The concept to vaccinate isn't lost on Americans who already are calling their doctors and pharmacists to program a flu shot appointment before the onset of the 2020-2021 season.
Experts say it is crucial to get vaccinated this year as it complies with the continuing coronavirus pandemic that continues to overwhelm hospitals in parts of the nation and has taken the lives of over 170,000 people in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins data.
It's difficult to know for certain how COVID-19 will blend with this year's flu season: Can mask wearing and social distancing contain influenza transmission as it's supposed to do with SARS-CoV-2? Or will both viruses simultaneously wreak havoc around the country as some colleges reopen for in-person learning?
"That autumn, nothing could be more significant than to attempt to increase the American public's choice to adopt the influenza vaccine with confidence," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert R. Redfield said Thursday talking to the editor of JAMA. "This is a crucial year for us to try to take flu up to the table as we can."
Here are the things doctors say you ought to know about the flu vaccine as we approach the start of the year.
Who should find the vaccine?
The CDC recommends everybody six months and older get a flu vaccine every year. State officials announced Wednesday that the influenza vaccine is required this season for all Massachusetts school students enrolled in childcare, preschool, K-12 and post-secondary institutions.
"It's more important now than ever to get a flu vaccine since influenza symptoms are very similar to those of COVID-19 and preventing the flu will save lives and conserve health care resources," said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Dr. Susan Rehm, vice chair at the Cleveland Clinic's Department of Infectious Diseases, said it is important for patients to get the flu vaccine as soon as possible.
CVS stores already have the influenza vaccine in stock, and it became accessible Monday in Walgreens.
"that I intend to get my flu shot as soon as the vaccines are available," Rehm said.
Other doctors, however, are recommending patients get their flu shot in late September or early October so protection can last throughout the influenza season, which generally ends around March or even April. The vaccine lasts about sixmonths.
The CDC urges people get a flu vaccine no later than the end of October -- since it takes a few weeks for the vaccine to become completely protective -- but motivates people to get vaccinated later rather than not at all.
Healthy people can receive their flu vaccine as soon as it is available, however, experts recommend older folks and those that are immunocompromised wait till mid-fall to obtain their shots so it lasts throughout the whole flu season.
What is the high-dose flu shot for seniors?
Individuals over the age of 65 must get Fluzone High-Dose or FLUAD because it provides better protection against influenza viruses.
Fluzone High-Dose contains four occasions the antigen that is in a normal dose, effectively making it a stronger version of the regular flu shot. FLUAD pairs the normal vaccine with an adjuvant, an immune stimulant, to cause the immune system to have a greater response to the vaccine.
Research suggests such high-dose influenza vaccines have enhanced a patient's protection against the influenza. A peer-reviewed study published in The New England Journal of Medicine and sponsored by Sanofi, the firm behind Fluzone High-Dose, found the high-dose vaccine is about 24 percent more effective than the normal shot at preventing the flu.
An observational study in 2013 found FLUAD is 51% effective in preventing flu-related hospitalizations for individuals 65 and older. There are not any studies that do a comparative evaluation between the two vaccines.
Is your flu vaccine safe?
According to the CDC, hundreds of millions of Americans have received flu vaccine over the previous 50 years. Common side effects for the influenza vaccine include soreness at the injection area, nausea, headache, nausea and muscular aches.
Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases in the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, emphasizes these signs aren't the flu as the vaccine cannot and doesn't cause influenza.
"That is only your body functioning on the vaccine and your immune response responding to this embryo," he explained. "That is a small price to pay to keep you from this emergency room. Believe me."
Not merely is that the flu vaccine safe, but also the pharmacies, doctor's offices and hospitals administering it can also be secure.
Horovitz and Schaffner said hospitals are taking all the necessary steps to be sure patients are safeguarded against COVID-19. Some physicians send employees out to patients' cars for inoculation while others make it possible for patients to skip the waiting room. All workplaces require masks, social distancing and are routinely disinfected.
"Call your health care provider to make certain that you can get in and out fast," Schaffner advises. "It is safe to get the flu vaccine and very important."
Can it help stop COVID?
While specialists speculate any vaccine could hypothetically offer some protection from a virus, there is little data that indicates the flu vaccine may protect from the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which induces COVID-19.
"We do not wish to confuse people of the... because there is simply no data," Schaffner said. "Flu vaccine prevents flu; we are working on a coronavirus vaccine. They are separate."
Although there is very little proof to support speculation, specialists say it's extremely important to have the flu shot this season to lessen the load on hospitals still overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
A 2018 study found the flu vaccine lowers the probability of severe illness, lowering the danger of being admitted to an ICU with flu by 82%, according to the CDC.
"People perhaps overlook that influenza is something that we see every year," Rehm said. "Tens of thousands of individuals die of influenza ever year, including people that are very healthy, and hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized every year."
Doctors say it's going to be even more hectic this year as some flu and COVID-19 symptoms overlap, delaying diagnosis and maybe even maintenance.
What do we expect from this year's flu season and vaccine?
"Even before COVID, what we say concerning the influenza is the fact that it's predictably unpredictable," Rehm said. "There are some years that it's a mild year and some years that it's horrible."
