flu myths Archives

Flu season is almost here and let’s face it — no one has time for sniffles and coughs. Save yourself the time and suffering. You have the power to protect yourself and the ones you love from influenza and as your trusted health resource, we are here to help you do just that. Here is everything you need to know about getting vaccinated against the flu:

How do flu vaccines work?

Vaccines train our immune systems to create proteins called antibodies, which are responsible for fighting diseases in our bodies.¹ When we get the flu vaccine, our bodies are exposed to a version of the flu that has been already killed or weakened. This helps our immune system create antibodies to fight the flu without getting sick.

Once the body processes the vaccine and produces antibodies, it also creates antibody-producing memory cells, which remain alive even after the flu is defeated. If the body is exposed again, the antibody response is faster and more effective than the first time around because the memory cells are ready to pump out antibodies in defense.¹

Getting vaccinated for the flu goes far beyond just protecting yourself. Vaccinations work at their best when we develop herd immunity. This is when many people within a community are vaccinated, lessening the flu’s spread and preventing people that are unable to vaccinate from getting sick.¹ The more people get vaccinated, the more we can keep our communities healthy.

How effective are flu vaccines?

Flu vaccination can reduce the risk of flu illness by up to 60%, however, how well the flu vaccines protect us against the flu varies from season to season. Protection not only varies depending on characteristics of the person getting vaccinated such as age and overall health.² The effectiveness of flu vaccines each year heavily depends on how well they match with the flu viruses spreading throughout the community.³ Flu viruses change quickly, meaning the vaccine created for last year’s virus may not protect you from the flu viruses this year. The more the flu vaccine matches circulating flu viruses, the better protection we have against getting the flu. If you still get sick even if you received a flu vaccine, flu vaccination has been shown to reduce the severity of the virus. For example, a 2021 study found that vaccinated adults hospitalized with the flu had a 26% lower risk of being admitted to intensive care units and a 31% lower risk of death compares to unvaccinated adults.²

Who should get the flu vaccine?

Annual flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older, but vaccinations are especially important for those at high risk for flu-related complications:⁴

Children ages 6 months – 2 years old
Adults older than age 50
Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
People who are pregnant or plan to be pregnant
People with weakened immune systems
People who have chronic illnesses, such as asthma, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, and diabetes
People with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher

While everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine, there are some rare exceptions:⁵

Children younger than 6 months of age are too young to get a flu shot.
People with severe, life-threatening allergies to any ingredient in a flu vaccine (other than egg proteins) should not get that vaccine. This might include gelatin, antibiotics, or other ingredients.
People who have had a severe allergic reaction to a dose of influenza vaccine should not get that flu vaccine again and might not be able to receive other influenza vaccines. If you have had a severe allergic reaction to an influenza vaccine in the past, it is important to talk with your healthcare provider to help determine whether vaccination is appropriate for you.

When should you get your flu shot?

In the United States, flu season is in the fall and winter. However, influenza viruses are still present and circulating year-round. Flu cases generally peak between December and February and sometimes linger as late as May.

With this in mind, flu vaccination is ideal during September or October.⁴ Vaccinating sooner could lead to waning efficacy near the end of flu season in spring. However, don’t wait too long to get your flu shot either as it takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body to fully protect against the flu.³

We highly encourage you to talk with our team or your healthcare provider about any additional questions or concerns you may have about flu vaccines. You have the power to protect yourself and the ones you love from influenza by getting your annual flu shot! https://sinkspharmacy.com/services/#immunizations

Sources:

Kids are heading back to school, fall is almost here (along with everything pumpkin), and that can only mean one thing: It’s time to start talking about flu season again. The flu virus doesn’t usually start circulating until the end of the year, but it’s important to get vaccinated in the fall to give your body time to learn how to fight off the disease if exposed.

There is a lot of information at our fingertips, and not all of it is correct…and even when we find the right sources, it can be hard to sort through all that info to figure out what is correct for what our symptoms are and how to treat whatever it is we caught. If you have questions about the flu or any other illness you may be experiencing as we head into flu season, make sure you are turning to trusted healthcare providers for your answers.

man getting flu shot from pharmacist

Is it true that the flu…?

There are more flu myths out there than we can easily count, and that was BEFORE medical misinformation began to spread on social media like wildfire. We’ve rounded up just a few popular ones here to debunk.

Is it true that I can get the flu from getting the flu shot? ¹

No! Flu vaccine given with a needle are inactive (killed) while nasal spray is live; the live vaccine has been weakened to the point it cannot cause an infection. After getting the vaccine, you may experience some flu-like symptoms. This is your body learning how to fight off the real disease by encountering the vaccine in your system. You can also still get the flu after getting vaccinated (but the vaccine often makes it less severe); this is especially true in the two weeks after getting your shot as your body takes some time to reach maximum immunity.

