Can the seasonal injected influenza vaccine give you the flu?

No, the vaccine does not cause people to develop influenza after immunization. Unfortunately, this is a common misconception concerning the efficacy and safety of flu vaccines.

The influenza viruses used in vaccine preparations are grown in chick embryo tissue cultures and then harvested. These viruses are inactivated with formalin. These “killed” viruses are then split into components to yield the final preparation. Batches of vaccine are tested to be certain they are safe before they can approved for human immunization.