A (sort of) legitimate reason for avoiding the seasonal shot this year is that several experts are predicting novel H1N1 will be the only major flu strain this year - if that's the case, then it won't actually provide as much protection as usual. I don't think there's a consensus on this though - it's been 40 years since the last pandemic, and flu monitoring has changed a lot since then, so there seems to be a lot of uncertainty on whether the other strains will be around at their normal levels or whether they'll be almost nonexistent with novel H1N1 taking over everything. I'll probably still get mine, particularly since the vaccine for novel H1N1 won't be ready until November (and who knows when anyone not on the "priority" list will get it), but it may not be as beneficial this year as usual.
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