I already had autism B^(

So, I work in a fancy hospital, and just got my required flu shot. About how long does it take to make you feel like crap? How long will I feel like crap? Will this craptastic feeling even be worth it?

Generally speaking, you will probably feel pretty crappy (if you feel crappy at all) within 24 hrs, and that will last between 24 and 48 hrs.

Will it be worth it?

Yes - but ONLY if most people get a flu shot to.


It's the magic of probabilities and numbers. Single exposure to the flu virus doesn't have massive probabilities of infecting you, but continued exposure will make it almost a certainty. By just increasing the group's resistence to a virus by a little bit, you can cause a dramatic change in the spread of the virus.

Here's a math experiment. Say 1 in 4 people (Group A) will be infected every time they are exposed, but after a flu shot that number inches down just 20% to 1 in 5 people (Group B). Let's also assume that during each "exposure", everyone with the virus comes in contact with a group of 20 people. How fast will the virus spread?

Exposure 1:
Group A: infects 5 people
Group B: infects 4 people

Exposure 2:
Group A: infects 25 people
Group B: infects 16 people

Exposure 3:
Group A: infects 125 people
Group B: infects 64 people

...

At Exposure 10, Group A is infecting 9,765,625 people (assuming all new infections) for a total of 12,207,131 people having been infected. Group B is infecting only 1,048,576, for a total of 1,398,101. The 20% difference of infection rates has resulted in a massive drop of almost 90% in the number of total people infected. Individually, their chances of being infected have only gone down by 20% when exposed, but as a group they are much less likely to be exposed in the first place.

Now, I've done a lot of poor math here - but it is a good representation of how a small change can have large implications. The biggest thing I'm missing from this simulation is how people will generally not become sick again with the same virus, limiting the spread. If anything, that should reduce the number of people exposed as the simulation goes on (there's a point where someone in either group may already be surrounded by others who have already been infected or are already immune), resulting in a lot fewer people at Exposure 10.


So yeah, overall impact for you? Minor. Overall impact for everyone at the hospital where you work? Major.

The flu shot does not have a 12% chance of killing you, and the study (there was only one) about it causing autism was a sample size of 5 children. Here's a section from Penn & Teller's: bull**** episode on Vaccinations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo

now each time you get a flu shot you have around a 12% chance of dying, 22% chance of getting permanent brain damage or becoming autistic depending on which shot you get.

now each time you get a flu shot you have around a 12% chance of dying, 22% chance of getting permanent brain damage or becoming autistic depending on which shot you get. you are especially at risk if you have a thin blood brain barrier something that results in hypoglycemia or headache when consuming aspertame.