Flu Vaccine

SARS CoV-2, or COVID-19, is a new strain of coronavirus not previously seen in humans that is spreading quickly worldwide. Two other strains of the coronavirus also cause serious respiratory disease, and four other strains of coronavirus are actually very common and usually only cause mild symptoms (like the common cold). However, the COVID-19 virus, can cause severe illness in certain groups. For example, older people and people of all ages with severe underlying health conditions – like heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes, for example – seem to be at higher risk of developing serious COVID-19 illness.

Symptoms of COVID-19 can include*:

• Cough (usually dry)
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fever and/or chills
• Tiredness (sometimes)
• Aches and pains (sometimes)
• Headaches (sometimes)
• Sore throat (sometimes)
• Loss of taste or smell (sometimes)

*Upper respiratory symptoms, like runny nose and sinus congestion, are very uncommon in COVID-19.

The severity of COVID-19 symptoms ranges from mild to severe. If you suspect you have COVID-19, call Intermountain Healthcare’s 24-hour hotline, Health Answers, at 844-442-5224 to talk with an Intermountain clinician who can review your symptoms and give specific care recommendations. If your symptoms are mild you will likely be directed to stay home to protect others from illness and follow the CDC’s recommended guidance for self-care. If you’re referred to a testing site or medical facility, remember to call ahead and let them know your symptoms before you go in. Click here for more detailed information on coronavirus.

Yes. It is possible have flu (as well as other respiratory illnesses) and COVID-19 at the same time. Experts are still studying how common this can be.

Getting a flu vaccine will not protect against COVID-19, however flu vaccination has many other important benefits. Flu vaccines have been shown to reduce the risk of flu illness, hospitalization and death. Getting a flu vaccine this fall will be more important than ever, not only to reduce your risk from flu but also to help conserve potentially scarce health care resources.

Pregnant women should get a flu vaccine. Pregnant women are particularly susceptible to an illness such as influenza. The immune system undergoes normal changes during pregnancy, which can increase the risk of complications from the flu. Pregnant women who acquire the flu are also at higher risk of pregnancy related complications, such as preterm labor, pneumonia, and serious illness requiring hospital admission.

Unlike adults, newborn babies cannot receive influenza vaccinations because it is only approved for people ages 6 months and older. Therefore, they need assistance in obtaining protective antibodies, which can be provided from their mother prior to their birth. If the mother receives a vaccine during pregnancy, the antibodies she generates will passively transfer from her to the baby, allowing the baby to be born with a blood stream full of this precious gift from mom. Without this protection, the baby is vulnerable to the influenza virus until they can receive their own flu vaccinations at 6 months.

The influenza vaccine is made from virus particles or inactivated virus that can’t transmit infection. However, it takes a week or two to develop full protection and many times a person can become sick during that short window while they’re waiting for the vaccine to take full effect. That can lead to the incorrect assumption that the vaccine caused their illness.

The vaccine reduces your odds of getting the flu from as high as one in four to one in 10 and protects you from the four influenza viruses that research indicates will be the most common during the upcoming flu season. People can still get the flu despite getting the vaccine if they’re exposed to a strain of influenza that doesn’t match at 100 percent but the severity is usually less because some immunity has been generated.

Just like the COVID virus which constantly evolves into new variants, the subtypes of the influenza virus also evolve and change into new “strains”. The H (hemagglutinin) protein and the N (neuraminidase) proteins on the surface of the influenza virus change their structure which helps them evade our immune system. Vaccines are modified every year to match the new protein structure that then teaches our immune system to recognize and target them to neutralize their ability to infect us.

There is also some waning, or lessening, of the strength of our body’s immune response over time after a vaccine. Each year’s influenza vaccine boosts that immune response and helps our immune cells remember how to fight the influenza virus.

Common side-effects of the flu vaccine include fatigue, mild fever, soreness, or runny nose. The risk of serious side-effects is about one in a million and there are medications to treat those side-effects. By comparison, you’re 100 times more likely to die in a car accident and 30 percent more likely to be struck by lightning.

It is impossible to predict when the flu season will begin in any one location. Influenza virus can circulate anytime during the year, but the flu season tends to start in the late fall in Utah and the peak number of cases occur on average December through February. Cases can continue until as late as May in some years.

No, colds are caused by other viruses, not the influenza virus, and symptoms are typically much less severe than flu symptoms.

While it’s true that there are some health considerations people should be aware of regarding the flu vaccine, there are vaccine products that can be safely given to almost everyone. Almost all influenza vaccines can be given to people who have allergy symptoms like hives when they eat eggs, and for those who have a serious allergic reaction such as anaphylaxis with eggs, they can talk to their doctor or pharmacist about a receiving a type of flu vaccine that contains no egg protein. And patients with weakened immune systems who shouldn’t get the intra-nasal vaccine should still receive the injectable vaccine.

• People who have an allergy to eggs or other vaccine ingredients
• People who’ve ever had Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)
• People who are feeling ill

If you have any questions or concerns about receiving the vaccination, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Depending on your insurance and where you go, flu vaccines can vary in price. Most insurance plans will cover the flu vaccine as a preventive service, but make sure to check with your insurance and the facility you go to. For children who are on Medicaid or uninsured, make sure to go to a facility that is approved to give Vaccines For Children (VFC) vaccines. Uninsured adults can go to lower cost options such as local health departments or community health centers or check with a pharmacy which may be able to provide a self-pay discount.

No. Vaccination should be deferred (postponed) for people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, regardless of whether they have symptoms, until they have met the criteria to discontinue their isolation.

Researchers and epidemiologists inform the FDA each year which new influenza virus strains are circulating around the world and help the FDA determine which strains of influenza virus to target each year with the vaccine. This year, the vaccine will contain new strains of the Influenza A H1N1 subtype and the Influenza A H3N2 subtype. The strains of the two Influenza B subtypes in the vaccine are remaining the same as those in last season’s vaccine.

Last year, the US experienced an extraordinarily low number of cases of Influenza. Within the Intermountain system, there were only a handful of influenza tests that were positive last year compared to the previous season, where over a thousand tests were positive each week during the peak of the influenza season. The combination of masking plus vaccination clearly was a winning strategy to control this respiratory virus. Both strategies are needed for that level of control. Now that people have reduced their use of masks, we are seeing COVID and other respiratory viruses surge. We expect that there will be a much higher number of influenza infections this coming season, which makes getting a vaccine even more important.

Possibly. There is not evidence that the influenza vaccine keeps someone from becoming infected with the COVID virus, but a large observational study showed that those who had been vaccinated with the influenza vaccine had lower rates of some COVID adverse outcomes – Emergency Department visits, ICU admissions, sepsis, stroke, and blood clots. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0255541

Both the COVID and the Flu Vaccine can be given at the same time, but it is best to have them given in a different arm.