What is the Purpose of the Vaccine? While the flu shot doesn’t guarantee that you won’t become infected by the virus, it will significantly reduce your risk. It’s important to note which you want to get vaccinated every year since the influenza strain constantly changes so your shot from this past year, won’t protect against this year’s virus.
Virus spread
Every year, scientists work hard to predict exactly what the three most common and wide spread flu strains will be and they then increase the virus in eggs to be made to a vaccine. When you’ve got a flu shot, you’re really injected with a virus that’s been murdered but the nasal spray variety is made of a virus that’s still alive but incredibly week. Do You Need to be Vaccinated? While it’s not a necessity to be vaccinated, you should be aware that the flu is a very contagious virus that attacks your respiratory system.
It often leaves you with acute symptoms where you’re not able to work, go to school, walk the dog or even crawl out of bed so in the event that you get infected, you can plan on being unable to tend to your daily activities for some time. The flu is extremely stressful on your body and while your immune system is busy working hard to combat the virus, you’re at risk for bacterial infections like pneumonia which could become deadly.
Medication
There are flu medications which you can purchase except they need to be started within the first two weeks of symptoms to be effective and they’re expensive so prevention is the smartest choice. While vaccination is beneficial to many Australians, the CDC indicates that children over 6 months and younger than 18 years old are a priority in addition to people over 50, pregnant women, health care workers, people who reside in crowded long-term surroundings and people with chronic health problems.
What Type of Vaccination Should You Get? The biggest decision you’ll need to make about influenza immunization is whether to get the shot or the nasal spray. The shot is injected into your deltoids muscle that arouses a direct response from the immune system to start producing an antibody. The nasal spray works the same way but as the virus remains alive, you might experience a higher degree of distress after but most say it’s more effective.