Health tip for travel to Australia (their winter/our summer)

What I have read about flu shots is it takes about 2 weeks after injection for it to be fully effective. Getting one on arrival may not have helped.

Get well soon!

I thought flu shots were tailor made for the prevelant strains wherever you live.

My pharmacist always notifies me immediately when the flu shot is available because I traveled for work every fall to represent my company on product advisory committees and attended a huge Teradata user conference yearly. Flu shots were just made available in Michigan August 1. Last year it was also mid-August. Target will give you a $5 gift card and my health insurance covers it completely. It does take two weeks before it's really effective.

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I realize that the flu shot takes a while to become effective, but I think the main sources of contagion are your uber-long-haul flight there and back. Can't do much about the flight out unless you can get flu shots ahead of time, but if you get a shot once you land in Australia and you're going to be there for a while, it will certainly provide immunity for your flight back. We were on one of those huge Airbus 380s for 17 hours and 30 min (15h 30 min of flight plus 2 hours on the tarmac waiting for mechanical fixes) out of Sydney. I am 99% sure that that's where I picked this horrible thing up. So, at least it didn't ruin my vacation, but if had known I was going to get this sick (fever now hovering around 102.5; gave up and started taking Tylenol even though it's against my personal sick care philosophy) I definately would have taken action to prevent it.

Janet,

You've made a very good point, as the Flu shot is not something that most people consider when travelling at this time of year. As you've noted, being stuck in an aluminum / composite tube for almost 18 hours provides an excellent environment for the spread of Flu.

This appears to be a particularly severe Flu season in Australia....

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/03/australias-winter-flu-outbreak-spikes-early-in-season

The flu regular flu shot at home would only cover the strains they predicted for your area. Most likely not what you would encounter in Australia at a total different time of year.

I however, wonder if a travel clinic would cover flu shots as well?

The flu vaccine has two formulations, one for the northern hemisphere and one for the southern hemisphere. There are efforts being made towards formulating a universal vaccine.