I am a medical skeptic. Before I will take medication, I want to be sure Ive done everything I can to support my bodys ability to maintain my good health. Diet, exercise, adequate sleep, and stress reduction have always been my first-line approach to daily health as well as a means of moderating illness.
That being said, I completely embrace the elegance and effectiveness of vaccines.
Before it could be scientifically explained, it was common knowledge that survivors of small pox could safely attend to the ill without getting re-infected. The practice of inoculation with fluid from small pox pustules was practiced across the globe long before Edward Jenner came onto the scene. In fact, Jenner himself was successfully inoculated with small pox as an 8-year-old. Jenner, 1749=1823, was a scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the small pox vaccine.
Fast forward to today. The process of making safe vaccinations that allow us to develop immunity without the risk of life-threatening disease is well understood and widely practiced. Because vaccines are given to millions of healthy people, including small children and the elderly, year after year to prevent serious diseases, theyre held to very high safety standards.
Development of the influenza vaccine, the flu shot, is based on year-round influenza surveillance by hundreds of labs around the world. Global communication and collaboration are integral to this complex data-driven process.
The surveillance data indicates which viruses are circulating and forecasts which viruses are the most likely to circulate during the coming season.It is not possible to predict how well the vaccine and circulating strains will be matched in advance of the influenza season, nor is it possible to predict how this match may affect vaccine effectiveness.
But recent studies show flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to the flu vaccine.
That brings us to this unprecedented year of 2020-2021. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing spread of respiratory illnesses like influenza is more important than ever. Flu can present symptoms that look like COVID-19 and vice versa, making diagnosis and treatment difficult.
Vaccination for influenza can help reduce the burden on our health care systems as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. We can do our part to save medical resources for care of COVID-19 patients by following our public health guidelines on social distancing, wearing masks, hand washing and getting vaccinated for influenza. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against flu, so, you should get vaccinated early in fall, before flu season begins.
CDC recommends people get a flu vaccine by the end of October. We all need one less thing to worry about this year so do yourself and your community a favor. Get your influenza vaccine and cross that off the list.
Wendy Ostlind, MS, RN is Sheridan College's E.A. Whitney endowed health science chair
Read more from the original source:
Health Watch: We all need one less thing to worry about. The flu shot. - The Sheridan Press