Flu specialists say they sometimes look at Australia's flu season to find a sense of the strain and how it spreads as winter in the Southern Hemisphere began a couple of weeks ago.
According to the country's Department of Health surveillance file, flu has virtually disappeared reporting only 85 cases in the previous two weeks of June -- compared to more than 20,000 confirmed instances that time last year.
"Australia has had a modest season, however they were rather good at executing COVID containment measures and, needless to say, we're not," Schaffner said. "So, we're expecting that we are going to have a flu season that is substantial."
The CDC says there are two types of vaccines available for the 2020-2021 year: the trivalent and quadrivalent. Trivalents include two flu A strains and one influenza B strain and therefore are solely available as high-dose vaccines. Quadrivalents include those three breeds plus an additional influenza B strain, and can be both high-dose and standard dose vaccines.
While some physicians may have both vaccines, others might just have one based on their distribution chain. Patients must get whatever vaccine is available to them.
"Vaccines are a selfless act, they are protecting yourself and your friends through herd immunity," she said. "Any vaccine that you can access, you can get."
Horovitz said vaccine production and supply has been on schedule this year, despite international focus on coronavirus vaccine development. He has already got his shipment to the hospital and plans to start administering the flu vaccine with four breeds closer to the start of the season.
"I don't think anything endured because something else was being developed," he explained. "(The flu vaccine) has been fairly well established for the last 20 to 30 decades."
Producers are boosting supplies of the flu vaccine this season to fulfill what they expect will be higher demand. Vaccine maker Sanofi announced Monday it will produce 15 percent more vaccine than in a normal year.
Redfield told JAMA the CDC arranged for another 9.3 million doses of low-cost flu vaccine for uninsured adults this season, up from 500,000. The bureau is expanding plans to reach out to minority communities.
Following the 2009 swine flu pandemic, many studies demonstrated the nasal spray flu vaccine was less effective against H1N1 viruses, resulting in the CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend against it.
However, since the 2017-2018 season, ACIP and the CDC voted to resume the recommendation for its use following the manufacturer used new H1N1 vaccine viruses in manufacturing.
While these agencies and advisory committees don't recommend 1 vaccine over the flip side, some pediatricians prefer the nasal spray claiming that it's simpler to administer to children than a shot.
Other physicians prefer the influenza shot as some of the nasal spray side effects mimic respiratory ailments including wheezing, coughing, and a runny nose, according to the CDC. Horovitz said anything that presents cold symptoms should probably be avoided, particularly among children who are known vectors of respiratory diseases.
"Giving them something which gives them cold (symptoms) for two or three days may expel more virus if they're asymptomatic with COVID," he explained. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.
Experts say it is crucial to get vaccinated this year as it complies with the continuing coronavirus pandemic that continues to overwhelm hospitals in parts of the nation and has taken the lives of over 170,000 people in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins data.
It's difficult to know for certain how COVID-19 will blend with this year's flu season: Can mask wearing and social distancing contain influenza transmission as it's supposed to do with SARS-CoV-2? Or will both viruses simultaneously wreak havoc around the country as some colleges reopen for in-person learning?
"That autumn, nothing could be more significant than to attempt to increase the American public's choice to adopt the influenza vaccine with confidence," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert R. Redfield said Thursday talking to the editor of JAMA. "This is a crucial year for us to try to take flu up to the table as we can."
Here are the things doctors say you ought to know about the flu vaccine as we approach the start of the year.
Who should find the vaccine?
The CDC recommends everybody six months and older get a flu vaccine every year. State officials announced Wednesday that the influenza vaccine is required this season for all Massachusetts school students enrolled in childcare, preschool, K-12 and post-secondary institutions.
"It's more important now than ever to get a flu vaccine since influenza symptoms are very similar to those of COVID-19 and preventing the flu will save lives and conserve health care resources," said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Dr. Susan Rehm, vice chair at the Cleveland Clinic's Department of Infectious Diseases, said it is important for patients to get the flu vaccine as soon as possible.
CVS stores already have the influenza vaccine in stock, and it became accessible Monday in Walgreens.
"that I intend to get my flu shot as soon as the vaccines are available," Rehm said.
Other doctors, however, are recommending patients get their flu shot in late September or early October so protection can last throughout the influenza season, which generally ends around March or even April. The vaccine lasts about sixmonths.
The CDC urges people get a flu vaccine no later than the end of October -- since it takes a few weeks for the vaccine to become completely protective -- but motivates people to get vaccinated later rather than not at all.
Healthy people can receive their flu vaccine as soon as it is available, however, experts recommend older folks and those that are immunocompromised wait till mid-fall to obtain their shots so it lasts throughout the whole flu season.
What is the high-dose flu shot for seniors?
Individuals over the age of 65 must get Fluzone High-Dose or FLUAD because it provides better protection against influenza viruses.
Fluzone High-Dose contains four occasions the antigen that is in a normal dose, effectively making it a stronger version of the regular flu shot. FLUAD pairs the normal vaccine with an adjuvant, an immune stimulant, to cause the immune system to have a greater response to the vaccine.
