I got a flu shot this year and within 2 hours I had a 40 degree fever. I was sick for several days. I think I'll be passing on the opportunity next year.

That is a rare reaction and it is probably much more likely that you're reacting to the egg albumin (sp?) proteins used in the production of the shot (I believe the strains are incubated in and farmed from eggs). All the virus used has been killed/deactivated so it is *not* the flu you're getting off of the shot. Of course, I am NOT a doctor so do yourself a favour and verify this with a real licensed physician. Don't trust your health to the internet ;) I've heard others use the 'my friend got the shot and caught the flu from it' as an excuse for not getting it. That's a stupid and idiotic reason to risk compromising public health, but a very small number of people do have reactions to other components of the shot that are not the actual virus. Think of the taxes that'll go up 'cos of more hospital visits from sick folk, cutting down on that would be nice. I still have all 4 grandparents alive and pushing 90, some in questionable health, so a good flu might prove capable of killing them. I'd rather avoid that. Although there is no guarantee that the shot will protection against whatever strain turns out to be the big one, it does drive up the odds in our collective favour. It doesn't cost anything and you can probably just walk into any hospital downtown and get one. It's one of the remaining blessings of a socialized healthcare system; look how they're scrambling in the states 'cos of this. -- The Toronto Linux Users Group. Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml