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The United States is bracing for a bad flu season on top of the continuing COVID-19 crisis, with a call on Thursday for Americans to get vaccinated against both.
“I get it: we’re all tired of talking about vaccines,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But “it’s doubly important this year” to get the flu shot, added Walensky, who got the flu shot herself earlier this week, as she has done every year since she was a medical student in France. 1995. “We prepare for the return of the flu.”
Flu cases have fallen to historically low levels around the world during the pandemic, as restrictions designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus have helped block other respiratory viruses. But with the reopening of schools and businesses, the resumption of international travel, and much less masking, there’s no way to predict how much of a flu season the United States might expect this winter.
But officials are concerned because a different respiratory virus named RSV, which typically attacks young children in winter, instead roared last summer as soon as people started dropping their masks.
“Is this the harbinger of a worse flu season? We don’t know, but we certainly don’t want a ‘twindemic’, both COVID and the flu, ”said Dr William Schaffner of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
And if you still need a COVID-19 vaccination – whether it’s the first shots or a booster dose – you can get it in the same visit as a flu shot.
The CDC recommends an annual flu shot for just about everyone, starting with 6-month-old babies. The flu is particularly dangerous for the elderly, children under 5, people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma or heart disease, and during pregnancy.
Last fall, about as many Americans overall were vaccinated against the flu as before the pandemic – about half of the eligible population, according to CDC data released Thursday. But Walensky was dismayed by a slight drop in childhood flu shots last year – and widening racial and ethnic disparities. Last year, 43% of black Americans and 45% of Hispanics got the flu shot compared to 56% of whites.
The CDC expects vaccine makers to deliver 188 to 200 million doses of influenza vaccine. Most Americans with insurance can get it without co-payment. Options include regular injections, injections aimed at providing older people with extra protection, and a nasal spray. All of them offer protection against four different strains of flu that world experts say are most likely to spread this year.
Along with getting the flu shot, authorities have also urged older people and those with chronic illnesses to seek a vaccine against a type of pneumonia that is a common complication.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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