Why Do I Need A Flu Vaccine Every Year
A flu vaccine is needed every year for two reasons. First, an annual vaccine is needed for optimal protection because a persons immune protection from vaccination declines over time. Second, because flu viruses are constantly changing, flu vaccines may be updated from one season to the next to protect against the viruses that research suggests may be the most common viruses during the upcoming flu season.
How Is Influenza A Treated
If you have influenza, you are likely to get better within a week or so by:
- resting in bed
- taking mild pain relief to reduce your pain
- drinking plenty of liquids
- eating light foods when you are hungry
In some people, the flu can be severe and lead to serious complications such as pneumonia. This is mostly likely to affect the very young, the elderly, pregnant women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people with chronic health problems.
If this sounds like you, your doctor might give you antiviral treatment to reduce your symptoms and prevent complications. These treatments are most effective when started within 2 days of flu symptoms appearing, so its important to ask your doctor whether this type of treatment is right for you.
Antibiotics only work for bacterial infections, so they won’t work for the flu, which is caused by viruses.
How Does The Flu Shot Help Protect You From Flu
The flu shot contains a vaccine that helps prevent you from getting the flu. The flu shot cant cause the flu. Its safe to get a flu shot any time during pregnancy, but its best to get it before flu season . Even though youre more likely to get the flu during flu season, you can get it any time of year.
There are many different flu viruses, and theyre always changing. Each year a new flu vaccine is made to protect against three or four flu viruses that are likely to make people sick during the upcoming flu season. Protection from a flu shot only lasts about a year, so its important to get a flu shot every year. You can get the shot from your health care provider, and many pharmacies and work places offer it each fall. Use the HealthMap Vaccine Finder to find out where you can get the flu vaccine.
You May Like: Number Of Flu Cases Per Year
Novartis Monovalent Vaccine Caused Guillain
The 2009 package insert for Novartis Monovalent Vaccine which was leaked on the internet created a huge uproar. Why? Because, its side effects, as stated on the insert, include: Guillain-Barre Syndrome, anaphylactic shock, vasculitis, and get this death. This finding backed two studies conducted in 2007 and 2009, of which the latter found that, out of every million people diagnosed with flu, between 40 and 70 developed Guillain-Barre after getting the shot. However, this information didnt stop Government health officials from pushing the vaccine into the market in 2010 and 2011.
Several Ingredients Cause Serious Neurological Disorders
There is enough evidence that shows that the ingredients present in the flu vaccinations can actually cause serious neurological disorders. In the 1976 swine flu outbreak, many who got the flu shots developed permanent nerve damage. Flu vaccines can contain many harmful materials including detergent, mercury, formaldehyde, and strains of live flu virus. Is this what you want to put in YOUR body?
Don’t Miss: Tylenol Cold Flu And Cough
Is It Flu Or A Cold
It can sometimes be difficult to tell if you have flu or just a cold, as the symptoms can be quite similar. The main differences are:
Flu symptoms:
- usually include fever and aching muscles
- make you feel too unwell to continue your usual activities
Cold symptoms:
- come on gradually
- mainly affect your nose and throat
- are fairly mild, so you can still get around and are usually well enough to go to work
When To Seek Emergency Medical Attention
When the flu becomes severe, some people may need immediate medical attention to prevent further complications.
“Sometimes people will need to go to the emergency room to see a doctor right away due to the flu virus,” Bocchini said. “It is very important to know the signs and symptoms that indicate when someone is very sick from the flu and needs help right away.”
According to the CDC, emergency warning signs in children include:
- Fast breathing or trouble breathing
- Bluish skin color
- Not waking up or not interacting
- Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
- Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
- Fever with a rash
Also Check: How To Treat The Flu Over The Counter
How Dangerous Is The Flu
You may think you never get the flu, but Dr. Mossad says thats a common misconception.
The odds are about 10% to 20% of the population get infected with influenza every year, whether they have been diagnosed or not, says Dr. Mossad. If they think they never get the flu, they dont know because they either didnt get tested or because they think they never get sick from a viral illness.
Common colds and the flu are different from one another, but they certainly have similar symptoms. The real trouble occurs when the flu makes other underlying conditions worse, such as heart disease, lung disease, emphysema, heart failure, liver failure and more. And even when youre at peak health, the flu could lead to heart or muscle inflammation, making it difficult to move or be active, and even lead to secondary bacterial pneumonia.
Pneumonia is a lung infection in which the airways become inflamed and the air sacs of the lungs become filled with fluid. It can be life-threatening. Children under age 2, pregnant women, adults over 65 and people with compromised immune systems are most at risk for developing pneumonia.
