Flu shot, figure this out for me.

[Zeke]

This is not a PARF subject. I'm going to alert the mods and if this goes PARF, I'm asking it to go poof. That having been said, here's my question:

But first you should know that in '20, '21' and '22 I got a vaccine and was told it was for COVID. I did not get any other shots and I was not advised to get any other shots WRT influenza. This is what the CDC says:
Influenza (flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is caused by infection with a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) first identified in 2019. Flu is caused by infection with a flu virus (influenza viruses).
As I said, no mention of a "flu" shot for 3 consecutive years. So last Wednesday I'm in a CVS picking up a prescription and I ask about shots. I specifically asked about a new vaccine that I had heard about being available in early October (this year).

"Oh, we've had that since August." Should have been my first clue. So, for 3 years I have been getting a vaccine, whatever the vaccine du jour is. This seems like a trend to me. So I assume I'm getting a shot for whatever COVID is out and about this year.

That is not what happened.

What happened was I got a "flu" shot that I hadn't had since 2018 and it made me sick. Sick enough to know that I don't want to be sick at any cost. However, I'm realizing I have had 3 years of COVID shots, boosters, upgraded, whatever — no flu shots and now I need (if I choose) to go and get yet another shot. the shot I thought I was getting in the first place.

Somehow I feel duped. When I think I've been duped I go ballistic. It's semantics, but I want to know where this shot I got came from, out of nowhere while I'm assuming I'm getting what I've been getting for 3 years running. As I said, it has been a trend, not a change.

CVS makes a sihtloead of money billing Medicare for people like me and they hussle me to get this and get that to make money. It's way too obvious. Meanwhile, I'm interested in not going to the hospital, or being down a long time, or losing my smell and taste like Shaun.

Far from a question so far. What I want to know is how you would handle CVS when they deflected my intended question, a question that would have been more than obvious in meaning for the last 3 years. You might have had to be there to sense what I sensed that they deceived me.

[masraum]

I kind of feel like going and asking "what shot do I need/should I get" at a place like that was your first/big mistake. That's like going into a dealer service place and saying "fix anything on my car that needs to be fixed."

You probably should have been getting covid AND flu shots the last 3 years, so the fact that you just got a flu shot isn't a bad thing. Maybe you'd have had a reaction to the shot even if you'd been getting them the past several years, or maybe not.

I got the first 3 covid shots, but haven't gotten one since. I get the flu shot occasionally, but not regularly. Probably more in the past 5-10 years than the rest of my life, but that's probably just 2-3 times, maybe 4.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by masraum

I kind of feel like going and asking "what shot do I need/should I get" at a place like that was your first/big mistake. That's like going into a dealer service place and saying "fix anything on my car that needs to be fixed."

You probably should have been getting covid AND flu shots the last 3 years, so the fact that you just got a flu shot isn't a bad thing. Maybe you'd have had a reaction to the shot even if you'd been getting them the past several years, or maybe not.

I got the first 3 covid shots, but haven't gotten one since. I get the flu shot occasionally, but not regularly. Probably more in the past 5-10 years than the rest of my life, but that's probably just 2-3 times, maybe 4.

That's kinda not what I did asking specifically about the latest available version of the "vaccine".

[Crowbob]

This IS a PARF subject.

[jyl]

It might be deliberate by CVS, or might just be incompetence, sloppiness, etc.

Many people didn’t get flu shots these last couple years because the flu was so suppressed by Covid precautions. (In fact, I read there is one particular flu strain - a type of Influenza B - that has disappeared as a result.) I think - speculate, really - that may contribute to flu is hitting us kinda harder than normal, when we do get it? And maybe flu shot reactions too?

Anyway, maybe the CVS staff aren’t used to having to talk to people about flu vaccine and Covid vaccine concurrently?

[LWJ]

I am confused about your question. But here is my experience.

I have gotten Covid shots the entire time.

Influenza was way down for a while due to out covid standards that reduced transmission. One strain may have gone extinct. Not sure if this happened.

I got my new and improved Covid shot two weeks back with a flu shot. Hadn’t had a flu shot for a while due to above.

I had a reaction. I expected it.

Everything was exactly as I expected and requested.

So you got the flu and wanted the new Covid?

More info please.

A consumer should ABSOLUTELY be informed about what gets shot into them.

[Heel n Toe]

How long after getting the shot did you "get sick" and what type of sick was it? Did it hit you like other flu you've had?

After you get the flu shot, it takes about 14 days before you achieve the full protection... and you can get flu during that time.

Also, the shot is for a specific strain of the flu. If you were infected with a different strain, it probably wouldn't protect you... also you could have been exposed to the virus a few days before you got the shot.

This is all from my knowledge gained while talking to docs, nurses, shot givers and viewing TV news segments on the subject. If anyone here knows different, please chime in.

[Tobra]

You asked for a covid shot and they gave you a flu shot, is that the case?

No comment on other posts, other than to ask John, are you under the impression the covid jabs had influenza vaccine mixed in with them?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Milt, I honestly can't decipher exactly what you are asking but the only thing I get at CVS is hydrogen peroxide. All shots are done by my doctor so I never have to worry about what shot I did or didn't get. I am getting a flu shot next week there.

