PENDER COUNTY — It’s that time of the year again when leaves start to change color and pumpkins adorn front porches – but with school back in full swing flu season is once again here. Getting a flu shot can help protect residents from catching the virus and it is as simple as stopping by a pharmacy.
Director of Nursing for Pender County’s Health Department Shirley Steele is encouraging everyone to get their annual flu vaccine to help prevent the spread of the virus – this is especially true for the young and the old, the most vulnerable when it comes to the flu. Just because someone is not categorized as vulnerable Steele said she recommends everyone get vaccinated. Getting a flu shot can also help prevent the spread of the virus to others as well.
“Not only should we get it for ourselves, but we also need to think about the people that we are around,” Steele said, “The high risk are the infants and the elderly but everybody should be getting the flu shot – it doesn’t matter the age you will still get sick.”
Flu season typically begins in October and ends in March, but it is still possible to catch the virus anytime of the year. So far this year there have been no confirmed cases of the flu at the Health Department, she said.
For those on the fence about the benefits or the effectiveness of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the flu shot has been proven to significantly reduce the risk of death from the flu in children. As of March 2017 there have been 61 pediatric deaths as a result of the flu.
“The study, which looked at data from four flu seasons between 2010 and 2014, found that flu vaccination reduced the risk of flu-associated death by half (51 percent) among children with underlying high-risk medical conditions and by nearly two-thirds (65 percent) among healthy children,” according to the CDC.
One of the more common myths surrounding the flu vaccine is the belief that by inoculating, patients can catch the virus – Steele said she does not believe that this is possible since there is no live virus in the vaccine.
Getting a flu shot has become easier over the past few years Steele said – from the local pharmacy offering flu shots to family practitioners the Pender County Health Department has given out less flu shots than in prior years. Also, supplies are not scarce this year when it comes to the vaccine, and Steele said the department has not faced a shortage of vaccine since 2009 or 2010.
Michael Praats can be reached at Michael.p@localvoicemedia.com
