How many of you are going for the FLU SHOT this year? Does your workplace or school "require it"?

I'm going to get it, because the last two times I didn't, I got the swine flu one year and the flu that turned into bronchitis the next. Until then, I've never gotten the flu before. Working in the medical field, I trust them fully, although I'm not sure how effective they really are, but being around patients it would be a good idea because sick people around healthy people make the healthy people sick too

I've never ever got a flu shot in my life. My parents are doctors and they've always been against me getting one when I was a kid. Not because they don't believe in vaccination (surely they do), but because they don't trust the vaccines that come here, to Russia. Now when I'm grew up I can make my own decisions, but I sort of see no point in a flu shot. I get flu so rarely, probably had it only 2 or 3 times in my life so far.

I've never had one and haven't felt the need to get one so far.

Have known too many people who had bad reactions to it (one guy ended up paralyzed - big strapping bail bondsman ... the rest of the town ran the vaccine-giver out of town after that).

I was not allowed to get one last year because of the cancer treatments I was having. I think I will skip again, and also not have my children immunized. I just don't feel comfortable with all the junk they add into it.

I haven't got one since I was around 10. I fainted and fell off the table...I think the flu sounds better.

I got one last year for the first time and felt miserable after. The years I didn't get one I never got sick. I think I'll skip this year, but I'll probably get my kids one.

I get my flu shot every year. As a diabetic, I just can't afford to get that sick! Most years, I get a little sick from the shot itself (like a cold), but then I'm healthy the rest of the year. Also, our insurance pays for them 100%.

Everybody I have ever known got the flu from flu shots. So, no, I don't do flu shots.

From flu-treatments.com: One of the most important flu shot facts to know is this - flu shots are totally ineffective against new strains of flu. And they are effective against only some - not all - existing flu strains. Health authorities and flu vaccine manufacturers do their best to predict which strains are most likely to hit in a particular year and they package the flu vaccines accordingly.

At best, they can cover about 70 percent of common flu viruses. But sometimes, they can be way off the mark. In 2004, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the year’s flu vaccine had "no or low effectiveness" against influenza or influenza-like illness. Depending on how the data were analyzed, the vaccine protected from zero percent to 14 percent of study participants.

The only time I get the flu is when I get the shot so I not going to get it this year.

You can't get Influenza from a flu shot, unless it's the nasal spray flu vaccine. The flu "shot" a killed virus and it cannot give you the illness. You may get some side effects such as weakness, a low grade fever and mild symptoms for a day or two, but you cannot get the actual strain of Influenza they are vaccinating for.

The nasal vaccine is a weakened live virus, and honestly, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone. The risks are higher than the benefits. I also don't like that this nasal vaccine was developed for children so that the safer killed injectable vaccine could be "saved" for seniors. Kids, if they are in day care or prone to respiratory illness and their parents choose to vaccinate them against Influenza should be able to get the same quality vaccine that adults, particularly senior citizens get. Why risk kids' health to save the vaccine for others. It should be available and first come first serve, with YOUNG people who have respiratory problems getting first pick of the injectable vaccine.

Any strain of Influenza is active any given year. The vaccines do try to cover more than one, but once in a while they miss the big one that year. But, the rate at which they DO get the right strain is higher than 30%!

That being said, I'm not getting one. We have used them in the past, when two of my three kids and myself got pneumonia from Influenza one year and our little one missed nearly 10 weeks of school. The next two years our "Ground Zero Patient" (the one daughter who always gets it first and brings in into the house) was vaccinated. But, we don't use flu vaccines on a regular basis.

I never get flu shots, my immune system is up to the task of protecting me. I do not remember the last time I actually got the flu. My wife teaches 3rd grade and they often bring someone on campus to give shots. If they do she gets one, if not she doesn't get one.

I've never gotten a flu shot. I would probably get it if I was in a high risk category, but I will pass for now.

I'm not so sure if I'm going to do it this year. There's been years I've gotten it and I've still been sick. I guess the only way to tell is to skip a year and see how we handle it, but I'm still on the fence about the kids.

No way, I never have and never will. Got one for my son last year, he got the flu anyhow. They can not vaccine you for all the flu's. There are so many kinds that you get vaccinated and end up with a completely different one. You can not get the flu from the shot because it is not a live virus.

I get one every year at work, for free. It's not required, but suggested.

I have a very good immune system. I haven't used sick days since spring 2007.

i never bother w/ the flu shots. just never needed them. & i've never heard of a school requiring them.

I have never gotten a flu shot. I tried the last two years to get one, but was running a fever both times so they would not give me one.

My family always get our annual flu shots, in fact we'll be getting our shots next weekend at Costco. Just like P'Gell said, do not take the nasal vaccine, there's a high percentage you'll get really sick from the live virus.