Flu season is almost here and one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from getting sick is to get your flu shot.
“Everyone six months and up should get their flu shot,” says Dr. Jessica Aliff, a physician with MedExpress. “This includes essential workers, adults over the age of 65, residents in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, infants, young children, and pregnant women.”
It is especially important to get a flu shot this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dr. Aliff.
Getting your flu shot can help reduce the burden placed on the health care system. If you get a flu shot, you are less likely to get the flu or develop severe flu symptoms, thus freeing up medical resources needed by people with coronavirus.
Everyone needs to get the flu shot, says Aliff, but there is an exception to that. People with coronavirus should not get a flu shot until they have recovered.
“You want your body to have fought off the first virus before you administer the flu shot to make sure that your body builds up the proper antibodies necessary,” Aliff says. “Waiting until your quarantine period is over also decreases your risk of transmitting coronavirus to another person while receiving your flu shot.”
If you don’t have coronavirus, the best time to get a flu shot is right now, according to Aliff.
“October is a good time to get your flu shot, before peak flu season begins in late December,” says Aliff. “It takes your body about two weeks to build up the necessary antibodies, so any time before flu season actually starts is a good time.”
More information about the flu is available at www.cdc.gov/flu.