Why It’s Really Important to Get a Flu Shot This Year
Winter is coming and it’s going to be rough
Every year doctors recommend that everyone six months of age and older should get a flu shot. However, not everyone gets the flu vaccine. According to the CDC, in the US during the 2018–2019 flu season, 62.6% of children aged 2 to 17 and 45.3% of adults over the age of 17, received the vaccine.
The usual flu season is bad enough, but compound it with Covid-19, and we are poised to head into a very nasty winter altogether.
Each year since 2010, in America, the flu causes an average of:
- 9 million to 45 million illnesses
- 12,000 to 61,000 deaths per year
Since January 2020, in America, Covid-19 has caused:
- Over 4.8 million positive cases*
- Over 157,000 deaths (as of August 6)
(*This number may be misleading as the head of the CDC estimates the number of people with Covid-19 is likely to be 10 times higher than recorded cases.)
No vaccine for Covid-19
Looking at the data, one can imagine what even a mild flu season would do when it’s combined with Covid-19, to hospitalization rates, and the overload on healthcare workers. At this time, Covid-19 shows no signs of abating. Many experts predict cases will surge at even higher rates this winter when the weather causes people to move indoors.
There is still no vaccine for Covid-19. Vaccines normally take 10 to 15 years to develop, but the world is on a fast track to getting a working vaccine against Covid-19 as soon as possible. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gives us hope that we may have a vaccine by the beginning of 2021.
But you can get a flu shot
But the good news is there is an effective and safe vaccine against the flu. And though it’s not 100% effective, it ranges from 20 to 60% effectiveness each year, it’s very effective at reducing illness, deaths, and hospitalizations. Even if you still get the flu after getting a flu shot, experts say it is likely to be less severe of an illness.
Two Main Reasons This Year’s Flu Season Is Different
- A surge of hospitalizations due to the flu is going to overwhelm hospitals that are already overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients. And if the winter brings higher cases of Covid-19, we’re looking at even more hospitalizations and more of a need for ventilators.
- We have no way to know what getting the flu and Covid-19 at the same time will look like.
Get your flu shot early
Doctors and clinics will begin stocking the flu shot in early September this year. Though the flu season in North America typically begins in October, don’t wait this year as everything is unknown due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Another reason to get your flu shot as soon as you can is there has been some speculation of a syringe shortage in 2020. So it’s best to get your shot when it becomes available.
Look for a heavy flu shot campaign coming soon from medical professionals. Many people that typically get flu shots at work or when they are out and about may need to make a different plan this year. Watch for socially distanced immunization clinics held in parking lots and curbside.
Get your flu shot and get it early. This is not the year to skip it.
