This year's flu shot side effects gave me a COVID scare but I would take it again

    I got my flu shot six days ago. I would do it again but this year it was not fun.

    I had two days of arm soreness that was a little worse than normal. I didn’t think much of it. Then came the weekend and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday sleeping. I am lazy, but when I finally managed to get out of the bed I headed downstairs and hit the couch. I was just completely exhausted.

    Monday morning came and I felt sick, with the muddled feeling that one gets when coming down with a virus, plus I had a little bit of a cough and the edge of a sore throat. I didn’t connect it with my flu shot so I headed over to the RedMed clinic in New Albany to get an instant COVID-19 test. It came out negative. For good measure they did a flu test, strep test, and general viral test, all of which came out negative. They told me in all likelihood it was a reaction to my flu shot, but insisted on doing a PCR test. I got the negative result on that test late today.

    I’ve never had a bad reaction to a flu shot before, and while it wasn’t pleasant the good news is that the strong reaction means I developed a strong immune response to this year’s flu strains. With all of the precautions we’re taking against COVID-19, I don’t anticipate a bad flu season, but it is possible to have both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time and I don’t think that would be a good thing at all. Most people have no problems at all with their flu shots, so by all means get one.

    My case of the mini-flu included two days of exhaustion followed by two days of feeling pretty bad. I am mostly better but am going to spend one more day at home for good measure. I’m glad I don’t have the Rona as of yet and that I don’t have to face the flu shot again for another year. And a couple of days of feeling a little bit bad is better than actually catching the flu – especially this year.