![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tikistitchNo, they don't give you the flu.
Translation: when they do a good job at predicting what kind of bug is going to be circulating that season, you have less chance of getting the flu if you get your shot. It also means that you're less likely to go into your doctor demanding antibiotics that you really don't need, thus creating more super-bugs for the rest of us to deal with.
Science. It works.
Adults Aged <65 Years
When the vaccine and circulating viruses are antigenically similar, influenza vaccine typically prevents influenza illness among approximately 70%--90% of healthy adults aged <65 years. Vaccination of healthy adults also has resulted in decreased work absenteeism and decreased use of health-care resources, including use of antibiotics, when the vaccine and circulating viruses are well-matched. In a case-control study of adults aged 50--64 years with laboratory-confirmed influenza during the 2003--04 season when the vaccine and circulating viruses were not well-matched, vaccine effectiveness was estimated to be 52% among healthy persons and 38% among those with one or more high-risk conditions.
Translation: when they do a good job at predicting what kind of bug is going to be circulating that season, you have less chance of getting the flu if you get your shot. It also means that you're less likely to go into your doctor demanding antibiotics that you really don't need, thus creating more super-bugs for the rest of us to deal with.
Science. It works.
