Should I Get A Flu Vaccine This Year
If youre wondering whether you should ask your healthcare provider about a flu vaccine this year, the answer is a resounding yes. According to the CDC, anyone 6 months or older should get a flu vaccine every year . But even if you dont typically get a flu shot, you should think about getting one this year.
Even though the flu vaccine doesnt work against coronavirus, there are important reasons why flu shots are recommended.
Do Recent Vaccine Effectiveness Study Results Support Flu Vaccination
The large numbers of flu-associated illnesses and deaths in the United States, combined with the evidence from many studies that show flu vaccines help to protect against flu illness and its potentially serious complications, support the current U.S. flu vaccination recommendations. CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against flu viruses. Everyone 6 months and older should get an annual flu vaccine, ideally by the end of October.
How Can I Tell If I Have The Flu Covid A Cold Or Allergies
It can be challenging to distinguish between these conditions because they have many overlapping symptoms. For instance, both the flu and Covid-19 can cause fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, vomiting and diarrhea. Therefore, the only way to distinguish reliably between the two illnesses is to get tested, Dr. Gandhi said.
There are now combined tests available at some doctors offices that can distinguish between flu, SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus , a common and typically mild respiratory virus that can cause more serious symptoms in infants and older adults. Most of these tests are not covered by health insurance, though, Dr. Fradin said. They can run around $250, although costs may vary, she said.
Some cold and allergy symptoms might overlap with those from the flu or Covid-19 , but symptoms of colds and allergies are typically more mild, and are usually limited to the nose, throat and chest. In kids, however, Covid-19 can present a lot like a cold. So it may be wise for kids with cold symptoms to get a Covid-19 test, Dr. Fradin said.
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Misconceptions About Stomach Flu
Is the stomach flu really flu?
No. Many people use the term stomach flu to describe illnesses with nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. These symptoms can be caused by many different viruses, bacteria or even parasites. While vomiting, diarrhea, and being nauseous or sick to your stomach can sometimes be related to flu more commonly in children than adults these problems are rarely the main symptoms of influenza. Flu is a respiratory disease and not a stomach or intestinal disease.
Pediatrician Emphasizes Safety Of The Pfizer Vaccine For Young Kids And Stresses The Importance Of The Shotyour Browser Indicates If You’ve Visited This Link
After the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved a Pfizer vaccine dose safe for 5 to 11-year-old children against COVID-19, a pediatrician tells WLRN why parents and guardians should take kids in this group to get protected against the disease as soon as possible.
WLRN
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Fauci Finally Admits Vaccines Dont Protect Against Serious Covid Or Death
Last week Dr. Anthony Fauci made perhaps the most damning confession in the Covid vaccine saga. So far-reaching are the implications of his statement that the interview in which he made it may well prove a turning point in the fight against the great vaccine fraud that is being perpetrated on the peoples of the world.
In a November 12 podcast session with the New York Times, Fauci was forced to admit the fact that the vaccines do not reliably protect their recipients from serious Covid or death.
They are seeing a waning of immunity not only against infection but against hospitalization and to some extent death, which is starting to now involve all age groups. It isnt just the elderly .
In other words, the vaccines protective efficacy wanes not only in regard to the threat of infection, but also in regard to severe Covid and death. Speaking about the effectiveness of the vaccines in countries with high vaccination rates, Fauci admitted:
Its waning to the point that youre seeing more and more people getting breakthrough infections, and more and more of those people who are getting breakthrough infections are winding up in the hospital.
Even though Fauci tries to palliate the hard impact of his answer in soft language, the harsh truth behind his words is painfully evident.
Last week, however, this lie was also put to rest by none other than Dr. Fauci himself.
How, then, should we describe vaccines that:
What Can I Do If I Get The Flu
If you get the flu, there are things you can do to feel better. First, to see if there are medicines that can help. Remind him or her if you are taking drugs to fight cancer or other medicines that make it hard for your body to fight illness. There are prescription drugs, called antivirals, that are used to treat people with the flu. If you take them within 48 hours after the flu begins, these drugs can make you feel better more quickly. Antibiotics do not help you get over the flu. They are sometimes prescribed to help you get over a secondary infection if it is caused by bacteria. Bacteria are a different type of germ than viruses.
Antivirals can also be used to prevent flu. If you hear that there is a flu outbreak in your area, check with your doctor. He or she could prescribe an antiviral that might protect you. Prevention is key. The first choice for preventing the flu is a flu shot.
