This story appeared in the Lansing State Journal. Read more here.
Just when we were starting to think the COVID-19 pandemic was in the rearview mirror, the highly contagious Delta variant threw us another curve ball, threatening the significant progress we made by working together to mask up, social distance and get more than half of Michigan’s population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
But COVID-19 isn’t the only health threat facing Michiganders this fall.
Once again, it’s flu season — and that means additional strain on our healthcare systems and front line workers at exactly the wrong time. With hospital wards and intensive care units filling up with COVID-19 patients, it’s more important than ever that we all get our flu vaccine to cut down on hospitalizations due to the flu and to preserve precious hospital resources for individuals battling COVID-19.
As a family physician serving patients in mid-Michigan over the past nine years, I’ve heard most of the myths about the flu and the flu vaccine, the most common one being that the flu isn’t that serious — this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The flu can be very dangerous. Especially for young children, older people and people with chronic health problems like asthma and diabetes. The flu causes 140,000 to 810,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 to 61,000 deaths each year, according to CDC data since 2010. In fact, hundreds of children die nationwide from the flu each year. Avoiding unnecessary illness and deaths is why every Michigan resident age six months or older should receive an annual flu shot.
It’s also important — and safe — for pregnant women to get their flu shot. Studies show that vaccination reduces the risk of flu-associated acute respiratory infection in pregnant women by up to one-half and reduces the risk of hospitalization by 40 percent. A flu vaccine given during pregnancy also protects the baby for several months after birth, before the baby is old enough to be vaccinated.
Research proves that the flu vaccine reduces your chances of getting sick by 40 to 60 percent, and we know from long experience that the vaccine is safe. We also know that an annual flu shot lowers your chances of having severe symptoms if you do get the flu, which means you are less likely to have to visit the doctor’s office or the hospital.
Last year’s flu season was milder due to most people taking COVID-19 precautions like masking and social distancing. But medical experts remain concerned that both viruses — COVID-19 and the flu — will spread in our communities as more people let down their guard and stop taking those precautions.
Michigan has faced some difficult days during this pandemic and we’re not yet out of the woods. But if we come together and do what we can — what is proven — to protect each other, we can spread hope for a stronger, healthier future for all of us.
As fall gives way to winter, getting your flu vaccine now is one of the best ways to keep your family safe, healthy and out of the hospital.