Health agencies, providers push for more people to get flu shot
Getting you flu shot is taking on extra urgency this year with the potential of a fall surge in COVID-19 cases. Health agencies and care providers across mid-michigan are hoping that people get a shot to not only prevent bad flu infections, but to prevent local hospitals from getting overwhelmed.
The science is clear, said Dr.
Lydia Watson, chief medical officer for Midmichigan Health, which has hospitals in Gratiot and Clare counties, an emergency room in Isabella County and primary care offices across the region.
People who get their flu shot have an easier time getting through it, she said.
While the flu vaccine isn’t 100 percent effective in preventing a flu infection, people with flu shots see reductions in emergency room visits by 40- 60 percent and visits to ICUS by up to 60-80 percent, she said.
A vaccination shot also saves lives, said Linda Cornell, an infectious disease nurse at Mclaren- Central Michigan.
“The flu shot is clinically proven to dramatically reduce the risk of a bad flu infection,” she said. Almost every one who dies is someonewho hasn’t gotten the shot.
Health care providers are eyeing warily flu season this year, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a significant risk that people with flu and people with COVID-19 will challenge hospital capacity.
While there has been some confusion about whether the novel coronavirus, SARS- COV-2, is the same thing as the flu, the two are different kinds of viruses.
Most flu infections are caused by Influenza A and B viruses, with the A strain responsible for all known flu epidemics and pandemics. That includes the strain of swine flu that caused the 2009 pandemic and the 1918 so- called Spanish flu pandemic.
A flu- season’s vaccine is developed based on the kinds of flu viruses circulating around the Eastern Hemisphere in the months before flu season starts in the Western Hemisphere.
Some years, the vaccine ismore effective. But, Hayes said, a flu vaccine that is less effective is still highly effective as reducing the severity of an infection.
One source of confusion that COVID-19 and the flu are different is because the two have similar symptoms: Cough, fever, fatigue, shortness of breath. The primary difference is that COVID-19 is also usually accompanied by a loss of smell and/or taste, Hayes said.
A flu shot can also help medical providers determine what kind of infection a patient has, Cornell said. If someone comes to an emergency room with symptoms similar of the two, if they have a flu shot, it’ll tip nurses and doctors to test for COVID-19.
This year, one option are panel tests that look for both major flu strains circulating and COVID-19, she said.
Area clinics, pharmacies and primary care offices are the best places to get flu shots, Cornell said. In this age of COVID-19, however, it is probably smart to call ahead to see what kinds of procedures there are to follow.