I have never taken a flu vaccine nor had the flu. Some thoughts from Dr John Campbell...

[Don Alaska]

The common cold, or what WAS the common cold is actually a covid virus. You never hear of anyone with a bad cold anymore. There were hospitalizations here that were classified as covid because the government paid more for them than say a fatal motor cycle accident. (yes that did happen) But now that the gov't isn't paying any more, POOF. People go in with covid, after testing, and they are sent home.

That did happen. The CDC also set up the Covid test apparatus to pick up influenza as Covid. It was criminal and, as far as I know, the U.S. was the only nation to deliberately inflate their Covid numbers. They held that flu "went away" during Covid due to everyone wearing masks, but that concept had been disproven during the Obama Administration when masks and gloves were worn during the false H1N1 flu epidemic. Mask and gloves and hand sanitizer were shown not to have any effect on influenza virus transmission, Actual hand washing DID have an effect however, and that was in part why the hand sanitizer was de-emphasized later in the Covid pandemic, as was much of the surface cleaning.

You're correct @Mary Stetler that many "colds" are caused by coronaviruses, but not all. There are 5 or 6 different viruses that exhibit common cold symptoms, also including various rhinoviruses. Part of why the "Common Cold" can't be cured is that it is not always caused by the same virus, and those viruses mutate rapidly, as has been shown by the Covid issue. People vaccinated against Covid were generally only made immune to one epitope of the virus on the spike protein, so when that changed on the virus, another booster had to be administered. People who actually got Covid, developed immunity to many different sites on the virus, so if on epitope changed, there was still some immunity. In "stable" viruses, like Hepatitis B. one site is usually enough as that site may not shange, especially if it is in a part of the virus that cannot change. In Hep B, that is the Surface Antigen (abbreviated HBsAg). Many other antigens exist on the Hep B virus, and a vaccinated individual can be differentiated from a person who has had the disease and "converted" by examining the antibody profile in the person's blood. the vaccinated person will only have one antibody, while someone who has had the disease will have several.

Sorry @Mary Stetler. That is probably more than you wanted to know, but it explains some of the mess that occurred during Covid

 

[Mary Stetler]

That did happen. The CDC also set up the Covid test apparatus to pick up influenza as Covid. It was criminal and, as far as I know, the U.S. was the only nation to deliberately inflate their Covid numbers. They held that flu "went away" during Covid due to everyone wearing masks, but that concept had been disproven during the Obama Administration when masks and gloves were worn during the false H1N1 flu epidemic. Mask and gloves and hand sanitizer were shown not to have any effect on influenza virus transmission, Actual hand washing DID have an effect however, and that was in part why the hand sanitizer was de-emphasized later in the Covid pandemic, as was much of the surface cleaning.

You're correct @Mary Stetler that many "colds" are caused by coronaviruses, but not all. There are 5 or 6 different viruses that exhibit common cold symptoms, also including various rhinoviruses. Part of why the "Common Cold" can't be cured is that it is not always caused by the same virus, and those viruses mutate rapidly, as has been shown by the Covid issue. People vaccinated against Covid were generally only made immune to one epitope of the virus on the spike protein, so when that changed on the virus, another booster had to be administered. People who actually got Covid, developed immunity to many different sites on the virus, so if on epitope changed, there was still some immunity. In "stable" viruses, like Hepatitis B. one site is usually enough as that site may not shange, especially if it is in a part of the virus that cannot change. In Hep B, that is the Surface Antigen (abbreviated HBsAg). Many other antigens exist on the Hep B virus, and a vaccinated individual can be differentiated from a person who has had the disease and "converted" by examining the antibody profile in the person's blood. the vaccinated person will only have one antibody, while someone who has had the disease will have several.

Sorry @Mary Stetler. That is probably more than you wanted to know, but it explains some of the mess that occurred during Covid

Oh no, Don Alaska. Don't be sorry. I love it when you talk disease.
You and I are pretty much on the same page.

 

[Don Alaska]

Here is a video by an established author talking about how products are approved by the FDA.