h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've had flu twice in my 48 years - the last time was in the winter of 1997/98. I'd never consider getting a flu shot because it's simply one of those things that you get from time to time. I know that flu epidemics have killed millions in the past, and I can understand how the flu is something you might not want to catch if you a compromised immune system, or fall into one of the 'at risk' categories, but the vast majority of the population really don't need one.

If it was a choice between have the flu or having a shot that would protect me against having the flu, I think I'd probably take the shot. Flu - proper flu - is very unpleasant. It takes a lot to keep me in bed, but I couldn't move for three days last time I had it. I took to my bed on Wednesday evening and only got out of it to go to the bog. I next to ate nothing for three days. I woke up at around 3am on Sunday morning drenched in sweat - that's when my fever broke.

I didn't go back to work until Tuesday.

However, most people who think they've had the flu have had nothing worse than a bad cold. I heard a piece on NPR a few days ago about the vaccine shortage, and at the end of it they suggested doing what people have been doing ever since we understood how communicable diseases are spread - using your damn common sense and staying off work, staying away from others, and not spreading the damn germs

Do you have something against germs?

Doesn't everyone? Except for germologists