Its that time of year again: to flu shot, or not to flu shot

[Brian_BSC]

@irrational_John

@Brian_BSC

In general, a person over 65 is 100 times more likely to die from influenza than someone < 50.

Yes, in general. But in the case of the 1918 flu pandemic or Spanish Flu, that expectation was actually flipped on its head. The Wikipedia article about it puts it this way: “An unusual feature of this pandemic was that it mostly killed young adults.”

I think this oddity was also snuck into one of the episodes of “Downton Abbey”.

You are right, during routine flu season people who are weakened are at greatest risk. What I heard about 1918 was the theory that young people had not encountered any flu and were surprised but older people had some level of protection from having experienced some previous bouts of flu.