You asked, we answered.
As we approach another flu season, in the middle of a pandemic, Sanford Health News answers the most common questions with help fromJeremy Cauwels, M.D., senior vice president of quality and chief medical officer forSanford Health Plan.
1. Why do flu shots make your arm sore?
There’s a reason your arm is sore after getting a flu shot.
“You’re injecting something into a muscle and that muscle isn’t supposed to have any extra fluid in it. It’s not supposed to have anything else floating around. So, if you put a small bubble of just about anything in there, it’ll get sore. If you add that to the fact that what you’re putting in there is designed to have an immune response and whether that’s a tetanus shot or a flu shot or any other vaccination, there’s an immune response there. Those immune cells cause a little bit inflammation and caused a little bit of soreness.”
Learn more:This year’s flu season and where to get your flu shot
Over time, he says, the more relaxed you can get your arm before they put the needle in there, the better off you’re going to do.
“It turns out that that muscle contraction actually causes more discomfort than if you were totally relaxed. So, if you want a good tip, keep that arm good and loose.”
2. Side effects of flu shots?
Dr. Cauwels said the side effects are minimal for most people who get the flu shot.
“话虽如此，我并不打算说它没有副作用。这种疫苗含有病毒的小片段，根据你个人的免疫反应，有些人会觉得他们感染了轻微的流感。”
好消息是:里面没有活病毒，所以你不会得真正的流感。然而，如果你打了流感疫苗后身体疼痛或肌肉酸痛，这并不被认为是不寻常的。
“I’ve heard many people say, many times: ‘I got the flu last time I got the flu shot’,” Dr. Cauwels explains. “And my response to that is ‘no, you had an immune response’, which means your immune system works and does what it’s supposed to, reacting to the things that you put in it, which is perfect.”
他说，这并不意味着你不应该再打流感疫苗了。
“有些人是真的过敏。这种情况非常非常少，”考威尔斯博士说。“对其他人来说，我们可以找到让你对流感免疫的工具。”
3. When are flu shots available?
现在。
“They became available the middle of September and they will continue to be available throughout the winter season.”
The important part to remember about the flu shot though is, because it’s not like a vaccine for chicken pox or measles or mumps rubella, some of the things that we give kids is the duration of the flu shot is variable in people as to how long it’s effective. That’s the reason we don’t start giving flu shots in July.”
Medical providers want to make sure the flu shot is effective when the public needs it most which is why it is widely available beginning in October and November.
“Most of the time in this part of the country, we see the most flu in January or February.”
4. Where are flu shots available?
You can get your flu shot at any Sanford Health location in addition to other locations in your community.
“I would say this year, as much as any other, the less illness we can have from the flu, the better off we’re going to be as we try to continue to get through what’s going to be a very long COVID season,” Dr. Cauwels said.
Learn more:Sanford Health offers mobile, drive-thru flu shots
5. How long are flu shots good for?
这因人而异。
“As a general rule, you can say, you’ll be covered for the season that you get it in,” Dr. Cauwels explains. If you get it in the winter months, you’ll be covered for the winter.
“无论是3个月、4个月还是6个月，这取决于你接种的人，这是我们不会例行测试的。我不知道有没有办法对它进行常规测试。流感疫苗每年都在变化，正因为如此，也因为病毒的变化，我们不能保证今年的流感疫苗会对明年的流感起作用。”
6. What is flu and COVID-19 season going to look like?
这一点很难说，因为我们知道的太少了。
“Right now, Australia is having the lowest flu season they’ve had in years,” Dr. Cauwels explains. “They have 10-times less cases than they’ve ever had before. We think that’s because they’re doing an excellent job of social distancing, an excellent job of wearing masks, and an excellent job of washing their hands. What we don’t know is whether or not the flu shot was also exceptionally effective this year. Australians were vaccinated before we were because their seasons are opposite of ours.”
“What we do know is that flu has been a very small portion of disease in Australia. What we don’t know is whether or not that will hold true to North America when we get into our colder months.”
Read more:How Sanford Health is preparing for the flu season
7. Do flu shots work 100%?
No. Flu shots are not 100% effective.
“Many vaccines that we have are not 100% effective. There are a few that are greater than 95% effective, including childhood vaccines.”
He says the flu virus changes mid-year and in preparation for the upcoming season, experts have to choose which strains go into the vaccine.
“While we can generally put 3, maybe 4 different strains in that dose, there are hundreds of combinations of flu shots and flu viruses. The three we can make with the possibilities that might come into the country is an area of science that involves a lot of infectious disease doctors and epidemiologists. In the end, it’s a prediction of what they think is going to be the best way to go forward.”
8. What are the stages of the flu?
流感分为三个阶段。有趣的是，考威尔斯博士说，这就是流感与COVID-19有所不同的地方。
“The flu tends to hit you like a ton of bricks. When you get the flu, you know you’re sick on that day.”
- In the beginning, there’s an acute illness phase which can last for 2-5 days
- After that, there’s a semi-recovery phase when you know you’re not feeling well but you’re not getting worse
- During the third, or “recovery” phase, you start feeling better, moving around and eating or drinking more normally
“During that recovery phase, this is the time where a patient is really debating as to whether or not they’re going to go back to work, school or various activities,” Dr. Cauwels explains.
“对大多数人来说，流感是一种长达一周的疾病。这两天感觉非常糟糕，这两天或这三天坚持住，然后再过几天就会好起来。”
9. How long does the flu last?
大约一个星期。
“I’ve certainly met people who’ve had a flu-like illness longer than a week,” he said. In most cases, it depends on the overall health of the individual before coming down with the virus and if there were any other illness or complications present.
“有些人会在5天后出院，感觉很好，而其他人可能会生病近10天。”
10. What is the difference between Flu A and Flu B?
“If you think about influenza as Lego blocks kids play with,” Dr. Cauwels explains, “the A block and the B block are two different strains of the flu and each one of them can stack different ways to make you sick on top of them. But the A and the B blocks don’t fit together. You can get Influenza A, and you can get Influenza B, but they’re two distinctly different things.”
Dr. Cauwels said generally, the Upper Midwest sees more Influenza A which affects patients more severely. The course of illness is slightly different depending on the strain.
Watch:Dr. Cauwels addresses the top flu and flu shot-related questions (Part 2)
Read more
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Posted InFlu,Health Plan,Immunizations
