Top 3 Reasons Why Many Don’t Get Flu Shot
Medical experts say, getting vaccinated with a flu shot ‘has never been more important.’
With all the news about different vaccines for COVID-19 being currently developed, another type of vaccine has easily been forgotten-influenza or Flu vaccine.
Since the flu season, this year is coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the health care providers have also sounded the alarm.
According to Newport Beach-based Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian's medical director of infection prevention Philip Robinson, MD, getting vaccinated with a flu shot "has never been more important."
Meanwhile, Huntington, New York-based Huntington Hospital medical director Michael Grosso, MD said, for sure, "No one knows how most people will respond to simultaneous infection with these two infections."
Nonetheless, the medical experts say there is extensive experience with both adults and children suffering from co-infection with a couple or more respiratory viruses.
As a result, people become more ill, taking longer to recover, and would even need hospital confinement more frequently when co-infection takes place.
The easiest to protect oneself other than hand-washing, wearing a face mask, and practicing social distancing, is to get vaccinated with a flu shot.
Despite this need, many are still not getting the vaccine. Here are 3 of the common mistakes people think about the flu vaccine:
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1. Flu is Not a Serious Illness
This is not true. In fact, millions of people get affected by the flu year after year. Every year, in the United States, roughly 25 million people get ill because of the flu.
And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since 2010, between 12,000 and 61,000 people have died because of flu each year.
People who are particularly susceptible to severe complications from flu comprise those who are aged 65 and above, those with chronic medical conditions like heart disease and asthma to name two, pregnant, and children below five years old.
According to infectious disease specialist, Bilal Naseer, MD., flu can be life-threatening no matter what age one is in.
Dr. Naseer even added; every individual needs to get the flu shot and not have this "false sense of security."
Flu is indeed, extremely prevented "and hurts me each year" when he sees an individual who's so very young, suffering from the illness in the intensive care unit.
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2. One has not Experienced Flu and Believes He is Immune to It
Just because you don't remember having had flu does not mean you've never had the illness, a medical expert said.
A lot of times, individuals are asymptomatic or just have very mild symptoms. But still, they are quite capable of transferring the infection to others, which is another really essential reason why a flu vaccine is needed.
3. Flu Vaccine is Not Needed Especially if There is a Regular Intake of Vitamin C or Zinc
The CDC recommends that one should take regular supplements as these nutrients may impact cold symptoms, and for vitamin C, it lessens the risk that people involved in an intense workout is likely to catch a cold.
However, cold and flu are two different diseases. More so, the flu vaccine provides superior protection compared to any nutritional measures an individual might take.
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Check out more news and information on Flu on MD News Daily.
Sep 28, 2020 08:20 AM EDT