Research suggests such high-dose influenza vaccines have enhanced a patient's protection against the influenza. A peer-reviewed study published in The New England Journal of Medicine and sponsored by Sanofi, the firm behind Fluzone High-Dose, found the high-dose vaccine is about 24 percent more effective than the normal shot at preventing the flu.
An observational study in 2013 found FLUAD is 51% effective in preventing flu-related hospitalizations for individuals 65 and older. There are not any studies that do a comparative evaluation between the two vaccines.
Is your flu vaccine safe?
According to the CDC, hundreds of millions of Americans have received flu vaccine over the previous 50 years. Common side effects for the influenza vaccine include soreness at the injection area, nausea, headache, nausea and muscular aches.
Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases in the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, emphasizes these signs aren't the flu as the vaccine cannot and doesn't cause influenza.
"That is only your body functioning on the vaccine and your immune response responding to this embryo," he explained. "That is a small price to pay to keep you from this emergency room. Believe me."
Not merely is that the flu vaccine safe, but also the pharmacies, doctor's offices and hospitals administering it can also be secure.
Horovitz and Schaffner said hospitals are taking all the necessary steps to be sure patients are safeguarded against COVID-19. Some physicians send employees out to patients' cars for inoculation while others make it possible for patients to skip the waiting room. All workplaces require masks, social distancing and are routinely disinfected.
"Call your health care provider to make certain that you can get in and out fast," Schaffner advises. "It is safe to get the flu vaccine and very important."
Can it help stop COVID?
While specialists speculate any vaccine could hypothetically offer some protection from a virus, there is little data that indicates the flu vaccine may protect from the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which induces COVID-19.
"We do not wish to confuse people of the... because there is simply no data," Schaffner said. "Flu vaccine prevents flu; we are working on a coronavirus vaccine. They are separate."
Although there is very little proof to support speculation, specialists say it's extremely important to have the flu shot this season to lessen the load on hospitals still overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
A 2018 study found the flu vaccine lowers the probability of severe illness, lowering the danger of being admitted to an ICU with flu by 82%, according to the CDC.
"People perhaps overlook that influenza is something that we see every year," Rehm said. "Tens of thousands of individuals die of influenza ever year, including people that are very healthy, and hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized every year."
Doctors say it's going to be even more hectic this year as some flu and COVID-19 symptoms overlap, delaying diagnosis and maybe even maintenance.
What do we expect from this year's flu season and vaccine?
"Even before COVID, what we say concerning the influenza is the fact that it's predictably unpredictable," Rehm said. "There are some years that it's a mild year and some years that it's horrible."
Flu specialists say they sometimes look at Australia's flu season to find a sense of the strain and how it spreads as winter in the Southern Hemisphere began a couple of weeks ago.
According to the country's Department of Health surveillance file, flu has virtually disappeared reporting only 85 cases in the previous two weeks of June -- compared to more than 20,000 confirmed instances that time last year.
"Australia has had a modest season, however they were rather good at executing COVID containment measures and, needless to say, we're not," Schaffner said. "So, we're expecting that we are going to have a flu season that is substantial."
The CDC says there are two types of vaccines available for the 2020-2021 year: the trivalent and quadrivalent. Trivalents include two flu A strains and one influenza B strain and therefore are solely available as high-dose vaccines. Quadrivalents include those three breeds plus an additional influenza B strain, and can be both high-dose and standard dose vaccines.
While some physicians may have both vaccines, others might just have one based on their distribution chain. Patients must get whatever vaccine is available to them.
"Vaccines are a selfless act, they are protecting yourself and your friends through herd immunity," she said. "Any vaccine that you can access, you can get."
Horovitz said vaccine production and supply has been on schedule this year, despite international focus on coronavirus vaccine development. He has already got his shipment to the hospital and plans to start administering the flu vaccine with four breeds closer to the start of the season.
"I don't think anything endured because something else was being developed," he explained. "(The flu vaccine) has been fairly well established for the last 20 to 30 decades."
Producers are boosting supplies of the flu vaccine this season to fulfill what they expect will be higher demand. Vaccine maker Sanofi announced Monday it will produce 15 percent more vaccine than in a normal year.
Redfield told JAMA the CDC arranged for another 9.3 million doses of low-cost flu vaccine for uninsured adults this season, up from 500,000. The bureau is expanding plans to reach out to minority communities.
Following the 2009 swine flu pandemic, many studies demonstrated the nasal spray flu vaccine was less effective against H1N1 viruses, resulting in the CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend against it.
However, since the 2017-2018 season, ACIP and the CDC voted to resume the recommendation for its use following the manufacturer used new H1N1 vaccine viruses in manufacturing.
While these agencies and advisory committees don't recommend 1 vaccine over the flip side, some pediatricians prefer the nasal spray claiming that it's simpler to administer to children than a shot.
Other physicians prefer the influenza shot as some of the nasal spray side effects mimic respiratory ailments including wheezing, coughing, and a runny nose, according to the CDC. Horovitz said anything that presents cold symptoms should probably be avoided, particularly among children who are known vectors of respiratory diseases.
"Giving them something which gives them cold (symptoms) for two or three days may expel more virus if they're asymptomatic with COVID," he explained. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.