The flu shot is excellent this year; a near perfect match [0]. In other words, the vaccine is very reliable for protecting immunocompetent individuals capable of producing antibodies.
Re: the vaccine not protecting the immunocompromised. It's important for caregivers of young children, the elderly, etc. to get vaccinated to reduce the probability of transmitting the virus to susceptible people in their care. You can interrupt the chain of transmission.
And an open letter to the three people I heard yesterday claim that they once got the flu after getting vaccinated: no, you didn't. The flu shot is a killed vaccine, which means it is incapable of causing infection. After getting vaccinated it takes two weeks for your body to finish producing antibodies, so it's possible you were infected with the virus from a regular, environmental source. Basically, it was a fluke that you got sick, and that experience should not dissuade you from getting vaccinated. The intranasal vaccine is live attenuated, which means the virus is hypothetically capable of reproducing, but according to the CDC, it does not cause the flu [2].
Re: the vaccine not protecting the immunocompromised. It's important for caregivers of young children, the elderly, etc. to get vaccinated to reduce the probability of transmitting the virus to susceptible people in their care. You can interrupt the chain of transmission.
And an open letter to the three people I heard yesterday claim that they once got the flu after getting vaccinated: no, you didn't. The flu shot is a killed vaccine, which means it is incapable of causing infection. After getting vaccinated it takes two weeks for your body to finish producing antibodies, so it's possible you were infected with the virus from a regular, environmental source. Basically, it was a fluke that you got sick, and that experience should not dissuade you from getting vaccinated. The intranasal vaccine is live attenuated, which means the virus is hypothetically capable of reproducing, but according to the CDC, it does not cause the flu [2].
Please get vaccinated. Check http://flushot.healthmap.org/ for providers in your area.
[0] http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ (see Antigenic Characterization)
[1] http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm
[2] http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/nasalspray.htm#give-you-the-...