Flu shots and great info at Fluwiki.info and also fluwiki.com

With the beginning of the fall season here I have wanted to talk about the flu shot for many weeks.  I may have a different point of view than many people as I receive eight hours of long and painful formal training every year from the CDC and administer thousands of them to soldiers in my area.
First do I believe in the flu shot?
Yes, completely. 

Does the flu shot make some people sick?
Yes, but very rarely and only when there are other underlying conditions.  I also think that even in these cases it is worth feeling under the weather for a day or to eliminate risk and spread.
Do people still die from the flu even with modern medicine?
Yes, just last year my wife's healthy 42 year old aunt died for the swine flu right here in the middle of Las Vegas.  More than 140 people healthy people died from the flu last year here in Las Vegas and hundreds of thousands across the country that were young, old and week.
The flu shot usually comes in two forms and it is important to know which one works best for you.  First is the nasal form, which is given by spraying a small mist of live virus into each nostril.  This is generally approved for all people under the age of 50 and who are not pregnant, allergic to eggs, or who care for an infant.  It is also not recommended for children under 6. This virus has been altered to a weaken state and does not have the ability to reproduce.
The second common way is a traditional shot, usually given in the arm, but sometimes given in the thigh for small babies and tiny children that don't have enough muscle development in the arms yet.  This vaccination is approved for just about everyone including the elderly, pregnant women and babies.  It relies on your body making antibodies of a dead virus.
Do I need to get the shot every year?
Yes, though this year for the first time in almost 20 years the strains of virus collected from throughout the world have not changed it still drastically increases your body’s ability to fight it off.  Most years the vaccination is a completely new form and is vital to making sure you don’t become another casualty to the virus.
Don’t be a carrier monkey.  When you make the decision not to get vaccinated you aid the virus in two ways.  First you give it a home to mutate which is why we have a constant battle with what at any time can become more powerful that any bioweapon ever created.  Second and the biggest reason is because you put all those you come in contact with at risk of losing their lives, especially grandma and babies.  Because you didn’t get sick does not mean you are not a carrier.  Lots of people every year don’t get symptoms until weeks after they have been infected and mean while spread the flu to everyone and everything they come in contact with.
I intend to go more heavily into detail on how our immune system works in my next post but it may help people to think of things like this.  Your immune system is the body’s police.  If your police had no idea what a criminal looked like or what they did it would not be very good at fighting them off and would spend most of its time on the defense when you have already been hurt by the criminals.  If your police are well trained and experienced they will spend most of their time on the offense and when something harmful say the flu virus enters your body they will not wait for it to start causing a problem.  Instead they will execute on site and you will have never known you were at risk.
I highly recommend taking a look at the above listed wikis, they are very well put together and can give you information on more factors such as sleep, diet and exercise and there effect on fighting off the flu.
Please dont hesitate to post if you have any questions or comments.