| The flu vaccine is out. How important is it to get this year? Is there a time gap that should be followed between getting a COVID-19 shot and a flu shot?
Dr. Jose Mercado, an associate epidemiologist Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, recommends being vaccinated for both COVID-19 and the flu.
"They are both respiratory viruses and the clinical presentation is similar," he said. "So, it would be very difficult for the individual to differentiate one from the other, and we want to avoid a situation where we have a flu virus circulating as well as the COVID-19 virus circulating. So, that's why it's really important for us to be vaccinated for both the flu and COVID-19."
"As far as getting them at the same time, the CDC has released guidance that it is OK for us to get both the flu vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine at the same time."
In an average season, the U.S. sees between 9 and 45 million cases of the flu each year, according to the CDC.
Last year was no average season. Flu was practically non-existent in the U.S. with only a few thousand cases for the entire year. One child died. For comparison, in 2019-2020, there were 199 flu-related deaths in children and 144 the season before that.
What may have helped are the extra precautions people took to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Masks, good hand hygiene, limited in-person school, restricted travel and less interaction with others can help prevent COVID-19 and the spread of the flu.
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