Health experts stress the importance of influenza vaccination to avoid “cold”

With the coming flu season in the course of the collision with the COVID-19 pandemic, health professionals have urged people to be vaccinated against the flu in the coming weeks, warning them of a potential “cold”.

“Obtaining influenza vaccines has never been more important because of COVID-19,” says Kaiser Permanente, who leads the influenza vaccine program in Northern California and specializes in childhood infections at Kaiser in Walnut Creek. Dr. Randy Bergen, who is also home, said.

“In every winter season, people are infected with multiple winter viruses at the same time, or more commonly, one after another,” Dr. Bergen explained. He said it was in a more debilitating state when the body recovered from a disease. “That’s a concern about this “cold”. Many healthcare providers have a higher risk of more severe cases of COVID-19 when recovering from influenza, or a higher risk of severe influenza symptoms when recovering from COVID-19. I’m worried that it could happen. .. “

Therefore, lack of control of coronavirus cases can lead to an even worse health threat in the fall, as the influenza season begins, more people gather indoors at lower temperatures, and both influenza and coronavirus are more likely to spread. Will occur.

“The indoor environment is a threatening environment in almost every respect because of the relatively low air circulation and the high reputation of SARS-CoV-2, and even influenza can be spread by small particle aerosols. “You can hang it in a relatively quiet room for three to four hours,” explained Dr. Dean Winslow, an infectious disease doctor at Stanford Healthcare and a professor of medicine at Stanford University.

Also, both infectious diseases share many of the same symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, and body aches, so health professionals prepare for flooding in emergency and intensive care units ..

“When two serious respiratory viral illnesses occur at the same time, there is no doubt that more people will get very ill,” Dr. Bergen added. Our ability to take care of patients can limit us. ”

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To keep the healthcare system stress-free during this flu season, the University of California took a rare step last month to publish the entire system. Administrative order UC faculty, staff, and students must be vaccinated against influenza by November 1

“The Presidential Decree helps protect members of the UC community, and the public at large, to reduce the potential burden of health systems expected in the coming fall and winter from influenza and COVID-19 illness. It’s an important precaution.” University officials said they would announce a presidential decree. “In addition to protecting people on campus and in the surrounding area, this requirement avoids a surge of influenza in health care facilities across the state during an unprecedented public health crisis caused by a coronavirus pandemic. Is designed to.”

Also this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ordered 9.3 million additional vaccines for uninsured adults to make the influenza vaccine available to more Americans this year. This compares to about 500,000 doses per normal year.

“There are many benefits to flu vaccination, and flu prevention is always important,” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald told KTVU Care Resources. “

Dr. Dean Winslow commended the increased efforts by public health agencies to bring awareness to the importance of influenza vaccination. “It may be one of the little, unexpected positives that may come from this dreadful situation we are in,” Winslow told KTVU. “Awareness of the severity of respiratory viral infections will vaccinate Americans of all ages.”

Winslow was also optimistic that lifestyle changes brought about by the coronavirus, such as wearing masks, social distances, and reduced diets indoors, would help prevent the spread of the flu.

“This too may be an unexpected advantage of the steps we are taking to flatten the curve of coronavirus cases,” he said, stressing the need to continue these practices. Did. “We hope that by paying attention for the next six months or a little longer, it will also have a beneficial effect on reducing the flu transmission this season.”

He said he was expecting the COVID-19 vaccine to be released early next year, during which he said, “Especially from the illnesses we know that we have effective preventative measures. Protecting yourself is really important…a very safe vaccine that has been used for a long time.”

Winslow and other health experts said the flu could show up in California as early as October and recommended that people be vaccinated by the end of September. They also said it is important to consider approximately two weeks after a shot in order for the body to build immunity and develop protection against influenza.

Dr. Winslow said he is not yet vaccinated against influenza at Stanford Healthcare, but he expected the vaccine to arrive in about a week.

Kaiser was also preparing to roll out this season’s flu vaccination program. Bergen said that every year the health system aims to increase the number of vaccinated members, and this year was no different.

What about those who feel rushed over fears that increased demand could lead to shortages? Dr. Bergen reassured the public not to worry. “People don’t have to panic about the supply of influenza vaccines,” he said. “Once all our work is done, we remind people of the need for influenza vaccines. At that time, people should come in and get the vaccine, but not feel urgent.”

Even though there are possible “cold” warnings, some people routinely avoid getting vaccinated because they believe they actually have the flu, so influenza experts say Admitted that some people continue to have questions about the safety of.

Dr Bergen emphasized to these patients that the flu vaccine could not cause influenza illness because the vaccine itself contained only a single protein from the flu virus. And his message on the importance of being vaccinated sounds just like why health professionals urged people to wear masks and take other precautions in the face of the coronavirus. It was “It’s good not only for yourself, but for your loved ones. For colleagues and the entire community.”