Five Good Reasons to Get a Flu Vaccine

As influenza viruses spread this flu season, getting an influenza vaccination is more important than ever, stated the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on December 7, 2020.

According to various reports, about 190 million vaccines were produced for the USA this flu season.

The CDC strongly encourages everyone to discuss their flu vaccine options with a healthcare provider.

 The CDC identified five reasons why you should get a flu shot:

Helps Keep You Healthy: Flu can cause signs and symptoms; such as fever, cough, and body aches, which can keep a healthy person home from work, school, and errands for a few days to a week or more.

Flu vaccination helps prevent millions of illnesses and flu-related doctor visits each year. CDC estimates that influenza vaccination during the 2019–2020 influenza season prevented 7.52 million illnesses, 3.69 million medical visits, 105,000 hospitalizations, and 6,300 deaths associated with influenza.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality Surveillance data available on December 10, 2020, confirmed 14.3% of the deaths occurring during the week ending December 5, 2020 (week #49), were due to pneumonia, influenza, and COVID-19 (PIC).

Beat the Bug:  Flu vaccination can reduce doctor visits due to flu. Several studies have shown flu vaccination can reduce the severity of illness in people who get vaccinated but still get sick. And during seasons when the flu vaccine viruses are similar to circulating flu viruses, the flu vaccine was shown to reduce the risk of having to go to the doctor with flu by 40% to 60%.

Care for Each Other:  You may think of the flu vaccine only as a way to protect yourself from the flu. But getting vaccinated also may protect the people around you. Many people in the U.S. are at higher risk of getting very sick from flu because of their age, or because they have one or more of certain health conditions, like asthma, diabetes, or heart disease. 

Also, some people in your family or community may not be able to get vaccinated due to their age (children younger than 6 months, for example). They rely on you to help prevent the spread of disease. When you get a flu shot, you help protect them.

Help the Health Care System:  Getting a flu vaccine is more important than ever during the 2020-2021 season. A flu vaccine this season can help protect you and the people around you from flu, reduce the burden of flu on our health care systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, and save medical resources for the care of COVID-19 patients.

Since healthcare workers are needed to care for people sick with COVID-19 and may care for or live with people at high risk for influenza-related complications, it is especially important for them to get vaccinated.

It’s Not Too Late:  The National Influenza Vaccination Week is focused on highlighting the importance of influenza vaccination. It’s not too late for anyone 6 months and older to get a flu vaccine.

During the 2019-2020 flu season, 195 pediatric fatalities were confirmed to be influenza-related.

As of December 11, 2020, the CDC reported about 1.6% of patient visits reported were due to Influenza-like Illness. This percentage is below the national baseline of 2.6% for this time of year.

Furthermore, the CDC’s VaccineFinder enables everyone with a simple search tool to find and schedule your flu shot.

PrecisionVaccinations publishes research-based vaccine news.