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It really can decrease the impact of flu season if we have as high a proportion of the population vaccinated as possible.” “The flu vaccine is only moderately protective against getting the flu, but it is protective against having flu complications and being hospitalized. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the John’s Hopkins Center for Health Security.
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“The flu vaccine is the only means we have of protecting ourselves against influenza,” says infectious disease expert Amesh A. The vaccine takes a few weeks to give you protection, which is why you start hearing reminders to get your flu shot in early fall-and it’s really important that you do so. You can technically get the flu any time of year, but flu season really starts to ramp up in October and peaks between December and February, according to the CDC. Plus, it’s possible to get both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time, the agency says, which is a situation you definitely won’t want to find yourself in.
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Even though we experienced a mild flu season last year-thanks to all of the diligent hand washing and mask wearing people did-the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that getting a flu vaccine is more important than ever to help reduce the strain on healthcare systems that are responding to COVID-19 surges. That’s especially true this year, when we’re still deep in the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why now is the time to at least start thinking about when (and where) you’re going to get your flu shot. While temperatures are still in the 90s in many parts of the country, flu season isn’t all that far away. for the 2020-2021 influenza season, depending on the manufacturing method of the vaccine, the committee recommended that the A(H1N1) pdm09, A(H3N2) and B/Victoria lineage viruses recommended above for the quadrivalent vaccines be used.This article was medically reviewed by Raj Dasgupta, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical medicine and a member of the Prevention Medical Review Board.
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FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) met in Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 4, 2020, to select the influenza viruses for the composition of the influenza vaccine for the 2020-2021 U.S.
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