and never take medical advice from a playboy bunny.+1
[On Soapbox]
Just a couple quick reminders, debunkings, rants, etc.
1. Unless you have an ALLERGIC REACTION to the shot, you CANNOT - repeat - CANNOT, get sick from the flu shot. Unfortunately, there are many other respiratory illnesses going around at the same time, and every time someone gets one of these +/- 1 month of getting the flu shot, they blame the shot...
2. Unfortunately, you CAN still get the flu if you get the flu shot. There are dozens or even scores of strains of flu. To get the production ramped up in time for peak season, the final decisions on what to put in the shot have to be made in the late spring. Sometimes the researchers get it spot on, sometimes not so much. If you do get the flu shot and then catch a strain that isn't covered, there is still a good chance that your body will have some immunity and you won't get as sick as you would have.
3. Very unfortunately, we all refer to viral gastroenteritis as "the stomach flu." This viral illness is entirely unrelated to influenza (aka "the flu"), which is a respiratory illness that sometimes also causes nausea and vomiting. This is another "failure" that the vaccine gets blamed for.
4. It was my understanding that Thimerisal (the mercury-containing preservative) was going away because of public hysteria (not because of data). I cannot say for sure if it did (the above poster felt that 1/3 of shots still contained it). We all have to make our own decisions about exposures. I can say that if you've ever eaten a fish, you probably got more mercury from that exposure than the flu shot. What taking Thimerisal out of vaccines did accomplish was to require them to be packaged in single-dose vials, which resulted in a huge cost increase to an industry that is already basically performing this service to the public gratis.
As in all things medical, you need to make your own decisions for your own health and body after speaking to your own physician and getting your questions answered to your satisfaction. Please just don't make your decision based on faulty information.
[/On Soapbox]