By DR. FRANKLIN BERKEY AND DR. JONATHAN ASHLEY
Each year, more than 36,000 people in the U.S. die from the flu. The flu hits fast and hard. You may feel perfectly fine in the morning, but a few hours later you spike a fever, your body aches miserably and you just want to lie down and hibernate. You end up missing a week or more of work or school — and then others in your family get sick.
Protecting yourself and your family from the flu is easy: get a flu shot. Do it now, before you’re exposed to influenza by someone else who may not yet be showing symptoms.
Don’t let common flu-shot myths prevent you from protecting your health.
Myth: The flu is just a bad cold.
Fact: If you get the flu, you could be sick for one to two weeks with high fever, chills, vomiting and muscle aches. Influenza is a virus, so antibiotics do not fight it. This puts you at risk for more serious complications, such as bacterial pneumonia.
Myth: Only the elderly need flu shots.
Fact: Almost everyone should get a flu shot.
The vaccine is appropriate for people age 6 months and older. It’s safe for pregnant women and for people with existing medical conditions, such as asthma, heart disease or diabetes. If you have a history of Guillain-Barré syndrome, you should discuss the flu vaccine with your doctor to decide if it is appropriate for you.
By getting a flu shot, you not only protect yourself, but other high-risk people who cannot be vaccinated.
Myth: The influenza vaccine can give you the flu.
Fact: You cannot get the flu from a flu shot.
Modern flu vaccines contain either inactivated influenza virus or no virus at all. You might experience minor soreness, redness, tenderness or swelling in your arm at the injection site for one or two days.
It is important to note that the vaccine takes a couple of weeks to become effective, so you can still contract the flu if you are exposed to the flu right before or after you are vaccinated. If you have a fever, you should hold off on getting the vaccine until your fever has passed.
Myth: If you are allergic to eggs, you can’t get a flu shot.
Fact: Most people with egg allergies can be vaccinated against the flu.
If your reaction to eggs has been limited to hives, you can get the regular flu shot appropriate for your age. If your egg reaction was more severe, you can still be vaccinated against the flu, but you should get your shot in a medical setting.
Myth: If you received the flu shot last year, you don’t need one this year.
Fact: You need a flu shot every year.
Each year’s vaccine protects you from the virus strains researchers predict will be most prevalent that year. Last year’s flu shot might not protect you from this year’s most common strains. Even if exactly the same strains are covered, the antibodies that your body developed following last year’s vaccination diminish over time, so they do not protect you this year. The 2016-17 vaccine is provided only via injection; nasal spray is not available.
Myth: It’s too late to get a flu shot this year.
Fact: Now is the perfect time to be vaccinated.
In Centre County, flu season can last into April. Local doctors often see a late surge in influenza cases after Penn State students return from spring break travels that exposed them to large groups of people, particularly in airplanes and on cruise ships.
Myth: You need a medical appointment to get a flu shot.
Fact: Getting a flu shot is fast and easy.
In most cases, you don’t need an appointment. You can get vaccinated at a drugstore, community event, walk-in clinic operated by your medical or insurance provider — and yes, at your health care provider’s office. In many cases, health insurance covers flu shots with no deductible or co-pay, and some clinics offer free vaccinations to the uninsured. All providers offer the same vaccine, which differs only on the age of the recipient.
Dr. Franklin Berkey, associate program director, and Dr. Jonathan Ashley are part of the Penn State Health Family and Community Medicine Residency Program at Mount Nittany Medical Center and the Penn State Medical Group.
