How does it work?
Your body starts making antibodies to the vaccine virus about a week to ten days after the injection, and they help protect you against any similar viruses you then come into contact with.
Flu vaccinations protect against most flu viruses: they won’t stop you catching the many other viruses that appear every winter. Because flu is generally more serious, it makes sense to get protected.
The flu virus changes , so you need to have a flu jab every year to make sure that you are protected against the latest strain of the virus.
There is no active virus in a flu vaccine so it cant cause flu. People sometimes catch other flu-like viruses, or very occasionally catch flu before the vaccine takes effect.
Cautions
If you have a serious allergy to hens’ eggs, you shouldn’t get vaccinated, and it’s not generally advised if you’re pregnant. If in doubt, ask your doctor.
Healthy people don’t need to be vaccinated; for most people flu is uncomfortable but not serious.
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