MediNurse Debunks Myths about the Flu Shot

MediNurse is prepared for an active flu season. We are already busy giving flu shots. We are providing the trivalent seasonal vaccine, recommended by the CDC, and we anticipate giving more than 40,000 flu shots this year. The CDC urges everyone get a flu shot due to the fact that the flu was considered moderately severe last year, beginning in the fall and continuing into spring months.

Flu is a contagious disease that spreads throughout the US every winter, usually between October and May. It is caused by the influenza virus and can be spread by coughing, sneezing and close contact. Every year 36,000 people die from influenza and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized. According to the CDC, this number could dramatically drop if more people were vaccinated.

Below are some myths and facts about the flu vaccination:

Myths about the Flu Shot

MYTH:

The seasonal flu is annoying but harmless.

FACT:

A lot of people think of the flu as a very bad cold, but it’s much worse than that.

For one, you usually feel terrible.  In addition to the congestion and cough, you’re apt to have nasty body aches and fever, which are less likely with a garden-variety cold.

The seasonal flu also hospitalizes 200,000 people in the U.S. each year. It kills between 3,000 and 49,000 people.

MYTH: 

I was vaccinated last year, so I don’t need to get a flu shot this year.

FACT:

The flu shot we get each year has been developed to contain the three types of currently active flu viruses determined by epidemiologists to be most likely spreading in the next flu season. These are rarely the same viruses year to year because the prior year's viruses have almost always mutated to new forms before they circle around again the following year. So, short answer, yes, you need to get a flu shot every year as the flu is a different virus every year!

MYTH:

The flu vaccine can give you the flu.

FACT:

Injected flu vaccines only contain dead virus, and a dead virus is, well, dead: it can’t infect you. There is one type of live virus flu vaccine, the nasal vaccine, FluMist. MediNurse does not offer this, but in this case, the virus is specially engineered to remove the parts of the virus that make people sick.

You may have minor redness or soreness at the injection site. After you get the vaccine, it takes up to 14 days for it to become active in your body.

MYTH:

There is no treatment for the flu.

FACT:

Two antiviral drugs are highly effective against the flu: Tamiflu, in pill form, and Relenza, which is inhaled. (However, getting the flu shot is even better.). These drugs are most effective if taken within 48 hours of your first flu symptoms. But the drugs are beneficial even if taken 48 hours after symptom onset.

Neither Tamiflu nor Relenza cures the flu. But they can reduce the amount of time you’re sick by one or two days and make you less contagious to others.

MYTH:

If you get the flu, you can’t get it again during that “flu season.”

FACT:

In any flu season, there’s usually both Type A and Type B influenza in circulation. Both can cause the flu. It’s quite possible that you could get infected with one type and then the other.

So if you’ve already had the flu, you should still get the vaccine. Otherwise, you could be sick and unhappy twice.

To make an appointment for a flu shot, call us at 314-781-2800. Individuals can make appointments at our office at 12852 Manchester Road and corporations can schedule on-site workforce inoculation. For more information, visit www.medinurse.com.