Influenza vaccines remain the best defense for upcoming flu season
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is suggesting the best time to receive a flu vaccine is by the end of this month as flu season is about to hit the area.
While every flu season is different and influenza infection can affect people differently, the CDC estimates that flu-related hospitalizations since 2010 ranged from 140,000 to 710,000, while flu-related deaths are estimated to have ranged from 12,000 to 56,000.
The CDC reports that millions of people get the flu every year with hundreds of thousands of people being hospitalized and thousands to tens of thousands dying from flu-related causes.
Because the flu season begins in the U.S. as early as October and runs until late May, the CDC suggests people receive their flu shots near the end of October as it takes about two weeks for the vaccine to work.
Dr. Jeffrey James, medical director of infection control at Uniontown Hospital, said they provide shots for both employees and patients who have not yet received the vaccine.
Kathy Liberatore, a registered nurse and the infection prevention and control manager with the Monongahela Valley Hospital, said the hospital located in Washington County treated 563 people for influenza during last year’s flu season.
“Influenza can be a mild illness, but this infection can progress quickly requiring that the individual requires hospitalization or may possibly die,” Liberatore said. “Those who do not get immunized are a source of influenza to others, their family members, friends and coworkers.”
James said he normally gets his flu shot in the beginning of October when it’s first offered and recommends that people receive their shot this month, but added that it’s never too late for someone to receive their flu shot.
“You never know when flu season is going to hit,” James said, noting that sometimes it doesn’t come until January or February or even as late as March.
“The CDC recommends getting your flu shot by the end of October,” Liberatore said. “Here in the Mon Valley our influenza season usually starts Thanksgiving week and peaks in late February into March.”
Liberatore added that those in the Mon Valley receiving their immunization by Nov. 1 should be provided enough time to protect people throughout the seasonal flu system.
James said Uniontown Hospital has already seen one or two cases of influenza that required hospitalization, which is something a flu shot can prevent, even if people sometimes say the shots don’t work as well as they should.
Along with the shot preventing the contracting and spreading of the flu, James said more importantly, the shot prevents someone contracting the flu from getting worse to the point of hospitalization and even death, both of which James has witnessed.
“For a relatively low-risk shot, the benefits far outweigh the risks,” James said. “I highly advocate getting it.”
Even healthy people can get very sick from the flu and spread it to others. The CDC estimates during flu season, flu viruses circulate at higher levels in the U.S. population.
It’s recommended that anyone 6 months old and up should get a flu shot with exceptions for those with life-threatening allergies to gelatin, antibiotics or other ingredients in a flu vaccine.
Others are asked to consult their doctors if they have an allergy to flu vaccine ingredients or eggs, if they’ve ever had Guillain-Barre Syndrome or if they’re not feeling well.
For more information on the flu shot, visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/flu