The Department of Public Health (DPH) is announcing today the start of influenza vaccination clinics in Connecticut for the coming flu season and is encouraging to get vaccinated for the flu as soon as possible. This is coupled with a message from the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that you Mask up, Lather up and Sleeve up this fall. Wearing a mask, cleaning your hands often and getting a flu shot early are key to protecting yourself, your family and your community from flu and COVID-19 in the coming months. Flu vaccination has contains no direct protection against COVID-19, but can significantly lessen your flu symptoms. Severe influenza illness can leave the immune system vulnerable to dangerous viral infections such as COVID-19.
“While it is not certain what will happen in the fall and winter, CDC believes it’s likely that flu viruses and the virus that causes COVID-19 will both be spreading,” said Acting DPH Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford, MD MPH. “In this context, getting a flu vaccine as early as possible will be more important than ever. Additionally, we don’t want to overload the healthcare system if there is a surge of both influenza and COVID-19 at the same time.”
DPH strongly encourages all CT residents to make plans to get a flu vaccine before flu viruses begin spreading in your community. The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that both adults and children get vaccinated against influenza. It is also important to vaccinating children as part of keeping schools safe and healthy and preventing spread of flu to adults. It takes about two weeks after vaccination to develop protection in your body against flu. For a listing of local health department clinics click here. If the local health department in your area does not have flu vaccine, check with your health care provider or pharmacy to see if the flu vaccine is available. To find a pharmacy near you, visit the HealthMap Vaccine Finder at https://vaccinefinder.org/ or visit Medfinder: https://medfinder.org/
In the 2019-20 flu season, the state Department of Public Health (DPH) reported a total of 3,013 persons hospitalized due to flu complications and 79 flu-associated deaths including 1 pediatric death. Every flu season is different, and influenza can affect people differently. Each year in the US millions of people get sick from the flu, hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized and thousands of people die from influenza or influenza related causes. An annual flu vaccine is the best way to help protect against influenza disease.
Everyone can be at risk of developing serious flu complications and exposing others. Flu vaccination is a particularly important way to help reduce those risks.
- Anyone who gets the flu can pass it to someone at high risk of severe illness, including children younger than 6 months who are too young to get a flu vaccine.
- People at higher risk of serious flu complications include young children, pregnant women, people with certain chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease or lung disease, and people 65 years and older.
- Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, including those who are more vulnerable to serious flu illness, like babies and young children, older people, and people with certain chronic health conditions.
Soon flu activity will begin to increase across the nation and across the state. This is the best time to get vaccinated. Getting vaccinated early before flu season begins provides protection when flu viruses circulate later. Vaccination should continue throughout the flu season in order to protect as many people as possible. The time to get your flu vaccination is now!