As it takes approximately two weeks following vaccination to reach maximum protection against flu, it is important to get vaccinated by early December. In fact, it was only 18 percent effective, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The Vaccine can be given by a shot or nasal spray.
“Every vaccine hurts when you get the shot but then the pain goes away and its much more valuable to have the protection for the season than the pain in the arm”, said Gray. Researchers looked at patients with pneumonia, and found that those whose pneumonia was linked to the flu were more likely have skipped the flu vaccine, in comparison to the patients with pneumonia from other causes.
She said: “The vaccine contains three strains to the flu and they are the three strains that the World Health Organisation thinks will be circulating this coming winter”.
Though doctors and health professionals don’t know how hard the flu will hit this year, they hope the new vaccine will help keep the numbers low. The CDC reported previous year that fewer than half of Americans are being vaccinated against the flu.
The Chicago Department of Public Health is urging residents to get their flu shots now.
Northern Medical Group-Pediatrics will begin its annual flu shot clinics on October 6.
Pneumonia can be a serious and common complication of catching the flu, the authors write.
ISLAMABAD: Getting a flu shot may protect you not only from flu, but also from pneumonia, the leading cause of flu-related hospitalizations and deaths, a new study suggests.
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Dr Brenda Corcoran, head of the HSE’s National Immunisation Office, said there are no side effects from the vaccine. Getting the flu shot can be key to not only preventing the flu but from passing it along to those you come in contact with, thus preventing a countless number of potential flu victims. The flu viruses that you were vaccinated for last year, probably aren’t the same viruses that are going around this year.