Is it true that I shouldn’t get the flu shot if I’m pregnant? ¹

No! Pregnant women actually have a higher risk of having complications if they contract the flu, meaning that getting vaccinated is even more important. On top of that, the vaccine can help protect the baby as well for several months after birth. Since babies cannot get a flu shot until they are 6 months, passing the antibodies from mother to baby is a great measure of protection if they are too young to receive a vaccine during peak flu season.

If you are pregnant, you should only get the vaccine via a shot, not the nasal spray.

Is it true that I don’t need to get a flu shot every year? ²

No! With a few rare exceptions, the CDC recommends that everyone older than 6 months should get a flu shot every year. There are a couple of main reasons for this. First, the efficacy of the vaccine — how well the vaccine works to prevent the disease it’s meant to fight — decreases over time. This is also why we recommend you get your flu shot ideally between September and early November.

The second factor is that the flu virus changes over time (similar to how COVID-19 has changed over the last couple years). The vaccine is made based on which strains look like they will be the most widespread for that year, and the strain that was spreading last year may not be the popular one this year.

Not seeing your question? Have more questions from this? Come by and talk to our team – we’re always here to help you get the answers you need.

I don’t feel good – what do I have?

Anyone who has Googled symptoms knows that it can be hard to narrow in on what you actually have. We know that not every symptom is cancer, despite that seeming the case when we look online. It’s important to not only learn the symptoms of diseases that are in your area but also learn the timing and what is NOT a symptom so you can get better treatment.

Flu vs. COVID-19 ³

Symptoms of COVID-19 have changed over time to resemble the symptoms of influenza more closely. These shared symptoms include:

Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Muscle pain or body aches
Headache
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Change in or loss of taste or smell (more common with COVID-19 than flu)

Flu symptoms appear sooner after exposure on average than COVID-19 symptoms; someone infected with the flu usually starts having symptoms between 1 and 4 days after infection; COVID-19 symptoms, meanwhile, typically show up within 2 to 14 days after being exposed. Both viruses can also have asymptomatic cases, where people are infected but don’t get sick or show symptoms of the infection.

While both viruses have many shared possible complications (pneumonia, sepsis, heart attack, and more), there are some differences, too. The flu is more associated with secondary bacterial infections (getting an infection from something else when the immune system is weakened from the flu) than COVID-19; blood clots and multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C and MIS-A) are more common with COVID-19, and symptoms can linger much longer (now often called Long COVID) than flu symptoms do.

Both viruses have vaccines that work to protect you from infection or serious complications. COVID-19 vaccines can be received at any time of the year (on the appropriate vaccine schedule) while flu shots are recommended in the fall to offer the best protection when flu season arrives. There are also many tests available for both, so if you think you have one of these…get tested and get answers.

Flu vs. Stomach Flu ⁴

Despite sharing part of a name, the seasonal flu and the stomach flu have very little in common. The stomach flu (like the name suggests) affects the stomach. It is highly contagious and can be spread from person to person or by eating contaminated foods.

If you are experiencing diarrhea, stomach pain, and vomiting, there’s a good chance you’ve got the stomach flu. There isn’t any vaccine or treatment, but you can help relieve symptoms by drinking clear liquids, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, and staying away from dairy, fiber, grease, and spices. The stomach flu can be contracted any time of the year.

If you have a sore throat, fever, muscle aches, or a cough, however, you may have influenza. The seasonal flu affects the respiratory system and DOES have a vaccine that can help prevent serious infection. Though there can be influenza viruses circulating year-round, usually flu season is during the winter.

Flu vs. Cold vs. Allergy ⁵

Even before COVID-19, it was sometimes hard to tell if you had the flu or if you had a cold or if it was just allergies. They all affect the respiratory system and share many symptoms. Flu and cold generally have the most overlap, but flu symptoms tend to be more plentiful and more severe than cold symptoms. The symptoms are a sign of your body trying to fight off the infection, and they generally last as long as the infection does.

Allergies, meanwhile, are not because of an infection; instead, they are your immune system fighting off some external substances that you’ve been exposed to and your body thinks is dangerous to you. The symptoms are the immune system’s overreaction to the exposure, and they will last as long as the exposure does. This can be several weeks if the pollen count is high; it could be just hours, however, if it’s caused by a brief interaction with a neighbor’s dog.

* Click to view full-size image. Table via NIH News in Health: https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2014/10/cold-flu-or-allergy

Because there is so much overlap in actual symptoms, it’s important to pay extra attention to the labels of any medicine you take. The active ingredients of many drugs overlap, so it is easy to get too much of one ingredient if you aren’t careful. There can also be interactions between different drugs used to treat the cold, flu, and allergies; if you are ever unsure of what to take or how much to take, talk to our pharmacy team! Visit our immunizations section for current offerings and availability.

Sources:

¹ https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/top-seven-flu-myths-debunked

² https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/misconceptions.htm

³ https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm

⁴ https://www.gohealthuc.com/library/influenza-vs-stomach-flu

⁵ https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2014/10/cold-flu-or-allergy