There is a minimum list of contraindications to flu vaccination:
- Colds and ARVI The vaccination can be given immediately after the fever release;
- Children under 6 months of age;
- Having an allergy to chicken protein and to a previous flu vaccination;
- The exacerbation of chronic disease.
It is easy to conclude that it is much safer to get vaccinated against the flu than to contract flu, which will be
accompanied by a high fever, cough and possible complications, and be treated with pills and potions, while not only
dropping out of society for no less than weeks (bed rest must be observed!), but also becoming a potential
propagator of a dangerous disease.
The efficacy of vaccination
in combating serious diseases has long been proven. The world's first vaccine was
created as far back as 1796. An English doctor, Edward Jenner, deliberately infected a boy with cowpox in order to
shield him from another, deadly variant of the disease — natural or black smallpox. Since then, many years have
passed and vaccination has become one of the main methods of combating dangerous infectious diseases, many of which
have been almost completely eradicated, and some of which have been eradicated forever. With the advent of
preventive vaccination worldwide, natural smallpox (or black smallpox) has ceased to exist; significantly fewer
cases of polio, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, pertussis, rubella, measles, etc. are being registered
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However, vaccination is particularly effective when dealing with seasonal diseases that are epidemic in nature, such
as influenza.
The influenza virus is insidious and has the ability to change its antigens rapidly. It is this property that
prevents the immune system from remembering them once and for all, and us from getting a flu shot just once in a
lifetime. This is why we get the flu (unless we get vaccinated strictly once a year) every time as if our immune
system has never encountered it: because each time we are faced with a new virus against which we have no immunity.
This is why regular influenza vaccines are so important. Each year, the composition of influenza vaccines is updated
according to WHO recommendations on which strains will be spread in the then current season. The efficacy of flu
vaccination is therefore multiplied by the fact that the new medicinal products contain the strains of influenza
predicted by the WHO to be active this year.
How does vaccination take place
A modern influenza vaccination with the medicinal products of the latest generation is a safe and virtually painless
procedure that takes only a few minutes.
A qualified vaccination specialist will ask you several questions (whether you have had an acute respiratory viral
infection or cold less than two weeks before vaccination; whether you are allergic to chicken protein; whether you
have a fever or an acute chronic disease on the day of vaccination), and conduct a preventive check-up. The vaccine,
in a convenient individual syringe dose, is extracted from a completely sterile factory pack. The syringe is fitted
with a special needle, making the vaccination procedure virtually painless.