Sense of taste and smell already coming back, only for sweet. I had some tasty grapes last night. Can't taste coffee today.

[Bugsinrugs]

I have Kaiser and they have a record of what shots I did get and what shots I need. I can’t keep track.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by jyl

It might be deliberate by CVS, or might just be incompetence, sloppiness, etc.

Incompetence, and sloppiness for sure

Originally Posted by jyl

Anyway, maybe the CVS staff aren’t used to having to talk to people about flu vaccine and Covid vaccine concurrently?

It's their JOB! If they aren't used to being pharmacists, CVS needs to fire them, and then be fined for allowing incompetent, untrained staff to administer drugs.
You don't expect to take your car into service, have it totally botched, and pass it off as, "Oh, the guy who changed your oil isn't used to working on cars."

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Zeke

That's kinda not what I did asking specifically about the latest available version of the "vaccine".

If you just asked for "the vaccine" they should have asked "which one" because they have several available. They probably assumed/guessed what you were talking about and guessed wrong. You should have been more specific, because going and asking for "the vaccine" is like going to a bar and asking for "the beer" because you assume everyone is drinking the one that's popular at the minute. I assume CVS has covid, but I don't know for sure. But besides that, this is a list of other vaccines that are available at CVS: Chicken Pox, Flu, Hep A, Hep B, HPV, Measles-Mumps-Rubella, Meningitis, Pneumonia, Shingles, Tetanus-Diptheria-Whooping Cough.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Tobra

You asked for a covid shot and they gave you a flu shot, is that the case?

No comment on other posts, other than to ask John, are you under the impression the covid jabs had influenza vaccine mixed in with them?

I think he just asked for "the vaccine".

The way that I read the first post AND his response to me was that he was not specific about which shot he wanted.

[Dixie]

[masraum]

FYI, my wife just spoke to our daughter (mid 30s, works in the med field). Our daughter got the flu vaccine Thu while she was eating lunch. She said that by the time she got home yesterday, Fri evening, she was feeling very rough, and she is feeling better today. So it took about 24 hours from the time that she got the shot until she started to feel the effects, and probably 28-32 hours later it was kicking her butt. She slept it off and is better (not 100% but better) this morning.

[Cairo94507]

I have gotten all of the COVID shots and boosters. I get the flu shots, Shingles, Pneumonia and whatever they offer for old folks. I just got the RSV, COVID and flu shots last Monday. I believe at my age, anything I can do to mitigate whatever is being spread in the world, the better. Consequently, I have not really been ill since this all started.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Cairo94507

I have gotten all of the COVID shots and boosters. I get the flu shots, Shingles, Pneumonia and whatever they offer for old folks. I just got the RSV, COVID and flu shots last Monday. I believe at my age, anything I can do to mitigate whatever is being spread in the world, the better. Consequently, I have not really been ill since this all started.

I've had the first three covid shots, but nothing since. I've had a couple of flu shots, but I don't get them regularly. I've had the Shingrix vaccines. I've been getting vaccines and shots since I was a kid, and figure they are a good prophylactic that may protect me.

It sounds like this season's flu shot has a chance of being a real beyotch. I wonder how this season's flu is going? According to the missus, that information is available because the flu season starts in Australia, so we've got several months of data.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by masraum

If you just asked for "the vaccine" they should have asked "which one" because they have several available. They probably assumed/guessed what you were talking about and guessed wrong. You should have been more specific, because going and asking for "the vaccine" is like going to a bar and asking for "the beer" because you assume everyone is drinking the one that's popular at the minute. I assume CVS has covid, but I don't know for sure. But besides that, this is a list of other vaccines that are available at CVS: Chicken Pox, Flu, Hep A, Hep B, HPV, Measles-Mumps-Rubella, Meningitis, Pneumonia, Shingles, Tetanus-Diptheria-Whooping Cough.

OK, given the answers presented so far and Steve's comments like this one, my fault entirely. Sure, I thought asking about a shot becoming recently available I wasn't suspecting that the question might have suggested was inquiring about a typhoid vaccine.

Further, I see by comments that what I suspect is true, that as I get older I'm becoming less of everything. Less articulate, less intelligent, less physically able, etc. So with that I apologize to those that can't follow me when I ask a question. I had to explain my question 3 times to my wife before she understood.

Given that, and my ability to at least recognize that I am not longer able to adequately express my thoughts has brought me a revelation. I am no longer relevant and able to properly communicate.

That is my notice to this board to take my comments as such form now on.

Thank you all for your insight while I still had some.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Thank you all for your insight while I still had some.

You have plenty. Tell what you'd like me to do with your thread, Zeke.

And I wish you the best.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by Zeke

So last Wednesday I'm in a CVS picking up a prescription and I ask about shots. I specifically asked about a new vaccine that I had heard about being available in early October (this year).

Seems to me that you were extremely vague in your request. CVS should have asked for clarification, but if that is what you said, some of this is on you.