Welcome to the winter months, the time of year when people line up to be injected with a virus. For $10, you can get a rod of metal shoved into your skin and bits of disease forced into your blood stream. Aren’t you lucky?

It sounds ridiculously unpleasant, but an estimated 6 million flu-related illnesses are prevented every year thanks to the flu vaccine. The shot is especially important now as sensationalized sicknesses like H1N1 and the Avian flu seem to be claiming more and more lives.

For those of you living under a rock in a hole at the bottom of the sea, the flu shot is a vaccine used to counter the yearly flu epidemic. A vaccine is a vial full of dead virus bodies injected into your body via a hypodermic needle. Your immune system learns the weaknesses of the dead virus cells and takes advantage of them when fighting the real thing. Imagine your white blood cells as ninja scientists dissecting the dead veloci-virus and finding that the soft underbelly is vulnerable to their white blood cell ninjutsu.

There are concerns about the safety of the vaccine, thanks to some completely unsupported claims from a model/actress with a child who doesn’t actually have autism and absolutely no related education or experience, but if you aren’t under six months old or over 65, you should be fine. It’s true that the vaccine is not as effective if the recipient is already sick – something about an overworked immune system – but the benefits certainly outweigh the negatives.

Many people have excellent immune systems, and don’t fear anything less than the Black Death, but get the flu shot nonetheless to diminish their chance of spreading it to a weaker person. A prick and some soreness is a small price to pay for not killing your grandmother.

If you would rather die than have a needle within 20 feet of you, there are options. A nasal spray was invented as an alternative. FluMist is an aerosol filled with live flu virus, unlike the vaccine, but the virus bodies have been weakened, or attenuated, and cannot make you sick.

The flu season is in full swing right now, but it can last as late as May, so if you’re concerned about wasting 10 bucks, don’t be.

In summary, if you haven’t been vaccinated, you’re going to kill somebody. Won’t you feel bad.