As temperatures drop, so do your odds of escaping the upcoming flu season unscathed.
During the last flu season of 2022 to 2023, there was an early start to the season, higher than normal pediatric hospitalizations and deaths — and an unprecedented “tripledemic” with three respiratory viruses circulating (flu, RSV and COVID-19).
As a result, in the U.S. there were at least 26 million illnesses, 290,000 hospitalizations and 19,000 deaths caused by the flu last season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Heading into the new flu season, here are some key medical facts that dispel six myths about the flu shot and the bug itself.
Myth 1: The flu shot can give you the flu
Not possible: The flu shot contains an inactive virus and cannot give you influenza.
It’s possible that your immune system will respond to the vaccine by causing you to feel slightly achy or to have a runny nose — but that’s very different from a case of influenza.
People who think they came down with the flu after getting vaccinated probably had an unrelated upper-respiratory sickness, or already were infected with flu when they received the shot.
It takes about two weeks for the vaccine to start preventing flu, according to University of California San Francisco Health.
3 Heading into the new flu season, some myths should be dispelled about the annual vaccine. NY Post illustration
Myth 2: The flu is not that serious
Across the globe, up to 650,000 people each year die of the flu, according to the World Health Organization.
People who say they have a “slight” case of the flu are often coming down with a cold or a seasonal allergy. But symptoms of the flu are much worse: high fever, vomiting, trouble breathing, sore throat, cough, chills, body aches, headache, fatigue and diarrhea.
The flu can often be a deadly disease — especially for people in high-risk groups such as infants, older people and those with underlying health conditions.
3 The flu is a serious — and preventable — infectious disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year worldwide. AP
Myth 3: Pregnant women shouldn’t get the flu shot
The flu shot is especially important for pregnant women, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all pregnant women get vaccinated against the flu.
Pregnant women, in fact, have a higher risk for serious complications from the flu than other women.
And getting the flu shot while pregnant protects a baby for months after delivery. That’s especially important because infants younger than six months can’t get flu shots of their own — and they’re more likely to suffer serious complications if they catch the flu.
Since the flu vaccine comes in two forms — the shot, which doesn’t contain a live virus, and a nasal spray, which contains a weakened one — pregnant women should only receive the vaccine in a shot, not in nasal form.
3 Doctors — including doctors who are pregnant — urge expectant women to get a flu shot. Greg Woodward / Boots
Myth 4: If you got the flu — or the vaccine — last year, you’re safe
Every year, a different strain of the flu virus is circulating, and each year’s vaccine is custom-tailored to that year’s strain.
Additionally, the flu vaccine loses its potency over time, so a shot given a year ago needs an update.
The current 2023 to 2024 flu vaccines performed well against the viruses that were circulating in the Southern Hemisphere during their flu season, which is now near its end, so this year’s vaccine is believed to be highly effective.
A CDC study found that people who had received a flu vaccine in the Southern Hemisphere this past year were half as likely to be hospitalized with the flu compared to people who had not been vaccinated.
Myth 5: You’re safe if you’re young and healthy
Everyone can get the flu, even if you’re not in a high-risk group. Moreover, even young, healthy people can spread the flu to someone who is in a high-risk group — possibly killing them.
And young people who miss work — and miss having fun with their friends — cost the U.S. economy an estimated $3.2 billion in direct medical costs, and indirect costs of $8 billion, according to a 2022 study.
The CDC estimates that vaccination prevented 79,000 flu hospitalizations and 6.6 million flu-associated illnesses during the 2012-2013 influenza season.
Myth 6: The flu vaccine has many side effects
In fact, the flu vaccine is one of the safest and most reliable vaccines ever devised. Side effects of the shot — if any — are usually very mild and are typically limited to soreness at the injection site.
In very rare cases — about one in a million — a person may get Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which causes muscle weakness and paralysis. But given how widespread the flu is, and how deadly the disease can be, any risk of severe side effects is considered negligible.
Flu shot myths make us sick
