Flu Season is Approaching

As we head into Flu season, it is more important than ever to get your flu shot. Flu season typically ramps up around November in the United States, and this year, experts are concerned about the combined stress of Flu and COVID-19 on our healthcare systems. The Flu Shot protects those vaccinated, as well as family members who may also be more vulnerable to respiratory disease. With overlapping symptoms, it will be harder to tell the difference between COVID-19 and the Flu. RMG has recently received our first doses of Flu Shots and recommends that all patients schedule an appointment to receive the flu shot as soon as possible. According to doctors and epidemiologists, antibodies to the flu shot typically take two weeks to develop, and last between 4-6 months. Ideally, patients should get their shots before the end of October to beginning of November each year.

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, causes respiratory illness of varying severity.  It is spread from one person to another via respiratory droplets when a person talks, coughs, or sneezes. The flu virus is transmitted year round, but increases beginning in October and peaks between December and February. While avoiding contact with sick people, washing your hands, refraining from touching your face, and frequently cleaning touched surfaces helps minimize the spread of flu, the CDC recommends everyone six months and older receive the flu shot annually.

The CDC is warning that flu viruses and the virus that causes COVID-19 will simultaneously be spreading this fall and winter. That is why it is important to be vaccinated against the flu. This will not only to reduce your risk of contracting the flu, but it will also help reduce the strain on healthcare resources in Southern Nevada.  Symptoms of the flu are very similar to COVID-19. Both can result in serious and even life-threatening illness. The flu vaccine can protect you against flu viruses and has been shown to reduce the complications and hospitalizations that can occur with a flu infection.

There are many different strains of the flu virus and they are continually mutating into new strains.  Each flu season, scientists do their best to predict and match the flu viruses that will likely be circulating.  The flu vaccine typically protects against three or four of the most commonly contracted strains of the virus based on research.  Some of those strains include H1N1, H3N2, B/Victoria lineage, and the Yamagata lineage.  Because a new flu vaccine is developed annually, CDC recommends everyone six months and older who are otherwise medically indicated to receive the flu vaccine before the start of each flu season.  Getting the flu vaccine may not only save your life, but it may save the life of someone else.

Need the flu vaccine. Request an appointment with Roseman Medical Group online or call (702) 463-4040.