Posted by ivette emery
Grade level: other
School: Swarthmore College
City: Swarthmore State/Province: PA
Country: USA
Area of science: Immunology Message:
A co-worker told me that if you get the flu shot and you are
unlucky enough to get the flu because of a strain that was
not in the vaccine mix your body is less capable of fighting
this flu than if you had not gotten the vaccine at all. She
also said that the probablitity of this happening was 50%.
That is, if you get the flu there is a 50% chance the strain
causing it is a new one and the vaccine will not only not
protect you but harm you. Is this true? I don't know much
about immunology but this doesn't make sense to me. How can
having B-cells and other white cells ready to fight a known
foreign invador make you less capable of finding other white
cells to fight an invador you have never seen before?