4 undeniable reasons to get your flu shot this year
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year, up to 20% of all Americans will contract the influenza virus, and over 200,000 will be hospitalized due to flu-related complications.
While the flu virus can affect everyone differently, it can be life-threatening in some cases, making it a serious public health concern that we should all care about. Studies have shown that, in addition to everyday practices like handwashing hygiene and staying home if sick, the best way to avoid contracting the flu virus and spreading it to others is to be immunized each year. Here are four reasons to get a flu shot. The best time of year to get flu shots is in September or October, ideally by Halloween.
1. Protect your health
The flu shot reduces your risk of catching the flu and experiencing severe complications. This is especially important for protecting people in high-risk groups like children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with chronic conditions — whether you fall into these categories or interact with others who are.
While the effectiveness of the flu shot varies from season to season, when it’s a good match to that year’s virus strains, it offers substantial protection.
2. The flu shot won’t give you the flu
Can the flu shot make you sick? A common misconception about the flu shot is that it causes the flu—this is false. Illness after vaccination is usually due to coincidental exposure, as it takes about two weeks for full immunity to develop. Still, many mistakenly attribute flu symptoms to the vaccine.
So, what’s happening? The flu vaccine activates antibodies in the body to protect against the flu virus, which takes about two weeks to develop. Because multiple strains of the flu can exist, most vaccines are trivalent.
These protect against the three most common strains: the two separate influenza A viruses (an H1N1 and an H3N2) and an influenza B virus (either B Victoria or B Yamagata ). Certain clinics, like urgent care centers, offer a quadrivalent vaccine, which includes both strains of influenza A and both B Victoria and strains.
So, while you may be getting one or more strains of the flu from an immunization, the concentration of the virus is enough to trigger your body's natural immune response but not enough to actually make you sick.
Additional flu vaccines available:
- High-dose flu vaccine - for those 65 years and older; contains 4x higher doses of the vaccine.
- Egg allergy-conscious flu vaccine - for those who have had an allergic reaction (typically hives) to eggs in the past.*
- Preservative-free flu vaccine—does not contain thimerosal; typically, it is a trivalent vaccine as well since quadrivalent vaccines and preservative-free considerations are also fairly new.
* Egg-free (allergy-conscious) flu shots are only available from Dignity- Urgent Care in San Francisco and Legacy- Urgent Care in Portland and Vancouver. They are available in New York (Northwell Health-Urgent Care) or Connecticut (Hartford HealthCare-Urgent Care).
3. It lowers your risk of contracting pneumonia
The flu vaccine not only protects against multiple flu strains but also lowers the risk of complications, such as pneumonia.
In 2015, a study was released showing that those who have been vaccinated against the flu are 57% less likely to catch pneumonia. That’s a pretty serious statistic, given that many of those who are unfortunate enough to catch pneumonia typically end up in the hospital for 4-5 days with IV antibiotics and a 4-week-long recovery period.
The data on hospitalizations community-acquired pneumonia conducted was collected from January 2010 through June 2012 at 4 US sites in a prospective observational multicenter study called the Etiology of Pneumonia in the Community (EPIC) study.
Lead author Dr. Carlos Grijalva, an associate professor of health and public policy at Vanderbilt University, concluded, “We found patients who received the influenza vaccination had a substantially lower risk.”
4. You'll save your sick days (for a vacation!)
Each year, the flu results in millions of sick days across the country, as the flu virus spends several days taking its toll on your body. If you are taking days off from work because you are sick but plan on working from home, it won’t be so easy. A computer monitor or a conference call may be the last place you want to be if you are coughing, sneezing, sniffling, shivering and sweating.
Spending your lunch break getting your flu shot seems well worth it when those sick days are instead being cashed in for a long weekend getaway in the winter.
As for what to avoid after the flu shot, avoid strenuous exercise for at least 24 hours to reduce the risk of soreness or discomfort at the injection site. Also, steer clear of alcohol, as it can weaken your immune response and delay recovery.
We have flu shots available for the whole family, including high-dose shots for those 65 and older and pediatric shots for children under two at select centers. Open seven days a week, visit a convenient urgent care center near you.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Estimated US Flu Disease Burden. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu-burden/php/data-vis/index.html#
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html
- Grijalva CG, Zhu Y, Williams DJ, Self WH, Ampofo K, Pavia AT, Stockmann CR, McCullers J, Arnold SR, Wunderink RG, Anderson EJ, Lindstrom S, Fry AM, Foppa IM, Finelli L, Bramley AM, Jain S, Griffin MR, Edwards KM. Association Between Hospitalization With Community-Acquired Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Pneumonia and Prior Receipt of Influenza Vaccination. JAMA. 2015 Oct 13;314(14):1488-97. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.12160. PMID: 26436611; PMCID: PMC4688454.
