Flu shot: help or hype?

I’ve heard that the previous batches of influenza vaccine which were distributed in past years have been largely useless because they protect against strains of the flu virus that don’t really become prevalent.

See, the manufacturers must research and develop what they think will be coming out in the following season. And then they must cook it all up, distribute it, etc.

By the time all that happens, the flu variant that ends up coming around has mutated into something else entirely.

In essence, it’s a shot in the dark. The vaccine manufacturers might get lucky, but the odds are very much stacked against them… especially for something so likely to mutate, like a virus. It doesn’t matter that a single vaccine can cover multiple strains of the flu, it still cannot cover them all… and some have yet to have a vaccine created yet.

—

Or am I misinformed? Will you getting the needle this season?