If you are sick, try to rest in bed and drink plenty of fluids, like juice and water but not alcohol. Medicine such as acetaminophen can bring down your fever, which might help with the aches and pains. It is important not to smoke if you are sick with the flu. It is a respiratory illness that can infect your lungs, as well as your nasal passages. These same areas are also bothered by smoking. Take it easy as much as you can until you are well.
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Whats The Difference Between The Flu Virus And The Coronavirus
The flu is caused by different strains of the influenza virus, or flu virus. But the virus that causes COVID-19 isnt an influenza virus. Its a coronavirus. More specifically, COVID-19 is caused by a novel type of coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 .
Although the flu virus and SARS-CoV-2 can both affect your lungs and may bring about some similar symptoms like fever and a dry cough they are different viruses. That means they have different structures that make them interact with our bodies differently, and its why we cant use the same vaccines to prevent the illnesses they cause. The flu vaccine protects you against the flu, but it doesnt work against coronaviruses.
Northern Hemisphere Influenza Season
The composition of trivalent virus vaccines for use in the 2017â2018 Northern Hemisphere influenza season recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on August 25, 2017, was:
- an A/Michigan/45/2015 pdm09âlike virus
- an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 -like virus
- a B/Brisbane/60/2008âlike virus
In addition to these components, quadrivalent vaccines will also include a B/Phuket/3073/2013âlike virus .
In California, some emergency systems were strained by a spike in H3N2 flu cases. In addition, some areas experienced local shortages of oseltamivir. The severity of the flu season seemed somewhat comparable to the 2009â10 swine flu outbreak. A February 2018 CDC interim report estimated the vaccine effectiveness to be 25% against H3N2, 67% against H1N1, and 42% against influenza B.
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Can The Flu Shot Prevent Covid
It is not designed to do so, and we have no solid evidence that it does. But some recent, yet preliminary and limited, studies suggest that it could. One study published on a preprint server in September that has not yet been peer reviewed found that of nearly 18,000 employees at a Dutch hospital, those who received a previous flu vaccine were 37 to 49 percent less likely to get sick with Covid-19 during the first and second coronavirus waves, respectively,than those who didnt get the flu shot.
Researchers have been speculating that the flu vaccine might spark a broad immune response that could help prevent other infections, including Covid-19. And while there is growing interest in this theory, and other studies have found similar associations, its hard to know whether these effects are causal or just coincidental, Dr. Fradin said.
The best way to prevent Covid-19,she added,is to get a Covid-19 vaccine.
What Is The Flu Vaccine
The influenza vaccine is used to prevent infection caused by the influenza virus. The flu can cause serious illness, especially in young children, older adults and people with chronic health problems, but anyone can become seriously ill from the flu virus. Even if you are not feeling sick, you could still be infected with the flu virus and pass it on to others. Read more about the flu.Vaccination is the best way to prevent infection and reduce the seriousness of illness if you become infected. It will greatly improve your chances of not getting the flu, but it does not give 100% protection.
Being vaccinated causes your body to produce antibodies against the flu virus. This means your body can respond faster and more effectively to the flu. By first coming across a non-infectious version of the virus in the vaccine, it learns to recognise it. When it comes across it again, your body can react much faster and in a more effective way.
Even if you get the flu after being vaccinated, you usually get a mild form of it and recover faster, and are less likely to have serious complications.
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What Is Influenza Aand How Is It Different Than Other Influenza Viruses
Let’s back up a second: There are actually four types of influenza virusesA, B, C, and D. But human influenza A and B viruses are the ones that cause flu season nearly every winter in the US, the CDC explains.
Influenza A and B viruses are broken into different subtypes. The subtypes for influenza A are broken down based on two proteins on the surface of the virus, the CDC explains: hemagglutinin and neuraminidase . There are 18 different hemagglutinin subtypes and 11 different neuraminidase subtypes .
The virus can go through something called “reassortment,” which is when flu viruses swap genetic segments, which can create a lot of different types of influenza A that can circulate. Overall though, the CDC says that the subtypes H1N1 and H3N2 are the most common influenza A viruses that circulate in people.
Influenza B, on the other hand, are just broken into two lineagesB/Yamagata and B/Victoria.
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“Influenza A and B are just different strains of the virus that have different genetic characteristics,”infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Health.
When comparing the two strains, “influenza B is generally less severe,” Richard Watkins, MD, an infectious disease physician and professor of internal medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University, tells Health.
Accessing The Influenza Vaccine For Employees Clients Patients Etc
- Is there a mobile clinic that can come to our work location to vaccinate our employees?
