I`ve been getting the flu shot every year for many years now. I used to get the flu every year and would be terribly sick with it, to the point where one year it hung on for about 3 months. The doctor insisted I get the flu shot that fall, and then the next, and so on, and I have never had the flu again since. I`ve had two severe bronchial infections, one of which almost did me in, but that probably came from nearly drowning and swallowing too much salt water. The other one hit me on the flight home from China in November (many others in our tour group came home very sick, 3 with full-blown pneumonia). Other than that, I`ve been so much healthier since getting the flu shot every fall that I wouldn`t even consider going without it now.