Shots - Health News Tue January 8, 2013 Can You Get A Flu Shot
And Still Get The Flu? Originally published on Tue January 8,
2013 5:06 am This year's flu season started about a month early,
prompting federal health officials to warn it could be one of
the worst in years. They're urging everyone to get their flu
shots. But like every flu season, there are lots of reports of
people complaining that they got their shot but still got the
flu. What's up with that? Well, as Michael Jhung of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention explains, there are lots of
possible reasons. The first is that while the flu vaccine is the
best way to protect against the flu, it's far from perfect. In
fact, the vaccine is only about 60 percent effective. So some
people can get the flu even though they were vaccinated because
the shot just didn't work for them. The vaccine, for example,
tends to work less well in the elderly. That's a big problem,
since the elderly are among those at greatest risk for serious
complications from