- A number of organizations, including private health care agencies, pharmacies, and travel clinics, have offered this service in the past. This information can be found online by searching for workplace influenza vaccine clinics in B.C. or by contacting your local pharmacy or travel clinic. ImmunizeBC does not endorse any one organization, and we recommend that you contact the specific organization for details. Your local health unit may have information on who provides this service in your area.
- Is there a way to get in-home influenza vaccines for those who are housebound?
- You can contact your local health unit for this information. Ask to speak to a public health nurse.
- We work with developmentally disabled adults, some of whom are very needle phobic. Is there a possibility to arrange for them to get the nasal spray vaccine?
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Contact your local health unit to see if this can be arranged. Ask to speak to a public health nurse.
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Quadrivalent Vaccines For Seasonal Flu
A quadrivalent flu vaccine administered by nasal mist was approved by the FDA in March 2012. Fluarix Quadrivalent was approved by the FDA in December 2012.
In 2014, the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization published a review of quadrivalent influenza vaccines.
Starting with the 2018-2019 influenza season most of the regular-dose egg-based flu shots and all the recombinant and cell-grown flu vaccines in the United States are quadrivalent. In the 2019â2020 influenza season all regular-dose flu shots and all recombinant influenza vaccine in the United States are quadrivalent.
In November 2019, the FDA approved Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent for use in the United States starting with the 2020-2021 influenza season.
In February 2020, the FDA approved Fluad Quadrivalent for use in the United States. In July 2020, the FDA approved both Fluad and Fluad Quadrivalent for use in the United States for the 2020â2021 influenza season.
Can The Flu Vaccine Also Help With Covid
Bonus features on a DVD or Blu-ray disc are nice, but we dont expect them from vaccines. As the novel coronavirus hurtled through communities in 2020 and no specific vaccine was on the immediate horizon, scientists began to wonder if a different jab, already approved and commonly administered, might have a bonus feature of its own: protecting us from COVID and its most severe consequences. The jab in question is the flu vaccine, and with influenza season arriving soon in the Northern Hemisphere, it is worth looking at the scientific evidence behind this idea that the flu vaccine could not only protect from the flu but from COVID as well.
But eventually, teams of scientists started to report an unexpected trend: not only was the flu shot not favouring COVID infections, as had been briefly feared, it might actually protect against them.
Other studiesmainlyconductedinItalyfind no such link, and here we come face to face with the difficulties in obtaining reliable results from studies like these. Our best chance at clarity would be to do a randomized controlled trial, in which participants are randomly assigned to receive a flu shot or to have the vaccine withheld from them. To be extra-rigorous, we would then purposefully expose all of these people to the coronavirus to document what would happen. Needless to say, there is a good word to describe this experiment: unethical.
In living memory of the innate immune system
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What Flu Vaccine Should I Get
Different flu vaccines are approved for use in different groups of people. There are flu shots approved for use in children as young as 6 months of age and flu shots approved for use in adults 65 years and older. Flu shots also are recommended for use in pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions. The nasal spray flu vaccine is approved for use in non-pregnant individuals, 2 years through 49 years of age. People with some medical conditions should not receive the nasal spray flu vaccine. Your provider will know which flu vaccine is best for you.
Allergic Reactions To The Flu Vaccine
It’s very rare for anyone to have a serious allergic reaction to the flu vaccine. If this does happen, it usually happens within minutes.
The person who vaccinates you will be trained to deal with allergic reactions and treat them immediately.
Anyone can report a suspected side effect of a vaccine through the Yellow Card Scheme.
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Influenza Vaccines And Covid
- Why is it more important this year than ever to get vaccinated against influenza?
- Getting an influenza vaccine is more important than ever this year to protect yourself and the people around you from influenza and to help reduce the strain on our overstretched health care system responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID-19 and influenza can be similar and make people sick enough to go to the hospital. By getting your influenza vaccine, you can help the health care system keep resources available to help those with COVID-19. In addition, last years low influenza rates mean our immunity against influenza is lower than usual. This makes getting your influenza vaccine this year more important than ever to protect yourself, your community, and our overstretched health care system.
- How can I tell if I have influenza or if I have COVID-19?
- Influenza and COVID-19 have similar symptoms, so it may be hard to tell the difference based on symptoms alone. It is best to confirm your COVID-19 diagnosis with a test and follow COVID-19 prevention measures to help keep others safe. Influenza and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses but are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 seems to spread more easily than influenza and can cause more serious illnesses in some people. In addition, people with COVID-19 can take longer to show symptoms and can be contagious for longer than those with influenza.