here at wired.com we believe an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of phlegm so
today we go viral to see what's inside
flu zone flu vaccine but first since
there are literally thousands of
influenza variants the World Health
Organization must determine the four
strains most likely to circulate each
year generally to be viruses which
affect humans and to a viruses that can
infect animals as well like swine flu
once selected the variants are injected
into the Allen TOEIC fluid between the
embryo and shell of fertilized chicken
eggs to replicate before the dense virus
is separated from the surrounding
proteins in a centrifuge meaning your
flu shot may contain trace amounts of
some pretty well scrambled eggs along
with gelatin from animal collagen like
the kind found in jello used to
stabilise the vaccine during storage and
shipping far less appetizing is
formaldehyde which cross-links proteins
in the virus to prevent it from causing
illness while your immune system learns
to recognize and fight the foreign
invader but don't worry
since our blood already contains 13,000
micrograms of formaldehyde the extra 0.8
in a typical dose barely registers while
science provides our annual shot at
staying healthy feeling wired yet
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