Wednesday, March 22, 2023
  • Login
Euro Times
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Finance
  • Business
  • World
  • Politics
  • Markets
  • Stock Market
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Investing
  • Health
  • Technology
  • Home
  • Finance
  • Business
  • World
  • Politics
  • Markets
  • Stock Market
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Investing
  • Health
  • Technology
Euro Times
No Result
View All Result

When to get your flu shot : Shots

by Rob Stein
October 1, 2022
in Health
Reading Time: 7 mins read
A A
0
Home Health
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Gustavo Perez got his influenza vaccine from pharmacist Patricia Pernal in early September during an event hosted by the Chicago Department of Public Health at the city’s Southwest Senior Center. This year’s flu season may strike earlier and harder than usual, experts warn. A flu shot’s your best protection.

Scott Olson/ Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Scott Olson/ Getty Images

Gustavo Perez got his influenza vaccine from pharmacist Patricia Pernal in early September during an event hosted by the Chicago Department of Public Health at the city’s Southwest Senior Center. This year’s flu season may strike earlier and harder than usual, experts warn. A flu shot’s your best protection.

Scott Olson/ Getty Images

After virtually disappearing for two years in the U.S. as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down society, there are hints the flu could reemerge this fall, potentially causing an unusually early and possibly severe flu season.

As a result, many experts are urging people to get their flu shots right away to make sure they’re protected. But is that the best timing?

It depends on which expert you talk to and, maybe, on your age and particular situation.

“It’s time to get your flu shot right now,” advises Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious disease at Vanderbilt University.

“People should get them now,” agrees Shaun Truelove, an assistant scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who’s helping lead a new effort to project this year’s flu season for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The usual flu season starts in November in the U.S. and peaks in January or February. “In normal years, it makes sense to hold off on the flu shot until late fall, as protection really doesn’t last more than a few months and late fall/winter is when the flu wave usually hits here,” says Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. “So in a normal year, I would probably try to wait until mid-October and get the flu shot then,” he says. But this year, he says, “flu cases are already starting to go up, so it makes sense to get it sooner — i.e., now.”

Why flu could come back strong this year

The reason experts are particularly concerned about the flu this year is that many people, especially very young children, may have little or no immunity against the respiratory infection because the masking, social distancing and other behaviors aimed at protecting against COVID have blunted flu’s spread, too. Also, the CDC notes, young children would do well to get a flu shot soon because they require two shots one month apart, and it takes time to build up immunity.

Because the protection that flu vaccination provides to the elderly tends to wane faster than for other adults, many experts recommend against that group getting vaccinated too early — but one now is fine.

“For the elderly, I would not recommend vaccination until September at the earliest, since immunity can wane. I tend to get my vaccination in October,” says Dr. Walter Orenstein, a vaccine specialist at Emory University who previously worked at the CDC.

Warning signs from Australia

There’s another reason for many other adults to get a flu shot sooner than later: The flu season hit early and hard in some countries in the Southern Hemisphere (such as Australia) this past winter. And what happens during the winter south of the equator often foreshadows that will happen in the Northern Hemisphere.

“So getting the vaccine earlier is definitely a good idea,” Truelove says.

Here are the key reasons to get a flu shot — now

Still, some experts say they’re planning to wait several weeks yet to get their own shot.

“I’ll get mine sometime in November,” says John Moore, an immunologist at Weil Cornell Medicine. “Protection by flu vaccines is usually weak and short-lived,” he notes, “so getting vaccinated too early provides too little protection when the virus is actually circulating. And that’s not now. We are not in ‘flu season’ yet.”

Others say adults might reasonably wait until it seems like cases in their region are increasing.

“I’d say it’s best to keep eyes on what flu activity is like in your area,” says Jeremy Kamil, an immunologist at Louisiana State University. “Ideally, we’d want to match our boosting to afford us optimum levels of immunity when the virus is actually on the rise.”

Just don’t wait too long. Because the flu often starts to hit hard right when people are traveling and gathering for Thanksgiving, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases encourages people to “make sure they’re vaccinated by Halloween,” says Patsy Stinchfield, the foundation’s president. “It takes about two or three weeks for antibodies to rise high enough to be protective.”

Flu is expected to flare up in U.S. this winter, raising fears of a 'twindemic'

In the end, the precise timing of when you get a flu shot over the next month or so doesn’t matter as much as that you get one, flu experts agree, especially this year. Truelove’s group estimates that, in the worst case scenario, the flu could hospitalize as many as 560,000 people in the U.S. this year — and kill as many as 63,000.

“A vaccine deferred is often a vaccine not received,” Schaffner says. “You have to have the discipline to be sure that you do get vaccinated.”



Source link

Tags: FluShotShots
Previous Post

An Ancient Warning: Criminal Trespass Is the State’s Essential Feature

Next Post

Govt to install 25,000 telecom towers in next 500 days: Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Related Posts

More Than Half of the World Will Be Obese By 2035: Report

by Jeffrey Kluger
March 22, 2023
0

Obesity has often been thought of as a problem of the developed world, with wealthy countries eating themselves into a...

What is xylazine? DEA warns of veterinary tranquilizer linked to overdose deaths : NPR

by Rachel Treisman
March 21, 2023
0

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration badge. The DEA issued an alert warning of a "sharp increase in the trafficking of...

These Two Nutrients Are Important Parts of Healthy Eating

by Dr. Mercola
March 21, 2023
0

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published March 3, 2018. Saturated fat and cholesterol have been...

The relationship between climate change and rising disease : NPR

by Euro Times
March 20, 2023
0

NPR's Pien Huang talks to Dr. Benjamin Beard, deputy director of the CDC's division of vector borne diseases, about how...

How the overturn of Roe v. Wade is impacting medical students entering gynecology : NPR

by Zoe Sullivan
March 18, 2023
0

State abortion laws are changing the way some medical residents in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology will be trained....

Medicine Betrayed: A Conversation With Whistleblowers

by none
March 18, 2023
0

Recently, I had a chance to interview three courageous whistleblowers at the Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas. What they had...

Next Post

Govt to install 25,000 telecom towers in next 500 days: Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Activist Jana prepares to bring star nominees to Freshpet’s board. Here’s how it may create value

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

explaining a long, complicated friendship

March 22, 2023

South Africa Feb inflation higher than forecast as power cuts bite By Reuters

March 22, 2023

EMB ETF: EM Bonds In A Sweet Spot Amid Fed Policy Reversal

March 22, 2023

MetaMask Partners With MoonPay To Enable Instant Crypto Purchases In Nigeria

March 22, 2023

Euro pushes higher as ECB chief Lagarde says inflation is still too high

March 22, 2023

Bitcoin Price Set For $35,000 After US Fed Rate Hike Decision

March 22, 2023
Euro Times

Get the latest news and follow the coverage of Business & Financial News, Stock Market Updates, Analysis, and more from the trusted sources.

CATEGORIES

  • Business
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Finance
  • Health
  • Investing
  • Markets
  • Politics
  • Stock Market
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • World

LATEST UPDATES

explaining a long, complicated friendship

South Africa Feb inflation higher than forecast as power cuts bite By Reuters

  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact us

Copyright © 2022 - Euro Times.
Euro Times is not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Finance
  • Business
  • World
  • Politics
  • Markets
  • Stock Market
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Investing
  • Health
  • Technology

Copyright © 2022 - Euro Times.
Euro Times is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In