That's an important distinction. You may never have had the flu in the first place. In that case, it would be like saying "my reaction to the vaccine was worse

That's an important distinction. You may never have had the flu in the first place. In that case, it would be like saying "my reaction to the vaccine was worse than any infection I never had". That is equivalent to "my reaction to the vaccine was worse than my reaction to nothing", or more simply "I had a negative reaction to the vaccine". Fair enough, there's no questioning that. Now, if you had ever had an actual Influenza infection, my guess would be that you would prefer the vaccine. If you react that strongly to just the vaccine, why should you react less strongly to the actual virus? To be on the safer side, why not just assume that the actual virus would completely overwhelm you? > I am very reluctant to intentionally make myself sick for a few days every year. That's the tradeoff. Feel miserable for a few days per year versus taking the risk of contracting a severe infection and potentially being dead for the remaining years of your life. To complicate the matter, flu vaccines are only about 50% effective, though I'm told they help even with actual infections. I'm not telling you what to do, except to re-evaluate your thinking on the matter.