Flu vaccines decrease hospitalizations!

Why should you get the flu vaccine now?  One humanitarian answer would be that we live on this planet with others and we should look out for one another.  But, the selfish reason would be that it significantly decreases your risk of being hospitalized with influenza.

Who can get the vaccine? Anyone 6 months of age and older. (Persons with an egg allergy can receive any influenza vaccine (egg-based and non-egg-based) appropriate for age and health status.)

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study showed that this year’s flu vaccine  reduced the risk of hospitalization from fly by 35% in five Southern Hemisphere countries. 

This decrease of 35% is less than the nearly 52% decrease in hospitalization of last year’s flu vaccine. 

I got my flu vaccine last week and had no side effects from the vaccine. 

If you would like to decrease your risk of being sick enough to need to spend the night in the hospital, decrease your risk of altering your life because you feel ill, and want to help not spread influenza to your community, I urge you to get the influenza vaccine.