Health Experts Recommend Flu Shots, COVID Boosters
Dr. Kapil Dhingra is physician-in-chief at Kaiser Permanente's San Leandro Medical Center.
Late fall is traditionally flu season in the U.S., and with COVID-19 still with us, health experts urge people to quickly protect themselves against both diseases.
COVID experts Dr. Erica Pan and Dr. Robert Wachter said on November 1 that a surge in COVID is likely in the coming months, though the Bay Area has a low rate of infection currently. They also both warned we might never completely get rid of it.
The Centers for Disease Control and doctors at major medical centers are warning that people’s immunity to the flu is down because few have been exposed to it in the last several years. Measures originally introduced to lessen the spread of COVID ended up greatly reducing cases of influenza as well.
Those measures have been gradually relaxed, said Dr. Pan, California’s state epidemiologist who formerly was Alameda County’s health officer. She spoke on a Nov. 1 online panel discussion hosted by State Senator Nancy Skinner, joined by Dr. Wachter, head of the medicine department at UC San Francisco.
People are used to flu vaccines being needed annually, but Dr. Wachter pointed out that immunity also gradually wanes after getting a COVID vaccine as well.
“If you only got two COVID vaccines a year ago, you’re now at a real risk of getting COVID and at a small chance of dying,” he said. Current vaccinations greatly reduce your chances of getting the disease, and if you do get it despite vaccinating, they further reduce your chances of being hospitalized and almost eliminate your chance of dying.
Medical experts say that while COVID has gotten most of the headlines, influenza can be a serious disease that killed Americans long before the current COVID pandemic, and people need to protect themselves against both. They also are concerned that both diseases having a winter surge at once could overwhelm hospitals, preventing other care from being available.
“Everyone 6 months and older should get a flu shot each year,” said Dr. Kapil Dhingra, physician-in-chief at the Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center. “This is especially important for pregnant women, children, older adults, and people with chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, or kidney, heart, or lung disease.”
“The flu vaccine is safe and effective,” he continued. “Getting your flu shot reduces your risk of severe illness and hospitalization and helps lower overall infection rates. And because the flu and COVID-19 symptoms are similar, those who get the flu vaccine will be less likely to mistake the flu for COVID-19.”
Dr. Pan and Dr. Wachter agreed that COVID incidence is relatively low in the Bay Area, but not everywhere else.
“New York City has about four times the rate we do right now,” said Dr. Wachter. “You might want to mask indoors there.”
Dr. Dhingra urged Kaiser members, along with everyone else, to get both their COVID and flu shots, which can be given together. Some Kaiser facilities have walk-in flu shots, while you might have to make an appointment, online or over the phone, for a COVID shot. However, when you get that Kaiser staff can point you to the flu shots nearby.