[babalu1997]

by virtue of my profession, i am in a group that has priority for receiving free swine flu shots

i have no known health care concerns which would increase my risks

should i take it? or duck it?

apparently someone will be visiting my work place to deliver shots

and i have seen a couple of people who received flu shots get some flu symptoms immediately after.

[jjbrr]

man i got excited when i saw the title of this thread.

unfortunately your dilemma is not within my area of expertise

fwiw, and i expect it to be worth little or nothing, i would pass.

[Winstonm]

If you were living during the last swine flu outbreak you most likely have been exposed in some fashion to the strain, so even if you contract it this time your case should be mild to moderate and you should not be in great danger. The ones who are high risk are those who have never before been exposed to this strain, which is why young people have been especially vulnerable.

[kenberg]

Yeah, not my decision to make. But also on a fwiw basis, it may depend a little on just what your profession is. If your work takes you into frequent contact with not so healthy people it might be worth the time. For the last two or three years I have been getting shots for the regular flu but for a long time I didn't bother.

The fact that someone is coming out to do this suggests someone feeels strongly it's worthwhile. Maybe they are right.

[gwnn]

in the words of the great Fred Gitelman "Quack!"

[hotShot]

There are 2 aspects to this.

1) If you don't have some serious chronic disease and are healthy otherwise, than (most likely) catching a swine flu will knock you out for a few days without serious consequences. You (most probably) won't need a shot to protect yourself.

2) If you are in regular contact with people that have serious chronic diseases or diseases of age or very young children, which are the risk group for swine flu, than you should consider to take the shot.
I doubt you you would feel good, if you endanger these people by bringing the virus to them.

[Al_U_Card]

The "epidemic" of 1976 is the key. It too was a dud and they knew that this strain was also not as virulent as that one nor even as bad as the "seasonal" flu. (Which, btw, is seasonal because of vitamin D deficiency in the winter time...)

The vaccine actually lowers your resistance (immune response) for the first 2 weeks so it is relatively a toss-up for whether to get it or not. If hi-risk, why not? If not, avoid it like a "real" plague.