Flu Vaccination is Very Important Right Now

By Abhaya Trivedi, MD

I practice pulmonary and critical care medicine. In an effort to keep our outpatients safe during the initial COVID-19 surge in Chicago, we converted in-person clinic visits to video visits.   I was very concerned about the pulmonary clinic patients I see, as they tend to be more susceptible to all lung viruses, not just COVID, and often face severe disease.  During out video or telephone encounters, my colleagues and I urged our patients to do what we knew would help prevent them from contracting COVID – social distancing and wearing a mask.  

Slowly as the cases fell and it was safe to re-open, we began seeing patients in pulmonary clinic again.   Many of them expressed their concerns and fears of contracting the virus and asked if there was anything additional they could do to protect themselves as fall approached.  The answer was quite easy – get your Influenza vaccine.   In fact, one of the first patients I saw in person was anxious about contracting COVID as she has an autoimmune condition.   Her response to my recommendation of the Influenza vaccine was, “Oh, I don’t know about getting the flu vaccine.  I’m nervous because of COVID.” 

I was surprised to hear that she was concerned about getting the vaccine because of COVID.   We had a long discussion about several of the common myths of getting the Influenza vaccine.   She was worried about getting sick after receiving the vaccine, a very common misperception, as research continues to show that the influenza vaccine does not make people sick.  I reassured her that I receive the vaccine yearly and my family does, too. She went on to describe people she knew that received the vaccine but still ended up falling ill with Influenza. 

I agreed with her that receiving the vaccine does not guarantee an Influenza free winter.   I immediately thought of my father who was ill with Influenza last year despite receiving his yearly vaccine.  I will never forget the urgent text message I received from my mother while I was in clinic seeing my pulmonary patients asking me to call her immediately.   I knew something was wrong as my father was admitted to the hospital the night prior after being diagnosed with Influenza A.  When I called her back, she put the covering physician on the phone who stated that he was going to be intubated and placed on a ventilator due to respiratory distress and increasing oxygen requirements.  As I made plans to travel back to parents’ home, I immediately thought of the worst scenario.  Through my work in the intensive care unit, I have seen the complications of Influenza and the sickest patients who die from the disease.   I am grateful that my father recovered from the illness – a recovery that may not have occurred without the vaccine.  Studies have shown that vaccinated individuals who get Influenza are less likely to be hospitalized and less likely to be transferred to the intensive care unit if admitted to the hospital. In addition, patients who require critical care spend fewer days in the hospital if they are vaccinated.   While my father’s age and other medical conditions placed him at increased risk of complications from Influenza, this virus is not simply a problem for older, sicker patients. 

As a critical care doctor, I take care of patients that at often times require life support and are close to death.  The toughest cases are the patients that were otherwise healthy prior to their illness that brought them into the hospital.   Influenza is one of the viruses that not only affects people of all ages, but can cause severe disease in younger patients without other medical problems.   Prior to my father’s illness with Influenza I received a call from a smaller, community hospital for help transferring a young woman in her forties who developed complications related to Influenza requiring mechanical ventilation.  She was declining despite maximal support.  I immediately accepted her transfer and waited for her arrival.   She was near death, but did survive after a several-week ICU stay.  She had not received her Influenza vaccine and to think that the degree of illness she suffered could have been prevented had she received it. 

Preventing illness is a much more effective approach than managing the consequences of a severe disease.  The peak of Influenza season falls between December and March; anyone reading this who has not yet received a yearly flu vaccine should get one. While we await the COVID vaccine, the best measures we can take to prevent illness are staying home, wearing a mask if you must be outside your home, and preventing an additional respiratory virus by receiving the Influenza vaccine.  I have seen the devastation caused by COVID-19 and I urge 100% flu vaccine compliance this year, as receiving the vaccine can help prevent many of the worst flu cases.