managed to avoid it until April this year when I picked it up in a queue outside a clinic dishing out the booster jabs for the elderly and vulnerable. No fun being laid low by any illness when you live on your own but it wasn't as bad as I think it would have been if I had caught it before I had already had several jabs. The other members of the queue were of similar status but someone (or many, including me) must have been infectious despite being well jabbed.

This Sunday, I was supposed to be having a visit from a relative of my late husband, plus his young family, but he phoned this a.m. to say he thought he had 'flu and perhaps had better not come unless he feels better tomorrow after spending today in bed. I have, of course, had the latest 'flu jab and was hoping to tell him when he phones tomorrow that he needn't worry about me as I have been vaccinated but you have confirmed my fears that that might not be the case so I'd just have to keep my distance. I did tell him that it might be an idea to take a Covid test as I was aware that a number of people who thought they had 'flu had contracted Covid in fact. Que sera sera!

When people say they have the flu I wonder how they know. One person's bad cold is another person's flu and some peoples' regular cold is another person's flu. I remember a GP on TV once saying if you are well enough to get out of bed it's probably not flu.

[Bouleversee]

Well, in this case the person said he was aching all over, had a fever and needed to get bsck to bed pronto. I think he also said he had a cough. I seem to have a permanent cold but that is quite different from when I had Covid which laid me out completely though could have been a lot worse.

[bungeejumper]

When people say they have the flu I wonder how they know. One person's bad cold is another person's flu and some peoples' regular cold is another person's flu. I remember a GP on TV once saying if you are well enough to get out of bed it's probably not flu.

Absolutely. In my teaching days (late 1970s), the kids' sick notes would invariably say they'd had flu, not a cold, and it wasn't hard to imagine why. No kid would want to be so wimpy as to say he'd bunked off because of a bit of a sniffle, and most parents wouldn't care to be accused of over-reacting to a sniffle, so they'd go large on their description of the ailment and call it flu. Even though little Johnny had been playing football in the garden, or going to see his cousin.

I think I've ony had proper flu twice in my life, and both times I could hardly do anything for three days. Such as eat, drink or walk about!

Two point of order here. AIUI, the MRNA covid jab and the flu jab are two different kinds of immunisation. The latter, as said, is an old-style deactivated live virus, but the first is an artificially engineered thing that trains your body to produce antibodies in advance, in a, errr, umm, a different way.

And the other thing is that the annual flu shot is a mix of three or four flu strains that the medics think will be particularly active in the northern hemisphere this winter. Some time around July, they compare notes on global patterns and place their bets for the coming season, and sometimes they get it right and sometimes it's not such a good guess. They do, of course, have the advantage that they've just had six months' worth of flu observations from the southern hemisphere!

BJ

[Bouleversee]

I don't think anyone who is feeling rotten should assume it is 'flu. It seems there is still quite a lot of Covid around. My son has just told me he won't be coming tomorrow as his wife has tested positive for Covid, again!

[tjh290633]

I have had flu once. I caught it in the USA and it developed on the flight home. I have never had it since and I have never had a flu jab. It was a lot worse than a heavy cold, and if anybody gets it, they will not be going out, let alone getting out of bed.

TJH