Did you miss getting your flu vaccine in the Fall? Perhaps you were to busy with Holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukah.
So perhaps you think now is toooooo late! Think Again! It is not too late!
Good New Year News About the Flu!
Make a New Year’s resolution to go out and get vaccinated as soon as possible because FDA experts are telling us “flu activity usually
peaks in January or February, and can last well into May.”
“According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), vaccinations can be protective as long as flu viruses are circulating.”
Speaking of the Flu and the FDA, did you know it “plays a key role in ensuring that safe and effective influenza vaccines are available every flu season.
In fact, the task of producing a new vaccine for the next flu season starts well before the current flu season ends. For FDA, it’s a year-round initiative.”
About that New Vaccine
This brings us to a question we have often heard concerning the flu: Why are they always making new types of vaccines?
Marion Gruber, Ph.D., director of FDA’s Office of Vaccine Research and Review, recently provided an answer. She stated, “There are several reasons that new vaccines must be manufactured each year.”
She added, “Influenza viruses can change from year to year, due to different subtypes and strains that circulate each year,” says Gruber. A vaccine is needed that includes virus strains that most closely match those in circulation, and the protection provided by the previous year’s vaccine will diminish over time.”
First Priority In the New Year
FLASS urges you to make it a high-priority New Year’s resolution to get your 2016 flu shot. It is a resolution you can easily make and keep immediately.In a typical year, children and
senior adults take the brunt of the influenza attack, but we can not always predict what group will be hit the hardest. Once in a while, we get a flu virus that will disproportionately single out a group such as middle-aged adults.
When it comes to predictions, the flu is a tricky bug to track. Lynnette Brammer, an epidemiologist in the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated, “This year’s slow start to the flu season isn’t unusual.
She quickly added, “It feels a bit unusual because the last three years were early years, but this is sort of typical. The majority of flu seasons peak in February.” She also added an optimistic note, but still recommended the flu shot.
“It’s possible that this year’s flu season will be a mild one,” she said. “But we just don’t know.”
What To Do To Prevent The Flu:
FLASS presents you with four basic tips for avoiding the misery of the flu virus. They are all easy, but they are also meticulous.
1. Take a Flu Shot!
2. Wash your hands often.
3. Cover your Coughs and Sneezes.
4. Stay home when you are sick.
Accept No Substitute!
We also want you to know that antiviral drugs do not take the place of vaccine. Antiviral drugs are not a substitute for the shot! Once you have been infected, it is true antiviral drugs
will help you manage your symptoms. The three top FDA-approved influenza antiviral drugs recommended by CDC are:
Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate),
Relenza (zanamivir),
and Rapivab (peramivir)
Do not become a flu statistic!
1. Number of people hopitalized from flu complications each year=200,000 in the United States. 20,000 of these cases were younger than five years old!
2. The number of flu-related deaths every year has ranged from about 3,000 to about 49,000.
3. Global numbers hit 40 million flu-associated illnesses in the 2014-15 season.
The Doctors and Staff of the Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists (FLASS)
Wish You, Their Friends, Patients, Supporters,
Colleagues and blog Readers
A Happy, Healthy New Year!
