This could be the most important flu shot ever

Why should you get a flu shot?

1:13

(CNN) -

In a black suit jacket pulled from her left shoulder, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was unfazed as she got her flu shot on live television last week.

"It's literally the easiest thing I'll do today," said Governor Whitmer, who called the press conference to highlight preparations for the upcoming flu season.

"Preventing influenza will help us save lives and preserve the healthcare resources we need to continue fighting COVID-19," he said.

"It is more important than ever."

Even if you are not in contact with anyone else in your daily life, experts generally recommend leaving your bubble to get vaccinated against the flu.

"I understand the desire for physical distancing, but I think getting a flu shot is also important this year," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent.

“It is important to get vaccinated every year, but perhaps even more important this year because we are probably going to have a convergence of the flu and the coronavirus this fall.

So whatever we can do to reduce the flu I think will be really important. "

• Coronavirus vs.

  influenza: the reasons why covid-19 is more dangerous

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was vaccinated against the flu on live television on August 25, 2020.

The flu vaccine is a safe and inexpensive way to stay healthy.

But in a typical year, less than half of Americans get vaccinated (just 45% last year).

Rates in the UK are comparable, where only 44.9% of registered patients aged 6 months to 64 years were vaccinated against influenza from 2018 to 2019. In the European Union, which pledged in 2009 to vaccinate at least To 75% of residents 65 and older, only 45% of the people in that group received vaccinations in 2018.

The number is even lower for people of color, who have been especially vulnerable during the pandemic.

In the 2017-2018 flu season, only 28.4% of Hispanics in the United States received the flu vaccine.

With the covid-19 pandemic rapidly spreading around the world, the distribution of the flu vaccine takes on a new urgency, according to medical experts.

"Since hospitals and doctors' offices will be very busy caring for COVID-19 patients, a flu vaccine can help reduce burdens on the health care system and ensure that those in need of medical care can obtain it," he said. Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association and an immunologist in Fort Worth, Texas.

However, it is not just about freeing up resources for COVID-19 patients.

"Influenza is a deadly disease in its own right," Bailey said.

• Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine May Be Ready for Approval in October, But There Are Still 'Questions'

Reasons why some parents don't vaccinate their children 1:03

In the 2019-2020 flu season, there were between 24,000 and 62,000 flu deaths in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with older people, young children, and pregnant women at risk. high.

The flu vaccine not only reduces your chances of getting sick, it often means a less serious illness.

Additionally, evidence from last spring shows that it is possible to contract coronavirus and influenza simultaneously.

"We saw that in some of the first cases this year, where patients had other viruses at the same time as they had COVID-19," Bailey said.

And because flu symptoms, including fever, sore throat and cough, look so much like covid-19 symptoms, it will be impossible to rule out a coronavirus diagnosis without a test.

That means that a case of the flu, even if it turns out to be mild, can cause a substantial disruption to work and school.

These are the first symptoms of covid-19 19:47

Get the vaccine in a pandemic year

"This is a critical year for us to try to eliminate the flu as much as we can," said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an interview with the JAMA network of AMA.

That requires an unprecedented effort to increase flu vaccination rates, and Redfield hopes to increase vaccination rates in the United States to 65%.

The CDC projects that between 194 million and 198 million doses will be available this year, an increase of nearly 30 million doses from the previous year.

To help get vaccines to those who need them, CDC purchased 9.3 million doses of the adult flu vaccine and 2 million doses of the pediatric flu vaccine.

It's a massive increase from the 500,000 doses the federal agency typically buys for uninsured adults.

But the pandemic complicates distribution.

In past flu seasons, many Americans were vaccinated at their workplaces.

Amid the concerns about large gatherings, that's one less place to administer flu shots.

Additionally, the pandemic ushered in a widespread decline in childhood vaccines.

While those numbers have rebounded in some places, pediatricians remain concerned.

The state, government agencies and private companies are stepping up to support the campaign.

The Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System allows certified pharmacists to administer flu vaccines to children enrolled in Medicaid and to provide gift cards to members who get vaccinated.

To reduce contact and the risk of infection, Spectrum Health of Michigan offers curbside flu shots in Grand Rapids.

Flu shots that you can get while in your vehicle are also available at some Kaiser Permanente locations.

Currently, flu shots are available at many drug store chains, including CVS and Walgreens.

Residents of any state in the United States can find out where to get vaccinated using the CDC's VaccineFinder website, which partners with local health departments and clinics.

Flu shot as a requirement

Flu shots can save lives.

For some Americans, vaccinations are also a must in their jobs and schools this year.

University of California system employees and students will need to get a flu shot by Nov. 1, UC Health announced in August, a decision that affects more than half a million people.

Flu shots are also required for children and youth in Massachusetts educational facilities, beginning with child care and preschool through college.

Massachusetts is the first state to introduce such a decision and the decision has sparked protests.

A pending bill in the New Jersey legislature would also make flu vaccines a requirement for enrollment.

Vermont is also considering a mandate, state health commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said at a press conference Aug. 28.

It's not all bad news

This is how H1N1 patient zero looks 11 years after the outbreak 2:38

While the prospect of a double whammy of covid-19 and influenza is alarming, it is not all doom and gloom.

The flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, which usually begins to increase in October, comes immediately after the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Because the Northern Hemisphere flu season tends to follow trends in the South, scientists scrutinize the numbers in Oceania and South America for clues about what's to come.

So far, it looks pretty good.

"The low levels we're seeing are unprecedented," said Lauren Sauer, an emergency medicine expert and director of research for the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit.

“While we are still really vigilant, and still concerned about the flu season, we are hopeful that we will have a similar experience when it shows up here.

Influenza rates in Australia have been lower in 2020 than in recent years, reflecting in Chile and South Africa.

In part, that could be due to an increase in vaccination rates.

This year a record number of flu shots were made in Australia.

In Buenos Aires, flu vaccination clinics sprang up in converted kindergartens and churches.

But the downward trend in influenza infections likely also reflects the precautions taken to combat COVID-19.

"Obviously with the coronavirus you wear a mask, you try to keep your physical distance, you are washing your hands as much as possible," Gupta said.

“You are doing everything possible to make it more difficult for this virus to pass from one person to another.

The same things that work for the coronavirus will also help lower your chances of getting the flu.

Another good point is the creative solutions to administer vaccines in a pandemic, which Sauer would like to see last longer than covid-19.

"Making it easy for people to get the flu vaccine is incredibly important," he said, citing efforts to provide vaccines outside of traditional healthcare settings.

Sauer also said that mandatory flu vaccines are a good option and an important step in reducing flu deaths now and in the future.

In fact, Johns Hopkins Medicine, where Sauer works, has required flu shots since 2012. It has worked well.

"It's such a beneficial approach," he said.

"It is beneficial for the system, but also for the person who receives that vaccine, and our patients and our community."

coronaviruscovid-19 flu vaccine