Okay! So I’m here to talk about vaccines again. Why. Because vaccines save lives, VACCINES SAVE LIVES! And I always say, I chose adults because I want to be able to sleep at night knowing an adult made a decision for themselves, but it’s my job to EDUCATE! So that’s what I’m here to do folks. Do with the info what you will. But do understand, that your decisions do impact others—it is definitely a public health issue.
So here goes…
(First, if needed, to review the basics of general vaccination click here)
Why should you be vaccinated against the flu? Although it’s quite common, and it comes in different versions every year, this is not the cold, folks. This is the BIG BAD. This thing kills and maims. In fact, most years it’s responsible for 30,000 deaths, and in really bad years, like 2017, it can be responsible for up to 80,000 deaths. You know why those numbers are getting so high? BECAUSE PEOPLE WON’T GET THEIR VACCINES. Because it spreads like wildfire.
I previously didn’t spend a lot of time trying to convince relatively young healthy adults to try to get the flu vaccination. Then something started happening while I was in residency. I started noticing that people my age were dying of the flu. That wasn’t something that we were used to seeing. And then it was happening every year. So I felt like it was something I really needed to start talking about.
Why does it spread so quickly?
People are contagious before they know they are sick. So they are walking around shopping, going to school, work, thinking it might be allergies, and all the while spreading a highly contagious, airborne virus. Once they are sick, they’ve likely been making others sick for 48-72 hours.
Why is it so deadly?
Influenza is VERY fast. It replicates quickly and overwhelms our immune system. It continues to replicate quickly and starts to overwhelm our organs as well. When we have the vaccine, our immune system is prepared to fight, and even if we get sick, it can keep our organ systems from being overwhelmed.
Who is most at risk?
Really young people (children under 5), our more seasoned citizens (our immune system gets weaker as we have more and more birthdays), people who have certain health issues (ie. Asthma, diabetes, cancer, COPD, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease—to name a few—see a full list here. Why do those of us not in these categories get vaccinated? To protect ourselves, but also, to protect our loved ones who fall into these high risk categories.
What are the benefits of the flu vaccine?
There is long list here, but to highlight a few, it has been shown to reduce risk of death in children, ICU days from the illness, risk of cardiac events, and pregnancy related lung disease. It also reduces doctors visits related to flu illness, and overall severity of the illness.
What are some of the risks of the vaccine?
The risks are very low. Injection site reactions are the most common side effect. Feeling a bit run down 1-2 days after the injection can happen, but is generally a mild reaction. I normally explain this as an immune system flair, but on review of the evidence, it actually occurred at the same frequency in people injected with the actual vaccine and salt water (placebo), which means this is likely NOT a reaction to being injected with virus. Please see below links to see the CDC discussions on the almost non-existent risk of Guillain-Barre Syndrome and the reasons you shouldn’t be worried about the amount of thimerosal.
The flu shot is so important, but this article reports that only half of adults plan to get it and only 40% of adults got it in 2017-18 flu season. People—this is why more and more young adults are dying of flu. And it’s PREVENTABLE. I don’t want it to be my patient or my friend, my family member, or my church member. Remember, I don’t get paid to do this—I just spent the past hour or so writing this blog post simply to try to spread awareness on this important topic. Not for a bonus. But because it’s my calling. Because I believe in it. Because it’s science, and it’s public health, and it’s people’s lives. You only get one.
Below I have linked some great reference pages from the CDC page. Also, maybe take some time to click through the side links, it’s really great information for anyone truly interested.
Misconceptions about the Flu Vaccine