Keeping an Eye on Flu Shots

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Tuesday's Health Watch 10 focuses in on flu shots and your health.

T’is the season to get your flu shot.

While many people get one, there are others who refuse, because they believe getting the shot will actually make them sick.

Well, Marilyn Byrd from Union Hospital said this is a myth.

She said the flu shot gives you a dead strain of the virus, so it cannot make you sick.

The vaccine actually gives your body a chance to produce antibodies to help you fight the flu.

However, the flu shot doesn't protect from all flu strains, because there are so many.

Each year, health officials pick the most common strains for that year to put into a flu shot.

So why do some people seem to still get the flu even though they had the shot?

"If you do get the flu shortly after you get the flu vaccine, it's because you were already exposed to it. Or, you got exposed to it within the two weeks after you go the flu shot," said Marilyn Byrd of Union Hospital in Terre Haute.

Byrd said it takes about two weeks to build up your resistance to the flu.

She said babies over six-months-old, children and the elderly are the most susceptible to the flu virus and should get the shot.