@^^^: Vaccines trigger an immune response so that your antibodies will respond to the disease fast and efficiently. You often don't experience any symptoms if you have gotten a vaccine. Which is the whole point of the vaccine. The flu virus has 8 or so RNA strands, and a pig infected with four types of flu (two types of swine flu, human flu, and bird flu) acted as a vector and allowed these viruses to share RNA forming this new strain that was recombinant in H1N1. We don't have the antibody response from our immune systems for this new strain of H1N1 making you more susceptible to infection, and resulting in a longer infection while your immune system recognizes and responds to the threat. That is the ONLY difference between this new flu and any other flu.
Not getting sick by not getting the shot just anecdotal, and not indicative of you being any better off fighting the flu than if you had continued to get shots. Some people get a milder form of the flu from the vaccine if they inherited little previous immunity or are immunosuppressed. If you are in your teens to 40 something and healthy you are probably okay skipping the flu shot if you want, but it is better than the alternative. And, for children, the elderly, or people with certain types of diseases it can be really important to keep up on your flu shot schedule.
