Infectious Vaccine?

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Anchor lead: Is it possible to get the flu from the flu vaccine? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Flu vaccines prevent the flu, and cannot actually give someone the infection. Reports that the flu vaccine causes the flu are the stuff of urban legend, says Clare Rock, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins.

Rock: This is really a myth. We can’t get the flu virus from the vaccine. When people do feel that they’re having some minor aches after the vaccine what that is is your immune system having a huge response to inactive flu viruses. This is much much less symptomatically than it ever would be if one actually had the influenza virus. It’s really the body priming itself so that if you do come in contact with the influenza virus, your body is ready to try and fight it off. :33

Rock says getting the vaccine as soon as possible is smart since it will take a few weeks for you to build up antibodies against the virus. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.