Can getting the flu shot make you sicker next year?
During college I faithfully got my flu vaccine every year. Shortly after I left college the US had a year with a bad flu vaccine shortage (2004).
When discussing the shortage with my coworkers at the time (who grew up in a different part of the country than I did), they replied that they didn't ever get the flu vaccine because they were told that if they ever had to skip a year (such as the year there were shortages) they would give much sicker than if they had never gotten the flu vaccine.
Is there any scientific truth to this belief?
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I've worked on influenza in the past, and I've never heard that particular justification for missing a flu vaccine before. I confess I can't even find it when I Google for that particular belief.
There are some viral diseases where it's true that prior vaccination (or natural exposure) may cause a severe overreaction of the immune system that results in more severe disease. However, the only common one I know of is Dengue fever, where exposure to one strain makes infections from other strains much more severe.
Were your friend's belief be true, all vaccines that miss a strain (which are functionally similar to not being vaccinated) would be serious problems for the next year, because everyone would be in the position you're describing - immunologically having missed a vaccine - and there's no evidence I can find of that, and absolutely no mention of it in most influenza vaccination guidelines.
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