Health commissioner urges Indiana residents to get flu shots

In a good year, the protection offered by the seasonal flu vaccine can be 60 per cent or higher. That means as early as each February, officials must make their best guess as to which flu strains will strike in the following flu season.

Experts say this flu season may be more critical than the last and are recommending that those eligible for the shot, roll up their sleeve.

If you don’t like needles, there are several alternatives this season. “It takes about two weeks after vaccination for your child to be protected, which is why it is especially important to do it now rather than later when the flu hits your neighborhood”. But harder to find this year at public health clinics is the Flumist, a nasal-spray influenza vaccine, experiencing a shipment delay across the country. They recommend the flu vaccine for anyone over six months of age healthy enough to receive the vaccination.

Last year, when the virus mutated, the vaccine was only about 19% effective.

The State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong received his annual flu shot Monday, to highlight the importance of getting vaccinated against the flu.

Most insurance plans should cover flu immunizations, but for those without healthcare – the shot is provided at little to no cost at local county health units.

So far, the strains of flu tested by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg indicate a better match on the H1N1 and influenza B strains, but they are not appearing as frequently as H3N2.

The risk of suffering a stroke is significantly reduced for up to two months after receiving a flu vaccine, a major new study has shown.

“The flu virus is more risky to children than the common cold”. One man who lost his daughter over 11 years ago to the flu believes that each and every adult and child need to have a flu shot each year.

White, an infectious disease consultant who runs the prevention program at DCH Regional Medical Center, got a flu shot Monday morning.

Patients whose pneumonia wasn’t associated with flu were nearly twice as likely to have been vaccinated, the researchers found.