--given the strong likelihood that my acute onset body wide burning neuropathy involved an autoimmune molecular mimicry cascade, I don't get the flue shot, either; in cases like mine the possibility of having such a reaction again contraindicates it.

This is not to say I am anti-vaccine overall, and I have gotten things like tetanus boosters in the past. But I have a benign history with those, and the flu vaccines change each year depending on the strains expected, making the flu vaccine a more risky proposition for me.

It helps, though, that I have been exposed to numerous flu-ridden people (especially my students) and have never apparently gotten it; my overactive immune system seems to be able to prevent that for me, at least so far. I do get the occasional cold, but that's a comparatively minor annoyance.