Give It Your Best Shot It’s Flu Season — and Time to Get Your Vaccination

When it comes to the flu, the message this year is the same as last year — parents should get their kids, as well as themselves, vaccinated right now.

While the flu season usually runs from October to May and normally peaks in January or February, it is difficult to predict when the virus will begin to circulate in our area. So getting your shot early is the best strategy, since it takes one to two weeks after vaccination for your body to make antibodies against the influenza virus.

Getting a flu shot for your child is the single most important thing you can do to protect him or her, especially in the face of any underlying medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, or multiple medical problems that can result in severe complications from the flu. Every year in this country kids die from complications of influenza, and although they tend to be younger and have underlying illnesses, even healthy kids can die from the flu, which is preventable.

Getting your child vaccinated also protects others in your family who may be exposed to the influenza virus if your child becomes infected at school or elsewhere and brings it home to infect other family members whose health may be fragile.

Similar to last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that everyone six months of age and older be vaccinated unless their doctor recommends against it because of certain pre-existing conditions. Also, the CDC says that babies and children ages 6 months to 8 years old will require two shots if it is their first time getting a flu vaccine. However, only one shot is needed if they were vaccinated last year. For those adults 65 and older whose immune systems become weaker with age, placing them at greater risk of severe illness from influenza, there is a special high-dose vaccine available.

There’s also plenty new to talk about when it comes to getting a flu shot this season, whether child or adult.

Those who are allergic to eggs, and who were advised in the past not to get vaccinated, now have a new option. Earlier this year, the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it had approved Flublok, the first trivalent influenza vaccine made without eggs in its production. It is approved for those 18-49 years of age.

Each year experts from the FDA, the World Health Organization, the CDC, and other public-health officials study influenza virus samples and global disease patterns to identify virus strains likely to cause the most illness during the upcoming flu season. As a result, the strains selected for inclusion in the 2013-14 flu vaccine are identical to last year: A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus,  A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2)-like virus, and B/Wisconsin/1/2010-like virus.

While the flu vaccine has traditionally provided protection against three strains, this year there will also be a quadrivalent flu vaccine that will protect against four strains, including an additional influenza B virus. It is approved for people 6 months and older.

Seasonal flu vaccine is highly recommended if you want to avoid the flu, and it is especially important for people who are at risk for complications — young children;  pregnant women; people 50 years or older; people with diabetes or heart, lung, or kidney disease; and those who live in nursing homes.

If you have a fear of needles, don’t use that reason to avoid getting a flu shot. There is a nasal-spray vaccine available for use in most healthy people, ages 2 to 49, who are not pregnant. People with any long-term health problems should check with their physician to be sure it is safe to opt for the nasal spray. All nasal-spray vaccines for this season are quadrivalent. There is also an intradermal vaccine with a shorter needle that is not injected into the muscle.

For those who believe they can get sick from the flu shot and that they don’t need one again if they were vaccinated last year, that is simply not true.

The flu shot is made from inactivated (dead) virus that cannot give you the flu. Also, protection lasts only about one year, so you need to be vaccinated every year to raise your immune levels against the flu strains that are circulating in a given year.

As for the ill effects of the shot, some may experience soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given, as well as fever, headache, itching, or fatigue. But most people have no adverse reactions to the flu shot, and life-threatening allergic reactions from vaccines are quite rare.

Also, according to the CDC, there should be no shortage of flu vaccine this year, with manufacturers expected to produce 135-139 million doses of influenza vaccine, with an estimated 30-32 million of these doses being the quadrivalent flu vaccine, with the rest being trivalent flu vaccine.

Cost should also be no deterrent in getting a flu shot. The cost of a flu shot can range up to $30. However, most insurance companies cover the cost or have a co-pay of $15 or less. Seniors on Medicare are covered for a flu shot, while Medicaid and CHIP cover influenza vaccine for children who are beneficiaries. For children without health insurance or families who cannot afford the cost of a flu vaccine, there is a federally funded program called Vaccines for Children (VFC) that provides no-cost vaccines to children under 18 through VFC-enrolled doctors. Veterans enrolled in VA health care are also eligible for free flu shots. There are also periodic free clinics advertised in local newspapers and competitive pricing among some pharmacies, supermarkets, and other retailers.

While the flu vaccine is still the single best way to prevent the flu, protection is never 100{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}, and some people can get the flu even after being vaccinated.

The efficacy of the flu vaccine varies from year to year depending upon how well-matched the influenza viruses in the vaccine are to those actually circulating in the community.

Also, of special note, not all providers will be stocking every variation of the influenza vaccine. As a result, those looking to be vaccinated should check with their primary-care physician before making an appointment for their flu shot.

Dr. Matthew Sadof is a pediatrician at Baystate Children’s Hospital. Dr. Sarah Haessler is a physician at the Infectious Disease Division at Baystate Medical Center. For more information on Baystate Children’s Hospital, visit baystatehealth.org/bch. For more information on Baystate Medical Center, visit baystatehealth.org/bmc.