Have you or a loved one ever had a flu shot and then still become ill from the disease?
If so, you may have asked yourself why you got the shot in the first place if it’s not going to keep you from getting sick. But the point of flu shots – much like the COVID-19 vaccinations many of us have received – isn’t necessarily to keep people from catching the disease as much as it is to keep them from becoming seriously ill and helping decrease the spread of influenza during flu season months.
Therefore, even though you might still get sick, it’s highly recommended that you get a flu shot to stop the spread of the disease and save lives (potentially your own).
What to Expect This Flu Season
Flu vaccines are especially important for our senior loved ones, who can be more vulnerable to complications from respiratory viruses. And hospital leaders across the country said they’re expecting four times as many influenza-related hospitalizations this year than they’d see in an average flu season, for a couple of reasons:
- First, since many people isolated themselves in 2020 and 2021 trying to avoid contracting COVID-19, their bodies have lost some of their natural immunity to influenza, giving the disease an advantage.
- Second, flu season in the United States typically runs from December until February. But, because of its Covid-related head start, it began in October in 2022, catching people off guard before they had a chance to get their annual vaccination.
Who is most at risk for complications from the flu?
- Senior citizens aged 65 or older
- Adults with chronic health conditions, including asthma, diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease
- Pregnant women
Vaccinations help make up for the lack of exposure to influenza over the past two years. It’s basically a wake-up call to our immune systems, as well as a plan of attack for our bodies to follow as they fight the disease.
So, why do we sometimes get the flu after getting a flu vaccination?
It’s very difficult to stop a virus completely. Viruses mutate over time, helping them elude the defenses the vaccination helps our bodies build up. The longer the flu season, the more opportunities the virus has to mutate.
In short, influenza is a moving target — the virus that is circulating in November might be different than what’s out there in January. While your senior loved one’s vaccine may not completely stop influenza from making them feel crummy for a few days, the vaccination can make all the difference between the flu being an annoyance or a life-threatening situation that puts a person – especially a person 65 or older – in the hospital.
A flu vaccination might not be a magical cure that makes us entirely immune to the virus, but it can be a game-changer when it comes to fighting influenza, drastically decreasing its ability to spread and to inflict serious illness – especially on our senior loved ones.
