you can't spread the flu if you don't
have symptoms that is absolutely false
you can't get the flu shot if you're
sick so i've heard this one a bunch of
times the flu is similar to cold
no the flu can be a killer i'm robert
jacobs and i'm a professor of pediatrics
at mayo clinic and i'm dr tanya elliott
i'm an allergist immunologist by
training we're here to debunk some flu
myths so myth number one you can't get
the flu shot if you're sick so i've
heard this one a bunch of times listen
if you have a mild illness like a cough
or a runny nose or a low grade fever you
are not off the hook now some people who
are recovering from covet 19 will wonder
should they get the flu shot and yes
they should as soon as they've recovered
from the acute phase of their covid19
infection and are no longer contagious
myth two the flu vaccine gives you the
flu the flu vaccine doesn't contain
anything that could give you the flu
infection we're not seeing any more
rates of illnesses after the flu vaccine
than we would if we were giving a
placebo injection of salt water and
listen if you have a couple of aches or
pains or you feel unwell consider this
being a sign that your immune system is
working
myth number three it's too late to get
the flu shot
it is not too late to get the flu shot
as long as the flu virus is circulating
and that season is from october all the
way through may getting the flu shot is
beneficial yes you should get it as soon
as it's available but that doesn't
excuse you if somehow you didn't get it
in october and november you can't get
the flu after you've had the flu shot i
wish we had a flu vaccine that was a
hundred percent effective
we don't but it's not zero percent
effective either it does work most years
about half the time and it turns out in
preventing half the cases we can
actually prevent outbreaks and spreads
it is our best chance and the majority
of time you will be protected against
getting the flu and this year with covet
19 we have to do everything we can to
prevent every single case a couple of
reasons why you may still get the flu
one you may have been exposed to the
virus right before you got the vaccine
so the vaccine didn't have time to kick
in two you might be exposed to other
strains of the flu that weren't in the
vaccine
three your immune system may not have
mounted a strong enough response to the
vaccine or four you have some other
virus and it's not actually the flu myth
5 the flu vaccine is effective for a
year well it's typically affected for
the entire flu season which is about six
months but then the immunity starts to
wane and also the types of viruses or
the strains of viruses that cause
infections could mutate the flu vaccine
is a hundred percent effective i wish it
was true i wish it was it's not it's
about 50 effective we don't have a
crystal ball so the way it works is
scientists from around the world come
together every year and make their best
guess at which strains of the flu virus
because there are a bunch of them should
be
included in the flu vaccine based on
which are the most dangerous or which
are the most prevalent meaning which are
the ones that are circulating so we
don't get it right a hundred percent of
the time but the truth is this is the
best guess and it's based on predictive
analytics and based on science and based
on history so it's pretty darn good
studies recently in the past years have
shown while it's not a hundred percent
effective
those who get sick with the flu despite
getting the flu vaccine have a milder
course
than those who didn't get the flu
vaccine myth seven you shouldn't get the
flu shot while pregnant i just had a
baby you should absolutely get the flu
shot while you're pregnant the last
thing you would want is to get sick with
an illness that could land you in the
hospital while you're pregnant we
now recognize pregnancy as being one of
the big risk factors for getting a bad
case of the flu and it does give the
baby in the first six months of life
some protection against the flu which
otherwise we can't solve because our flu
vaccines don't work in babies under six
months of age it protects you and the
baby too
myth eight healthy people don't need a
flu shot i hear this so many times why
should they get the flu vaccine many
times people get the flu and don't
recognize it's the flu it's also a great
way to protect your children your loved
ones your relatives and your neighbors
if i can prevent myself from getting
something and stay healthy why wouldn't
i do that it's so important that even if
you may have a mild case of the flu it
doesn't mean that you may not spread it
to family members and loved ones so do
everyone a favor absolutely and get the
flu shot myth nine antibiotics will
treat a flu infection
okay so i hear this all the time oh all
i need is a z pack and i'm going to be
better i wish that people would
understand antibiotics actually have
very little role in treating most of the
colds coughs and illnesses that we get
during the year antibiotics treat
bacterial infections the flu is a virus
antibiotics don't work against viruses
myth 10 the flu is similar to cold
no the flu can be a killer
we don't have people who die of the
common cold every year we have in the
united states tens of thousands of
people end up in the critical care unit
uh tens of thousands who die from the
flu we don't have that with the common
cold you know the only thing that's
similar is that the flu is a virus and a
cold is caused by viruses and some of
the symptoms can be overlapping where
you can have a fever or a cough or runny
nose or sore throat but it ends there
consider the flu
about a hundred even a thousand times
worse than a cold myth 11 you can't get
the flu more than once a year there is a
chance that you can get the flu more
than once a year we right now vaccinate
against four strains of the flu
with our vaccines so we do a pretty good
job with the vaccine and preventing
those four strains but that means
there's four strains circulating every
year that means you could have four
different outbreaks in a in a single
individual there's a chance you could be
infected with a different strain of the
flu
and there's also a chance that maybe
your immune system didn't mount a strong
enough response to the flu vaccine in
the first place myth 12 you can't spread
the flu if you don't have symptoms that
is absolutely false we've heard this
over and over again with cobit 19 right
that you can be an asymptomatic carrier
you may not even know that you have the
virus and you could still be spreading
it very similar story with the flu in
fact you can be infectious the day
before you develop symptoms in the first
place and even for days after you could
still be shedding the virus
myth 13
you don't need a flu shot every year so
remember the flu vaccine is good for
about six months or so so it covers you
for the flu season and remember that
each year we may be changing the types
of strains that we put into the flu
vaccine that you would be protected
against so that's why it's really
important to get the flu vaccine every
year people who are allergic to eggs
shouldn't get the flu shot so i'm an
hour just in clinical immunologists i
hear this all of the time
if you have an egg allergy you can still
get the flu shot there are some flu
vaccines that are made with a minuscule
and i mean minuscule be like less than
trace amount of egg protein but the
truth is the protein that's present in
the vaccine is not the same protein that
egg allergic people react to we actually
now know through hundreds and hundreds
of patients with serious anaphylactic
reactions of eggs that they have no more
risk of having an allergic or
anaphylactic reaction than people
without them egg allergies used to be
thought to be a problem but science has
shown it's not an issue if you have a
severe severe egg allergy anaphylactic
shock and you're really concerned the
recommendation is get the flu shot in
the doctor's office and wait for 30
minutes just to be sure the other thing
i'll note is that they do make egg free
flu vaccines and so again if you're
super nervous or concerned there is that
alternative available for you as well
myth 15 taking vitamin c will prevent
the flu
that's not true in fact we don't have
nutrients that you can put add as
supplements or foods that you can eat
that will protect you against the flu
what will protect you against the flu
the vaccine hand washing with soap and
water avoiding people with cough and
sneeze obviously if you do have the flu
you should take steps to cover your
cough and avoid exposing others
absolutely
maybe on the margin vitamin c might help
your immune system a little bit and even
that science is a little sketchy but
absolutely it will not prevent you from
getting the flu nor will any other
concoction of immune boosting agents