Is there an egg-less flu vaccine?
45 topic(s),
228 post(s)
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Has anyone researched or heard anything about an egg-less flu vaccine? I have gotten the flu for the last two years and wondered if I could do anything to prevent it this year. The CDC says that some people with non-severe egg allergies can get the shot. However, my doctor advised against this since I reacted pretty badly to a yellow fever vaccine I got a few years ago. Since both the flu shot and flu mist (nasal spray) have egg, I feel like I am out of luck. Does anyone have any ideas? |
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I didn’t realize the nasal spray had egg in it too. I knew that the shot was. Thanks for asking this question because I would really like to have an answer to it as well – having just recovered from the flu. The following website has some interesting links on it, but no answers that I would consider definitive. |
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I would recommend against getting any flu shot, as some believe it modifies your susceptibility to other health conditions. As a side note, I developed an allergy to egg whites, among multiple other food allergies, within about six months of getting a flu shot. Coincidence? |
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Yeah, its a toss up on whether it will help/hurt. I think this year, I might try to get it. First, I am in an at risk category for flu complications (bad asthma). Second, my egg allergy seems to have gone away; I got a new set of allergy tests and have found that I can actually tolerate eating eggs now. I might give it a shot this winter – no pun intended :) |
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Wow, mel, that’s awesome that your egg allergy seems to have disappeared! Was it a true allergy, or an intolerance? And can you think of any specific factor(s) that might have contributed to its disappearance? |
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Eggs were an allergy for me – I’ve tested positive for it multiple times with allergy tests. For the past 10 years or so, I’ve had really bad symptoms from eating eggs and getting vaccines (like the yellow fever vaccine). Once I realized that I was allergic to eggs, I strictly (and I mean strictly) avoided things with eggs or egg by-products for about 2 years. After this time, I was retested and the allergy was gone. I slowly introduced eggs and found that I had no problems with them. On an interesting note, a lot of my allergies changed to things I ate more often in those 2 years while trying to avoid others. For instance, I gained a horrible cucumber allergy but lost an apple allergy. My doctor explained this by saying that allergies can be different (per allergen and per person). Some allergies are dynamic and can change depending on your diet. This is why doctors recommend a rotation diet for allergy sufferers. By eating too much of one food, if you are allergy prone, you can develop a new allergy to it. By avoiding this food, sometimes your allergy can go away again. This case happened for me because I relied too much on my “safe” foods and didn’t have a varied enough diet. On the other hand, some allergies are constant. They will not go away, no matter if you avoid them entirely for the rest of your life. Some examples are shellfish and nuts; once people have an allergy, it will not go away. That being said, I think anyone trying to figure out if they’re still allergic to something should be very careful and talk to your doctor. I wouldn’t have introduced the egg to my diet without the new test and an epipen nearby… |
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Great info! Thanks, mel. Maybe in another year or so I will try egg whites again. Come to think of it, I believe I had also gotten a yellow-fever vaccine about 7-8 years ago, a few years prior to my multi-allergy outbreak. But I still plan to avoid the flu shot for life. I really almost never get sick, unless it’s due to a rare bout with food poisoning. Taking a daily cal-mag-zinc supplement, along with vitamin C, seems to keep the bugs away. Good luck with whatever you decide! |