Paging Dr. Frischer: Flu Vaccine
Flu season will soon be with us. Influenza is a serious disease; in this country it is responsible for some 12,000 to 52,000 deaths each year. For last year’s flu season, the CDC reported that 46% of adults and 49% of children were vaccinated. Let’s improve those numbers.
Why become vaccinated? Flu can mean a few days of feeling poorly and missing work, school, and family events, or it can result in a far more serious illness, hospitalization, and even death. Complications include bacterial pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections, and the worsening of chronic medical conditions, such as congestive heart failure, asthma, or diabetes.
The highly effective flu vaccine reduces the risk of illness, hospitalization, and flu-related deaths. Occasionally, those who are vaccinated do not form adequate antibodies, but even then, the vaccine will likely reduce the severity of the illness.
This year’s vaccines will all be trivalent, designed to protect against two influenza A viruses and one influenza B virus. Note that the flu vaccine cannot cause the flu; it uses killed virus and there is no active disease being injected into the body. Still, there may be mild and short-lasting side effects, including soreness, redness or swelling at the injection site, headache, fever, muscle aches, nausea or fatigue. Serious side effects are extremely rare.
The task of predicting which virus strains will be circulating in a given season is challenging. Flu viruses are constantly shifting, but the prediction must occur early in order to have time to produce and distribute the vaccines. Varied technologies and types of vaccines are available, depending on age and health history. The exciting news is that the FDA approved the brand-new Moderna mFLUSIVA mRNA flu vaccine in August, for adults 50 and older. What is so interesting about this new vaccine is this: Older technology takes more than six months to identify the most likely virus strains and produce a vaccine. This new technology takes two to three months, which allows for quicker updates and more success at predicting the correct constantly-evolving virus strains.
In clinical trials, this new vaccine produced a stronger immune response; about 26.6% more effective at preventing flu than the traditional flu vaccine. It will be an option for many older adults this year, but at this time it is unclear how widely available it will be, and whether it will come at a higher out-of-pocket cost.
I strongly recommend that anyone over six months old protect themselves by becoming vaccinated against the flu, every year. It takes about two weeks to develop antibodies from the vaccine, so the best time to get it is anytime between now and the end of October. It is available at most local pharmacies and at some doctor’s offices, and is often free of charge.