Hit The Flu With Your Best Shot: Get The Flu Shot

6 February 2018

Influenza activity during the 2014-2015 season was widespread, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2017-2018 surpassed that season. By the time that the 2017-2018 flu season started to peak, 37 children succumbed to the flu, and the hospitalization rate for adults with the flu soared. Understand why getting immunized against influenza every year can make all the difference in your prognosis, even during seasons with widespread flu activity and with reduced vaccine efficacy.

Flu Season Fluctuations

The efficacy of influenza vaccines, which protect against three or four viral strains of the flu, varies from season to season. When a strain mutates into a new strain during a flu season, protection against that new strain is not going to be part of the current season's vaccine. Each season's vaccine is formulated based upon the prior season's prevalent strains.

The activity rate of influenza can also vary from season to season as the number of people who opt out of getting their annual flu vaccines fluctuates. According to the CDC, nearly 60 percent the U.S. population did not get immunized for the 2017-2018 flu season. When more than half of the population remains unprotected and new strains emerge, the result is pandemic.

Vaccine Myths Busted

Why have so many people chosen not to be immunized against the flu? Their reasons range from outlandish conspiracy theories to common myths. Some of these myths include the following:

• The flu vaccine causes the flu. It does not. Soreness at the injection site is a common immune response, and mild symptoms such as a headache, body aches and low-grade fever may occur. This is not the flu. Symptoms of the flu are much more severe and debilitating.
• Vaccination is not necessary every year. It is. Different flu strains can come into circulation from one season to the next, which helps to determine which strains are included in each season's vaccine. Additionally, the immunity that a current flu vaccine provides diminishes by the time the next season sets in.
• Flu vaccines can cause serious reactions. Any foreign substance, from food and medication to any vaccine or anything else that is injected into the body, can cause a serious reaction. Life-threatening reactions to the flu vaccine are very rare, and such reactions can be addressed with life-saving treatment.
• It's too late to get vaccinated once the flu season is underway. It is never too late as long as there is flu activity. Although the vaccine takes up to two weeks to provide immunity, getting the vaccine during December or January will still offer the same protection through the end of the active season.

Some people are reluctant to bother with the flu vaccine upon hearing reports that the previous season's vaccine efficacy was low. However, a vaccine with low efficacy still provides greater protective benefits than no vaccine at all.

Benefits of Getting the Flu Vaccine

Even though the flu vaccine's efficacy can vary from season to season, there are plenty of reasons to get immunized annually. For one thing, the greater the number of individuals who receive the vaccine, the lower the risk is for contracting the illness from one another. Other benefits of the flu vaccine include the following:

• It can prevent you from contracting the flu. Remember, there are many strains of the flu virus, and the vaccine protects against multiple strains.
• Even if you do contract a strain of the flu that is not covered in the vaccine, the severity of your symptoms and the duration of your illness can be reduced. This can keep you out of the hospital.
• As the vaccine prevents you from getting the flu, this in turn reduces exposure to the flu by vulnerable loved ones in your family, such as an elderly parent, a young child, someone with a compromised immune system or chronic illness.
• The vaccine can protect expectant mothers from the flu. Immunity is passed to her developing fetus, and newborns continue to reap the protective benefits for several months.
• The flu can pose serious complication for those diabetes, heart disease and chronic respiratory disease. The vaccine can help to prevent complications.
• The flu vaccine can prevent flu-related deaths in children.

Immunization against the flu helps to protect everyone, and if everyone who is able to receive the vaccine does so, flu-related hospitalizations and deaths can be reduced.

Who Should Get Vaccinated?

The CDC currently recommends that everyone six month of age and older get immunized against the flu. There are a few individuals who must discuss influenza vaccination with their primary care provider prior to immunization, and those individuals include the following:

• Those who have a history of Guillain-Barré syndrome
• Those who are allergic to eggs
• Those who have a history of a severe vaccine reaction

The best protection against the flu is the flu vaccine, and while there is an optimal time to get immunized, anytime is better than not at all.

When Should You Get Vaccinated?

The ideal time for getting immunized against the flu each year is during the month of October. However, it is never too late to reap protective benefits. The CDC advises healthcare providers to offer the vaccine throughout the active flu season. In the United States, flu season peaks between the months of December and February, but can continue into May. So if the flu is still circulating in your area, go and get immunized if you have not already done so this season.