Getting flu vaccine important
This is not the year to put it off
Flu vaccinations will be even more important this upcoming flu season, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This fall, nothing can be more important than to try to increase the American public’s decision to embrace the flu vaccine with confidence,” CDC Director Robert R. Redfield has said. “This is a critical year for us to try to take flu as much off the table as we can.”
Getting a flu shot this year “will save lives,” he added, because it will help reduce the overall impact of respiratory illnesses on the population and thus lessen the resulting burden on the health care system.
The CDC recommends an annual flu vaccination for everyone 6 months of age and older, with rare exceptions, because it is an effective way to decrease flu illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths.
Influenza is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States annually. From October 2019 to April 4, 2020, the CDC estimates there were as many as 56 million flu illnesses, 740,000 hospitalizations and up to 62,000 deaths from the flu.
Still, some people put off getting the flu shot or say it doesn’t work.
It is true that the flu is difficult to pinpoint with a precise vaccine that will prevent it. The recurring mutations of the influenza virus make it impossible to vaccinate against every strain of the flu.
Each year, as the flu strain changes, scientists use their best guess as to what the upcoming flu strain will look like as they develop that year’s vaccine.
Offering flu shots at your workplace results in several benefits: Employees have a convenient way to get their flu shot. Fewer employees will get the flu and have to take time off from work.
If an employee gets the flu after getting a flu shot, the flu vaccine can lessen symptoms and the severity of the illness, and a flu shot can reduce the risk of a flu-associated hospitalization.
Source: CDC, USA Today
Protect employees by offering flu shots
Physicians Quality Care OCCMed is scheduling employee flu shots. As always, we’ll be happy to schedule those shots at your place at your convenience.
Flu shots are the best way to protect employees from getting sick and missing work because of the flu.Contact OCCMed Director Jennifer Carmack at 731-984-8400 or jennifer@physiciansqualitycare.com.
