The flu season is upon us. More noteworthy, the peak of of the flu season is approaching rapidly, despite the late start this year. Against this background, a newly released survey indicates Americans distrust the effectiveness of flu shots.
The flu season is upon us. More noteworthy, the peak of of the flu season is approaching rapidly, despite the late start this year. Against this background, a newly released survey indicates Americans distrust the effectiveness of flu shots.
The survey, conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services presents a worrying public perception regarding flu shots. This year, flu shots have been modified to address last year’s newly found influenza strain. Thus, federal health authorities, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are recommending that this year particularly, everyone gets their flu shots.
Flu shots should be a must each year to prevent a sometimes fatal infection. The highly contagious influenza strains, affecting millions of Americans each year are particularly risky for the elderly and the newborns, as well as for people with a low immune system.
So why do Americans distrust the effectiveness of flu shots? An entire debate on flu shots has been raging in the media in the past several years. However, results show that without a flu shot, chances are that the flu is waiting just around the corner. Flu shots are made freely available every year, thus cost should not be an issue. To prevent a serious public health issue, everyone should contribute by taking their flu shots.
Not only is a flu shot a powerful preventive, but it also helps reduce the impact of the symptoms. In addition, it contributes significantly to halting the spread of the potentially deadly disease. Despite public perception, flu shots are the best tool in fighting influenza strains and their yearly toll.
Yet, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services survey, 43 percent of the participants strongly believe that flu shots help to protect against the flu. Close enough, 32 percent declared flu shots don’t help in preventing the flu or alleviating the symptoms so they opted out of taking the yearly flu shots.
This year, the flu season was off to a late start. Nonetheless, it is expected that it will peak at about the same time as during the last years. Influenza strains are constantly modifying. Last year’s new virus strain took health authorities by surprise. As such, the efficacy rate of the flu shots was indeed quite low, at an estimated 23 percent. However, this year, the flu shots have been modified based on last year’s experience.
Based on numbers gathered so far, flu shots have been over efficient in over 60 percent of the cases. Thus, it is recommended that everyone gets their flu shots, even well into the season. And if you do happen to get the flu, doctors recommend homestay and medical care.
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