On October 18, I suggested you consider getting a flu shot. I haven’t gotten mine yet either. The throat infection I mentioned delayed it until next week.
What?
Flu season started early in the US this year. For the week ending October 17, the CDC said the flu hospitalization rate was the highest for that time of year since 2010-2011. Still, overall activity is considered low.
Even with the “mutated H1N1” headlines, 82 out of 88 recent H1N1 samples tested by the CDC were still recognized by antibodies from this year’s vaccine. The CDC says it’s too soon to tell how the new variants might affect the shot’s effectiveness.
In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute still says flu activity is low. Last season, the flu wave began in late November.
The shot takes about two weeks to become effective. The CDC recommends getting vaccinated by the end of October but says it’s fine to get it later too. The Robert Koch Institute suggests getting it between October and mid-December.
Flu can also raise the risk of heart attacks. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine followed adults 35 and older in Ontario who had lab-confirmed flu. In the week after their diagnosis, they were hospitalized for heart attacks six times more often than during the rest of the year. After the first week, the extra risk disappeared. That week, there were 20 heart attack admissions among about 19,000 confirmed flu cases, or about 1 in 1,000. The study included only people sick enough to get tested.
So what?
Here’s my view: for a healthy adult, the flu shot is still a modest benefit, as I said on the 18th. For most people, the main question is when to get it. Think about Thanksgiving, December gatherings, travel, or seeing your parents. If you get the shot in mid-December, you’ll only be fully protected around New Year’s. I wouldn’t wait that long.
Whether the flu shot protects your heart depends on your situation. In a study of 2,571 people who had just had a heart attack, the shot lowered the combined risk of death, another heart attack, or a blocked stent within a year from 7.2% to 5.3% compared to a placebo. For people without a recent heart attack, studies haven’t clearly shown this benefit. So I wouldn’t recommend the shot to a healthy 45-year-old just for heart protection.
Now what?
Schedule your flu shot for this week or next.
If you or your parents are 60 or older in Germany, or 65 or older in the US, ask for one of the stronger flu shots for older adults. These include high-dose or adjuvanted shots (in the US, recombinant counts too).
If you have heart disease or heart failure, make sure you get the shot. Both US and European cardiology guidelines recommend it every year, since flu can be more serious for you.
You can get the shot if you have a mild cold, a slight fever, or are taking antibiotics, as long as you otherwise feel okay. But if you’re really sick (with a fever of 101.3 °F (38.5 °C) or higher, or an infection that makes you feel clearly unwell, like I had), wait until you recover before getting vaccinated.
The throat infection, and what I got wrong about pushing through → Under Load No. 091
Stay healthy.
Andre