The Retirement Newsletter: Time to get your COVID-19 and flu vaccinations
Issue Number: 180 (33) — It’s inoculation time!
Welcome
Welcome to issue 180 (30), and this week, it is my annual reminder about getting your winter flu and COVID-19 jabs.
Health
I am not a medical doctor. I hold a PhD in Biochemistry. During my 30+ year career as a biochemist, I taught undergraduates about proteins, supervised PhD students, ran undergraduate labs, and researched and published scientific papers. So, I know a bit about science and research.
What I am writing here, just as I have done in previous years, is not a scientific paper; if it were, it would be full of references and written in 'science style'. What I am writing is an opinion piece, and my opinion is underpinned by the literature (which I am not going to cite) and my years of working as a biochemist and university lecturer.
Why get a flu vaccine?
I would say, why not?
The flu is an interesting one. It is a seasonal infection that we can see coming. The Northern Hemisphere watches the new flu appear during the winter in the Southern Hemisphere and prepares its stocks of vaccines accordingly against the new flu.
Generally, this approach works quite well unless there is a sudden change in the virus, as happened a few years ago, between what was prevalent in the Southern Hemisphere and what arrived in the Northern Hemisphere at the start of the flu season. Likewise, the Southern Hemisphere watches the Northern Hemisphere and prepares its vaccines for the coming winter.
This works well for the most part, but as I said, we occasionally get caught out.
If you want to read more about this, look at one of my old newsletters — Get your flu jab NOW! — where I discuss changes in the flu virus in more detail.
The bottom line here is that the flu virus changes yearly. So, even if you had the flu last year and/or the vaccine, you should get a new vaccination this year. Plus, as we age, our immune system is not as good as it was and getting vaccinated helps your immune system get a jump start if you catch the flu. That is, your immune system does not have to play catch-up. It gets a jump start. It can hit the virus earlier before it has had a chance to make many copies and infect numerous cells and make your illness worse. The vaccination will also reduce your chances of passing on the flu as it will reduce the viral load in your system. You will have less virus available to cough and sneeze out.
In my early 20s, I caught the flu in consecutive winters of 85/86 and 86/87. You would think that having the flu in 1986 would protect me against the flu in 1987. It did and it didn’t. The flu I had in 1986 was awful. My temperature went through the roof, I hallucinated, I didn't get out of bed for three days, and when I did, I could hardly walk. The following year, it was bad but not as awful as the year before. And before you say anything, it wasn’t ‘man flu’; it was proper full-on flu. I’ve had the flu, and I’ve had ‘man flu’; they are worlds apart.
I have not had flu since those two winters, and I never want to experience it again, so I now get the vaccine.
Why get a COVID-19 vaccine?
Again, why not?
Way back in issue -115 — Why you should get a COVID-19 jab — I made an argument as to why you should get your COVID-19 jab. The same argument also holds about why you should get the flu jab.
In the issue, I was trying to make the point that getting the jab is good for you and society (the same argument holds for the flu jab). In that edition, I also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic (and yes, the pandemic is still ongoing) and how I had been told to expect such a pandemic some 40 years ago.
Despite numerous COVID-19 vaccinations, the virus finally caught up with me in July 2022. The virus made me feel unwell — it wasn’t a pleasant experience — but it would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t been vaccinated. I wrote about my experience in It got me! Catching COVID-19.
Anyway, it’s another year, and there is a new COVID-19 variant doing the rounds, so (again), even if you have had COVID-19 and were vaccinated last winter, it would be a good idea to top-up your immune system.
One thing I find intriguing about the COVID-19 virus is that, unlike the flu, it is not seasonal. Why is that?
Getting the flu and COVID-19 vaccinations
I had my flu and COVID-19 shots the other week, and while I know they have made some people feel rough for a day or two, I had no issues apart from a slight headache the next day. Hopefully, now I am protected.
What about you? Are you going to get your flu and COVID-19 vaccinations? Please let me know in the comments below.
This week in the Retirement Hustle
This week, in The Retirement Side Hustle, I look at how much money I made in October from my side hustles.
In the video, I give a breakdown of my income on my:
Medium Pension Blog (a repeat of the newsletter you are currently reading)
Nick’s Wanderings Blog (my new site for my travel stories)
Substack Pension Newsletter (you are reading it)
eBooks
The Retirement Side Hustle Newsletter is subscription-based. However, each video comes with a free minute or so that allows you to confirm the content, and if you take out a free subscription, you get full access to one edition.
Travel — Nostalgia Corner
This week, I wrap up my time in Laos and head for Thailand:
Laos — Utopia, Luang Prabang (ຫລວງພະບາງ/ຫຼວງພະບາງ), Laos— Well, that was a very odd experience.
Laos — The Mighty Mekong River, Laos — That’s one big river.
Laos — Summary — Did I enjoy my time in Laos?
Laos — Next Stop — Bangkok, Thailand — Time to move on to my last country of the trip
And next week, I will tell you about how things didn’t go as planned in Bangkok and how I rapidly changed my plans.
Useful links
Some useful COVID-19 and flu websites
UK NHS COVID-19 website — numerous links to information on COVID-19
CDC COVID-19 website — plenty of links to information on COVID-19
Next week
Next week, in issue 181, I look at how I am fighting against 50 years of programming and slowly making progress.
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
PS: If you would like to contribute a story, give advice, or provide anything else to the newsletter, please get in touch.