Flu Season Is Here
While we are still fighting a pandemic, the 2021-22 flu season is here. It is critical this year to get a flu vaccine—it’s never too late to vaccinate. The CDC recommends annual flu shots for everyone six months and older. Reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses, like flu, is important to protect people 65 years and older, vulnerable populations, and others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Remind your residents and staff that the flu shot helps protect them from serious flu illness and complications. Don’t miss this critical opportunity to keep your community safe and healthy. According to the CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the flu and COVID-19 vaccines may be administered at the same time.
The VDH Antimicrobial Resistance (AR) Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) Program has noted there is uncertainty regarding how this year’s flu season will look, as there is not sufficient data from last year’s season to make predictions for the coming year. Before the 2020-21 flu season, we generally observed one peak of Influenza A or B or a combination of both. Throughout 2020-21, there was little to no activity during flu season (usually October-May). However, increased activity was observed during the off-season.
Mitigation measures that were adopted due to concerns of spreading COVID-19, such as handwashing, social distancing, and mask wearing, may have helped reduce the spread of flu as well as other respiratory pathogens last flu season. How well these measures are followed this year may have an impact on how much activity we see during this flu season.
VDH will continue to publish the Weekly Influenza Report every Thursday based on the previous week’s data and will keep evaluating other reports that may be helpful in measuring effects of currently circulating respiratory pathogens in Virginia.
Follow these steps to prevent the spread of flu:
- Get vaccinated
- Practice good hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and stay home if you are feeling sick
- Take antivirals as prescribed
More Information:
- CMS Flu Shot webpage
- CDC Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Resources for Health Professionals
- Vaccines.gov
- Flu Shots: information for Medicare patients