That could put people in the hospital and require them to be on a breathing machine, says Dr. Mossad.
Why Is Flu Season So Bad This Year Family Physician Offers Tips
And pregnant women have a double risk. Pregnant women are in a state of immunosuppression because the immune system is trying not to reject the fetus, said Adalja. So the virus can get further, faster in their bodies.
Plus, their lungs are compressed by the fetus, so they have less breathing capacity. Humans need a certain level of oxygen and if blood oxygen levels fall too far, they enter a state called hypoxia. Hypoxia can cause organ damage within minutes.
Thats why bluish skin or difficulty breathing is an emergency that requires immediate medical care.
The best defense against flu, the CDC, FDA, pediatricians and other health experts agree, is a flu vaccine. Just about everyone over the age of 6 months should get one and it’s still not to late to do it.
And flu is spread by droplets that can linger on surfaces such as counter tops, which is why hand-washing is so important. It also spreads via sneezing and coughing and, perhaps, may float in the air on tiny droplets emitted by simple breathing.
Also Check: Can You Get 2 Flu Shots In The Same Year
Many Unknowns About Covid
Dr. Michael Chang, an infectious disease specialist with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston, says one of the biggest challenges of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is that its completely new.
That means theres a lot we dont know about it how it spreads, how it infects people, how it causes damage in the body, how the immune system responds to it.
Seasonal flu, on the other hand, has been around for a long time, so scientists and doctors know a lot about it, including the best way to treat people who have the illness.
We have more experience with the complications of flu such as cardiac problems and bacterial pneumonias that happen after you get the flu but with COVID-19, every treatment is essentially a trial run, Chang told Healthline.
Theres also a yearly vaccine available for seasonal flu. While its not 100 percent effective , it still offers some protection and can lessen the severity of illness.
The flu vaccine doesnt just protect people who are vaccinated. It also protects the larger community by slowing the spread of influenza viruses that are circulating.
There are also four antiviral drugs approved for treating seasonal flu. These can reduce the duration and severity of symptoms in people with the flu.
For COVID-19, a vaccine is most likely 12 to 18 months away, and there are currently no approved treatments.
typical flu season lasts around 5 months.
With the coronavirus, that kind of immunity buffer doesnt exist.
Myth : Ill Get The Flu
Despite what many say, the flu vaccine cannot give you the flu. Its not possible. The flu vaccine contains an inactive virus, which cannot cause the flu, only a sore arm and occasional mild side effects. The reason that the myth took hold is that it takes two weeks for the vaccine to be able to offer full protection. Those who reported coming down with the flu after receiving the vaccine were likely exposed to the virus prior to receiving the vaccine or in the two-week window it takes your body to develop immune protection.
Read Also: Best Cold And Flu Nighttime Medicine
Is The Flu Really That Dangerous
The flu and its complications have killed millions of people.
The most recent deadly outbreak was 100 years ago during WW1, which killed 675,000 Americans and 50 million people worldwide. Weve never defeated the flu, and since then, weve had outbreaks of swine and chicken flu as well.
But lots of people get the flu each year and they recover, so do we all really need to have a flu shot?
As with all medical issues, we should make a balanced decision based on the evidence. This means considering the pros alongside the dangers of the flu shot.
The Centers for Disease Control says the risk of serious harm or death from flu vaccination is extremely small, but research indicates that there may be hidden dangers to the flu shot not spoken about by the CDC.
Here are 10 reasons you should think it through.
It’s A Bad Flu Season: Here’s What You Need To Know To Protect Yourself
These secondary infections can damage organs, cause pneumonia or get into the bloodstream, causing another kind of immune system overreaction called sepsis.
So far this season, flu has killed 30 children, according to the latest CDC data. Last season, 110 children died from influenza in the U.S.
The CDC doesnt precisely count adult flu deaths, in no small part because it just kills so many. Every year, flu kills 12,000 to 56,000 people and sends as many as 700,000 to the hospital.
CDC estimates flu deaths by looking at how many more people than usual died of flu and pneumonia, but even those calculations miss people who may have died from flu complications, such as a heart attack set off by a bout of flu.
For patients with asthma or other lung conditions, flu is just one more problem for the lungs to cope with.
They are already having breathing difficulties. It can put them into a spiral very quickly where their breathing gets compromised, Adalja said.
Patients with diabetes already have a damaged immune response, so they also are more susceptible to flu.
Also Check: Can I Have The Flu Shot If I Am Sick
What Should I Do If I Have The Flu
If you get the flu, the best way to take care of yourself is to rest in bed and drink lots of liquids like water and other non-caffeinated drinks. Stay home from school until you feel better and your temperature has returned to normal.
