Flu Vaccine and Paranoia

The CDC claims the seasonal influenza vaccine will not give you the actual flu but can result in side effects that are consistent with being sick with the flu virus. These include fever, headache, difficulty breathing, hoarseness, hives, weakness, and facial swelling. Well, that kind of sounds like being sick with the flu.

I know the flu vaccine makes me sick. Sometimes really sick, sometimes just a little sick, but every time I get a flu vaccine I get “flu-like symptoms” to one degree or another. Call me sick or not, but I am certainly not healthy at that point.

And I am not the only one. Although the CDC adamantly claims the flu vaccine will not – cannot – make you sick with the flu, a large percentage of Americans feel otherwise. A 2018 poll conducted by the NORC at the University of Chicago found that 41% of Americans do not get a yearly flu vaccine. When asked why they do not get the vaccine, 36% explained they have suffered negative side-effects from previous flu-vaccines. Side effects including fever, headache, sore throat, and shortness of breath.

Guess what those symptoms are also consistent with? Covid-19. Yes, the early symptoms of a Covid-19 infection are the same you may face after being vaccinated for the seasonal flu.

The CDC suggests that you get a flu shot before October. People are going to get the flu shot and then develop symptoms that are consistent with a Covid-19 diagnosis. Hopefully, they can add 1 and 1 and realize the correlation between the shot and the subsequent symptoms. Many people will not and out of fear, and probably panic, seek medical attention. This will undoubtedly add extra demand to our already over-stressed medical providers and Covid-19 testing centers.

Most workplaces are requiring a temperature check before admittance to the work area. How many workers are going to be sent home when they fail the temperature check? How many are then going to be directed to obtain a Covid-19 test before they are cleared to return to work? I doubt an employee that registers an elevated body temperature is going to get a pass with the “I just got a flu vaccine” excuse.

Maybe I am forward-thinking, maybe paranoid, but it seems the Covid-19 testing labs should be increasing capacity for the upcoming flu-shot season. I suspect I won’t be the only one submitting a test.