Flu Shot Myths Dispelled

Health officials are encouraging everyone to get their flu shot this year. not only can it help keep the flu from spreading but will also keep the hospitals from getting flooded during this pandemic.  It would suck to need to be hospitalized and there is no room for you in the hospital.

Unfortunately, there are myths, that we hear all the time, that are keeping people from getting a flu shot. According to Dr Shannon Neale, who works in Family Medicine at Park Nicollet with Health Partners, dispels some of the myths about flu shots;

• The suggestion that you increase your risk of getting COVID from the flu shot. "There will be studies that are published that get everybody riled up and then later they can’t be replicated," Neale said. "It’s really important to not just believe something you read on the internet, but to really investigate it and see if there’s fact behind it and if it’s been substantiated by other studies," she said.
• If you get the vaccine, you won't get the flu. Dr Neale says that there is more than one strain of flu and the vaccine will only protest you from one strain.
• The flu kills more people than COVID-19.  The truth is that COVID -19 has killed more people in the last 8 months than the flu has in the last 5 years.
• You can get the flu from the flu vaccine.  "We know that it’s safe, you cannot get the flu from influenza vaccination," Neale said. "Whether it’s just at the vaccine site, getting some redness, swelling, pain there, sometimes people can get a more generalized body aches for a day or two, maybe a headache, maybe even a low grade fever or some mild GI symptoms, and then they think that they got the flu but really what they have is a reaction to the vaccine itself,"
• Healthy people don't need a flu shot. "The flu in particular affects young children, pregnant women, older adults and people with underlying health conditions," Neale said. "But we know lots of young healthy people that have died from influenza."

The flu vaccine lasts about 6 months, so it should get you through the flu season and November is not too late to get vaccinated. Flu shots are available at most pharmacies and, of course, your doctor.

(KARE 11)

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/kare11-sunrise/busting-flu-shot-myths