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Flu Season Is Here

BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN

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t is time to get vaccinated for the 2016-2017 flu season. Influenza is a contagious respiratory disease, which is easily spread, and which causes severe illness and death in high-risk populations, especially in medically underserved communities.

 


Misconceptions about Flu Vaccination

People should get vaccinated now, even if —

  1. They got vaccinated last year.
  2. They think they already had the flu.
  3. They think the vaccine will give them the flu.
  4. They are pregnant or breastfeeding.
  5. They think they are too young or too old.

A big misconception is that it is a good idea to wait until late in the season to get vaccinated. The earlier people are vaccinated the sooner their systems can build up immunity — a process that takes at least two weeks. Also, exercising before or after getting vaccinated produces more antibodies.

Source: Reader’s Digest

WiRED International offers two health education modules on flu. The module for grassroots audiences presents an introduction to flu and its prevention, signs, symptoms, treatment, risks and complications. The module for healthcare professionals describes flu’s characteristics, the types of viruses that cause flu, antigenic drift and shift, and seasonal vs. pandemic flu.

 

What’s new about the flu vaccine this season? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is offering only the injectable flu vaccine because of concerns that the nasal spray vaccine may not be as effective. Also, CDC is giving older people the option of a high-dose vaccine. Flu viruses are constantly changing. The current vaccine combats the four viruses that research marks as the most common causes of flu, among them, the H1N1 virus that caused a global pandemic in the past.

 

Don’t wait! Get vaccinated!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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