Most people get better on their own after the virus runs its course. But call your doctor if you have the flu and:
- You’re getting worse instead of better.
- You have trouble breathing.
- You have a medical condition .
Most teens can take acetaminophen or ibuprofen to help with fever and aches. Don’t take aspirin or any products that contain aspirin, though. If kids and teens take aspirin while they have the flu, it puts them at risk for Reye syndrome , which is rare but can be serious.
Antibiotics don’t work on viruses, so they won’t help someone with the flu get better. Sometimes doctors can prescribe an antiviral medicine to cut down how long a person is ill from the flu. These medicines are effective only against some types of flu virus and work best when taken within 48 hours of when symptoms start. Doctors usually use this medicine for people who are very young, elderly, or at risk for serious problems, like people with asthma.
It Might Not Even Work
There are doubts about how well the flu shot works.
A studyby the CDC found the 2013 flu shot was not very effective in the over-65s, and a systematic reviewof 51 studies looked at the effectiveness of the flu shot on 260,000 children.
The review found that the shot was 33% effective in children over two compared to a placebo, and in under-twos, the inactive flu shot was no better than the placebo.
Children in the at-risk group include asthmatics, but a studylooking at 400 children with asthma found that the immunized ones were no more likely to visit the hospital or clinic than the unvaccinated ones.
If the flu shot doesnt work well, is it worth potentially putting yourself at risk for nothing?
Recommended Reading: Is The Flu Shot Every Year
Seasonal Flu And Covid
Every flu season is unique and influenza infection can affect people differently. Millions of people get the flu every year, hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized, and thousands of people die from flu-related causes. An annual seasonal flu vaccine is the best way to help protect against the flu. Vaccination has many benefits including reducing the risk or severity of flu illnesses and hospitalizations, and even the risk of flu-related death in children.
Vaccination to prevent the flu is important for people who are at increased risk for severe illness and complications from the flu. People at high risk from the flu include those with chronic kidney disease at any stage, including patients on dialysis and kidney transplant recipients.
What Is The Flu In Children
Influenza is a very contagious viral infection that affects the air passages of the lungs. It causes a high fever, body aches, a cough, and other symptoms. It is one of the most severe and common viral illnesses of the winter season. Most children are ill with the flu for less than a week. But some children have a more serious illness and may need to be treated in the hospital. The flu may also lead to lung infection or death.
Recommended Reading: Blue Cross Blue Shield Flu Shot Cvs
The Flu Shot Actually Makes You Sick To Begin With
Have you ever noticed how vaccinated children get sick almost immediately following a vaccination? This is because the flu virus is introduced into their bodies. So rather than immunize, the flu shot actually only sensitizes the body against the virus. And the fact that it causes individuals to get ill following a shot indicates immuno-suppression .
Can The Flu Be Prevented
Every year, manufacturers develop a vaccine to prevent against the virus strains likely circulating in the upcoming flu season. The CDC recommends that everyone six months and older be vaccinated.
Vaccination is even more important for populations at high risk. These people are protecting themselves not only from the flu, but from more serious complications that can lead to hospitalization. In some cases, flu complications can even cause death.
The exceptions include those who have severe allergies to chicken and eggs, and those who have had reactions to the vaccine in the past. Also, people who are currently ill and have a fever should wait until they feel better to get vaccinated.
Recommended Reading: First Signs Of Stomach Flu
When Should I Get The Flu Vaccine
Make plans to get vaccinated early in the fall before flu season begins. You should get a flu vaccine before flu viruses begin spreading in your community. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against the flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people get a flu vaccine by the end of October. Getting vaccinated later, however, can still be beneficial.
What Are Signs And Symptoms Of The Flu
Signs of a condition are things someone else can see or know about you, like you have a rash or youre coughing. Symptoms are things you feel yourself that others cant see, like having a sore throat or feeling dizzy. Common signs and symptoms of the flu include:
- Being very tired or sleepy
- Cough
- Fever , chills or body shakes. Not everyone who has the flu has a fever.
- Sore throat
- Vomiting or diarrhea
The flu often comes on quickly. Fever and most other symptoms can last a week or longer. But some people can be sick from the flu for a long time, including children, people older than 65, pregnant women and women who have recently had a baby.
- Feeling your baby move less or not at all
- High fever that doesnt go down after taking acetaminophen . Dont take any medicine without checking with your provider first.
- Pain or pressure in the chest or belly
- Sudden dizziness or confusion
- Trouble breathing or shortness of breath
- Vomiting thats severe or doesnt stop
- Flu signs or symptoms that get better but then come back with fever and a worse cough
Read Also: My Skin Hurts To Touch Flu