Listen up…today is the first day of fall, the onset of autumn, the equinox (at 3:52am at my longitude). It’s also the best day to get your flu shot. Yes this post is going to be more PSA than post but if you can’t trust me, who can you trust.

It’s time you get a little background so you have at least a little faith in me when I say GET YOUR FLU SHOT! And I’ve been doing this blog for almost 8 years so I guess you deserve some background information. (Really, eight years. Can you believe that? My first post was on Nov. 7 2011.) (woah). November also marks my 40th year as a licensed pharmacist (Nov. 12 1979). (double woah) Of those 40 years I spent 32 of them working in hospitals and four of them I taught undergraduates at college of pharmacy and administered continuing education courses for registered pharmacists.Then last 4 I’ve been living the Life of Riley and let me tell you, Riley really doesn’t live a high life.

But I still have my license and keep up with my annual education requirements so I think I can still speak about drugs pretty well. And when that drug is the flu vaccine I can tell right now who should NOT legitimately get the annual flu shot. Nobody! Okay, as the people who give away free stuff, like your cell phone carrier, there are some exclusions. Maybe 10 of them. Not 10 exclusions, ten people. Not 10 groups of people, ten people. That’s how many people 2 years ago (the last year with complete data available) had anaphylatic reactions to some component of the flu vaccine in the United States. Ten. Out of almost 8 million vaccines administered.

To put that in perspective, out of 56 people who got the flu that year 10 were hospitalized. And almost eighty thousand people died. That’s 10,000 more people than were at the Super Bowl last January.

Considering those numbers, why would you not want to get a flu shot. Hmmm?

“I never get the flu.” Lucky you but by getting the flu shot you help minimize the flu’s effect on the very young, the very old, and immunocompromised which depends on the “herd effect,” that is the more of the mass that is resistant to a pathogen the less severe its effect to the individual.

“I get the flu from the flu shot.” No you don’t. The flu vaccine is a dead vaccine and it cannot give you the flu. You may experience some discomfort at the injection site, it is a needle being stuck in you arm after all, and you may experience some tiredness while your immune system is doing its thing (which might go on for up to 48 hours), or you could be getting the flu because you waited too long to get the flu shot!

“I’m immunosuppressed or take immunosuppressive drugs.” So am I and so do I and I have and for almost 20 years. I’ve had a fkubsjotbgirveacj one of those years and I’m still here, other issues notwithstanding. The prohibition to vaccines for immunosuppressed individuals is restricted to live virus vaccines (MMR, Oral Polio (not used in the US any longer, the injectable vaccine is not a live virus), Chicken Pox (but not the new shingles vaccine). As we already noted, the flu vaccine is a dead, inactivated virus.

“I’m allergic to eggs.” Sorry, this excuse want out of business before I gave my first shot. Today’s flu vaccines are not grown in egg media. The initial antigen is still grown in eggs so there is the slightest chance that an egg allergic patient can experience a reaction. If that reaction is just hives or rash get the shot, if it’s shortness if breath have it done at a doctor’s office or hospital rather than at a campaign like at work unless you work at a doctor’s office or hospital. If you’re still concerned there is a product that is completely egg free. That is Flublok (r) by Sanofi Pasteur. While we’re talking about it, no vaccines contain aluminum, or mercury and most do not contain thimerosal. No single dose vaccines contain thimerosal or latex and some multi brands are stoppered with non-latex materials. Again, if you’re concerned about any allergies, ask. There is a flu vaccine right for you.

“I got the shot but still got the flu.” Unfortunately this can happen but if you should get the flu even though you had a flu shot for the season you are probably going to experience a less severe reaction. Why does this happen anyway? The flu virus is a cunning little critter and it can mutate during the season. Or you might have had the timing wrong when you got your shot, either too early or too late.

That brings us to timing and why the first day of fall is the best time for you to get that flu shot. Immunity from the shot does not happen as soon as the needle plunger squirts the solution into your arm muscle. It’s just there to get your own immune system ready to fight off the flu and that takes time, about 4 weeks to get to an effective level. Once your immunity is established it will stay at effective levels for up to 24 weeks. That takes us from October through April, bookending the usual flu season.

So, trust me. Get a flu shot today.

We now return you to your regular blog posts.