The flu. It’s something we all know, that we hate and try to avoid every season. But what is the flu? The flu is a virus that causes respiratory infection and causes signs and symptoms of muscle aches, fever, lack of energy, headaches, sore throat, congestion, and coughing. It is constantly changing due to antigenic drift and antigenic shift. Because it is constantly evolving, it is incredibly hard for the body to have immunity to the virus. In an effort to create immunity against the virus, microbiologists around the world work to make an estimated guess of which strain of the flu will be the most common each season and to make a vaccination that will protect against it.
This season, the A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine component and A(H3N2) vaccine component were updated to a more recent strain of the virus. The B/Victoria and B/Yamagata virus components stayed the same as from that of the 2018-2019 flu vaccine. Because it is still so early in the season, the CDC has not released any data on the effectiveness of this years vaccine. However, they did state that, according to recent studies, the flu vaccine reduces the risk of getting the flu by 40-60% when the vaccine viruses are similar to the ones being spread throughout the population.
While the CDC hasn’t yet released vaccine effectiveness estimates this season, they are keeping data on those who have been infected. They believe that so far over 22 million people have been ill, over 200,000 have been hospitalized for it, and 12,000 have died from the flu. The state I live in, North Carolina, is among 45 states that have been considered high in ILI, or influenza-like illness, according to the CDC’s ranking. They have also classified flu activity as being widespread in the state of North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, there have been 63 total flu deaths this season, 5 of which occurred within the past 2 weeks.
Although many people don’t die when they become ill with the flu, there is also still a subset of our population who are at great risk, such as infants, older adults, or those with compromised immunity. Regardless of the effectiveness rate of this season’s flu vaccine, having some protection against the flu is better than having none at all. If not to protect yourself from dealing with the symptoms and inconvenience of the flu, please consider getting your flu shot to reduce the risk of others becoming infected. With a virus like this, herd immunity is incredibly important. The vaccine may not be fully effective, but for your own health and the health of others, it’s certainly worth a shot.
Erika Bell's MCRO 251 Blog 