Good time for everyone to get flu shots

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - School starts soon for most students and that's the right time for people to roll up their sleeves for a flu shot.

Flu viruses spread where people get together. So this year, the CDC is recommending that everyone over six months of age should get a flu shot, not just the elderly or people with chronic illnesses that might be at greatest risk.

Dr. Robert Welliver, co-director of infectious diseases at Women & Children's Hospital, said, "The strategy of trying to immunize just the target population, the real high risk population, has never worked. So the idea is to immunize schoolchildren and adults that are out and about, and transmitting the virus to each other and then bringing it home to the high-risk individuals. It protects them, but it also does a better job of protecting people who are at risk for a bad outcome from flu."

What do we mean by a bad outcome? Flu is a serious disease. Each year, about 24,000 Americans die as a result of influenza. That's more than the total number killed by all kinds of leukemia combined. If you could prevent that with a once-a-year shot, wouldn't you do it? And this year, the H1N1 swine flu will be back, so it will be included in the standard seasonal flu shot.

"That's always what's happened in the past when there's been a pandemic, is that strain, for whatever reason, has taken over and driven everything else out," said Dr. Welliver.

Dr. Welliver points out that there's no need to wait to get your shot, and there won't be shortages.

"There's always enough vaccine; there's always residual at the end of the year that doesn't get used, so there's gonna be enough flu vaccine. It's in most people's offices already," said Dr. Welliver.

And it's also available in many pharmacies. And if you get a shot now, the immunity will cover you through the whole flu season. If you got the H1N1 vaccine last year, you're only partly covered now. This year's H1N1 virus is slightly different from last year's, so you really need an annual shot. As for side effects, rhe first time you ever get vaccinated, you may have a mild fever for a day or two. That's not flu, and it doesn't happen again.