in your arm, typically), you have a 10 to 64 percent chance of experiencing some muscle soreness in your upper arm, according to the CDC. If you receive the flu shot as an intramuscular injection (a.k.a. And guess what? The vaccine is still your best stay-healthy defense. After you've read through them, roll up your sleeve because flu season is coming. Here are the flu shot side effects to be aware of this season, from common soreness and redness to rare effects like Guillain-Barre syndrome. The flu shot is still worth it despite potential side effects. “Not everyone should get the nasal flu spray due to factors like age and underlying health conditions, though, so talk to your doctor to determine if it’s the best option for you,” she says. Potential nasal spray side effects include runny nose, wheezing, headache, vomiting, muscle aches, fever, sore throat, and cough. If you’re particularly wary of needles, you may prefer the nasal influenza spray (Flumist) over an injection, says Soma Mandal, MD, a board-certified internist at Summit Medical Group in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. The flu shot can’t actually give you the flu, and while there are some possible side effects, Dr. But again, there's no way yet to accurately predict how bad this coming year's flu will be as the virus is always changing.įYI: The flu shot can't actually give you the flu.Īnother thing to note? Talk of the flu shot’s many side effects is greatly exaggerated. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already selected what components should be a part of the 2021 to 2022 vaccine to best protect against next season’s soon-to-be circulating viruses, too. Since there are different flu viruses out there (and they’re constantly changing), the vaccine is reviewed and changed from year to year. “And even if you do get the flu, you are much less likely to have a severe case requiring hospitalization, less likely to have major destruction to your life, and less likely to spread it.” Plus, there’s hope that the 2021 flu shot will outdo its predecessors. “Just because the vaccine isn’t 100 percent doesn’t mean it’s worthless,” says Dr. Flu season typically starts in October, peaks in December, and can stick around until May, so you want to be covered for all of it. So while even that 39 percent figure might sound low to you, it's actually a decent number, and it does not mean you should skip your yearly shot ( which you should get by the end of October, suggests the CDC). Is It The Flu Or Something Else? How To Tell Even so, getting your flu shot will still be as important as ever. “There’s a lot we don’t know about this upcoming flu season.”īasically, now is not the time to get lax about flu prevention measures, including getting your flu shot, because doctors have no clue what’s coming down the pipeline.īut even though we're dealing with the impending flu season on top of the seemingly never-ending coronavirus pandemic, experts say there’s a silver lining: wearing a mask and social distancing measures may help to minimize the spread of the flu this season, too. “It’s really hard to predict, and it’s also hard to determine what will be the dominant strain of the virus,” says Pedro Piedra, MD, a professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. Just as a baseline, the flu can cause 12,000 deaths per year during a mild season, and anything over 56,000 deaths per year is considered a more severe bout, per the CDC.Įxperts also say they have no clue what the flu season will be like this year due to the pandemic. Additionally, the CDC reported that the previous season included an estimated 35.5 million illnesses and 34,200 deaths. What’s “normal”? During the 2019 to 2020 season, there were an estimated 39,000,000 to 56,000,000 reported flu illnesses (with 24,000 to 62,000 deaths) in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which lasted from October to April. Still, last year wasn’t normal and experts say you definitely shouldn’t expect the 2021-2022 flu season to look like that. But there’s a reason why those numbers were so low, says Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security: COVID-19 prevention measures like practicing social distancing and wearing masks also helped torpedo flu cases. Sure, you’ve probably heard that the 2020-2021 flu season was the mildest season on record, with historically low numbers that almost made it look like the flu season never happened. While the flu may not be on your radar as much right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it should be. The flu shot can have side effects, but without it, the flu itself can be deadly. Definitely don't mean to sound like your mom here, but.did you get your flu shot last year? Follow-up question: Are you planning to get yours this year ?
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