Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging flu shots

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging people to get the flu shot this year, many people nationwide are resisting.

The CDC says the flu and its complications rank as the eighth leading case of death nationwide, accounting for about 49,000 deaths and upward of 200,000 hospitalizations annually.

This year's flu vaccines are recommended for everyone 6 months of age and up.

5 Flu myths:

 

• Flu shot can give me the flu. No way, no how. Injectable flu vaccine is 100 percent dead, broken-up virus – it is not infectious.
• I won’t get the flu. That is Russian roulette. How often this winter will you be in the same room/elevator/auto with someone who is coughing, sneezing and doing their best to infect everyone? You will find yourself trapped like a rat.
• I’m healthy, so getting the flu is no big deal. Influenza hits even the strong and healthy like a Mack Truck. Think 104-temperature fevers and every muscle in your body screaming at you. Not much a doctor can do after you have the flu.
• Flu shots are useless after November. The flu season changes every year. Things like air travel spread viruses quickly to far flung places. It takes 10-14 days to develop immunity after getting the flu shot.
• Pregnant women can't be vaccinated. Getting immunized during pregnancy protects women and infants for the first six months of life when they can't be vaccinated.

www.USHealthWorks.com

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