Get Your Flu Shot

There are a lot of strong feelings about vaccines and if you are opposed to them, feel free to disregard this post. For those that think they are a benefit, please keep reading. As you can probably guess, I fall into this second category.

My company sends me notices every fall to remind me to get my annual flu shot. When I actually went into an office, they had healthcare professionals come to the office and provide free flu shots to all those interested in receiving them. Now that I work from home, they send me a voucher that can be used at any Walgreens to get a free flu shot. This year I printed up the voucher and headed down to my local Walgreen's pharmacy. When I got there, the pharmacy area of the store had a huge line and so I turned around and came home.

I thought about going to another store in the area but opted to schedule an appointment at the one around the corner from my house. I logged into the Walgreen's website and set up a time for my shot the next day. Then I set an alarm on my phone so I wouldn't forget. I also added the appointment to my work calendar so nobody would try to schedule a meeting at the same time.

The next day the time for my appointment rolled around and I drove the short mile to the pharmacy. I went back to where they administer the shot and waited all of 30 seconds. Then a nice young lady escorted me into a private room, rolled up my sleeve, and gave me a shot containing the flu vaccine. While I set aside 30 minutes in my calendar, I only needed about 10. I quickly drove home and resumed my work.

The one thing common with all vaccines is a sore arm and I felt that the next day but not severely. Sometimes there are very mild flu-like symptoms but I didn't feel any of that. The weekend has passed and I actually feel this has been one of the easiest flu shots ever.

For the past couple years I have not bothered to get my flu shot and never came down with the flu. This year I don't want to take that chance. I let my COVID vaccine expire and came down with it in August. My dad didn't bother to get a shingles vaccine and just spent the last week suffering from the ailment. Because of these two incidents, I felt it prudent to get my flu vaccine this year.

Hopefully you don't fall victim to the normalcy bias where you feel it unnecessary to get the flu vaccine because you haven't gotten sick over the past couple of years without it. It only takes a few minutes to get the shot and most insurance covers the cost so it is free. You never know if you will get exposed and those few minutes can keep you from getting sick for a week or more. After all it could mean a lost week of skiing for me.