As we approached the new decade at the beginning of January, we also approached the peak of the daunting flu season. While it wasn’t the start necessarily, more people began to get that nasty headache, sinus congestion, fever, and chills we all know as the flu. This year, the CDC has estimated 8,000 deaths from the flu in the United States. The NPR Organization warns individuals in the United States that we should be more concerned about getting the flu than the coronavirus. Allison Aubrey from the organization suggests that the best way to fight against the flu is to get the flu shot and to wash your hands as frequently as possible.
The CDC explains that the 2019-2020 flu vaccine is comprised of H1N1 pdm09-like virus, H3N2-like virus, and Victoria lineage virus. The vaccine changes each year because the flu never stays the same from year to year, but normally lessens the risk of individuals getting it by 40-60%. If you or a loved one comes down with the flu, the CDC encourages that you get help from professionals who can supply flu antiviral drugs within 48 hours of when symptoms begin. Whenever I tell my friends and family to get the flu shot, they always respond with “well, I got the flu shot last year and still got the flu”. Yes, it’s true you may still get the flu if you obtain the vaccine, but this is because you could’ve already been exposed before vaccination, you have been exposed to a virus that wasn’t in this year’s vaccine, or your immune system still couldn’t protect against it. The CDC explains however, that getting the flu vaccine can reduce the symptoms and length of the disease if you acquire it! While protection isn’t guaranteed, wouldn’t you want your symptoms to not last as long?
The flu is a serious disease that unfortunately takes the lives of many individuals in the United States and across the world yearly, but we can protect ourselves and loved ones from fatal outcomes. It is also imperative that we get the flu vaccine so we can protect others who may be immunocompromised from ourselves. Also, making sure to wash your hands and surfaces regularly can prevent this disease. If we get the flu and spread the disease to a young child whose immune system cannot protect him/her as well, then we are only hurting that child because we made the decision to not become vaccinated. My goal here is to not guilt trip everyone into getting the flu vaccine, but this flu season, think about the children.
Carley's Blog 