It has been said that the U.S. doesn’t have a healthcare system; but rather a disease management system We wait until diseases occur and then spend trillions of dollars trying to manage them, resulting in needless suffering and death.

Immunizations are an example of successful, cost-effective disease prevention. They stimulate the immune system to fight off infectious diseases, without the vaccinated person experiencing the disease. They have saved millions of lives worldwide, and prevented millions of cases of disability–such as deafness from measles, birth defects from rubella, and paralysis from polio.

Thousands of Americans die every year from influenza and its complications—and most of these deaths would be prevented if everyone obtained an annual flu shot. Pulmonologist Dr. Khilnani, head of Valley View Hospital’s Lung Center, says that during the 2024-25 flu season he saw many very sick patients—many of whom were young—who were hospitalized with serious, preventable complications of influenza. Of lesser concern–but still important–is that influenza accounts for many days of lost work and school absences.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends an annual flu shot by the end of October for everyone over the age of 6 months, with rare exceptions (egg allergy is no longer one of them). Children under the age of 6 months should not receive flu shots, so it’s particularly important that their care givers are immunized. Adults 65 and older need extra strength vaccine.

Influenza is caused by viruses—which do not respond to antibiotics. The most severe forms of flu are influenza A and B, with C being milder.  In temperate climates such as ours, flu viruses are usually active during the colder months—late fall, winter and early spring. It takes about 2 weeks for the shots to take effect. Flu shots can be obtained in most doctors’ offices, in pharmacies, and at public health offices. They are tweaked every year, due to “genetic drift.”  Go to the CDC website to learn about the several flu vaccine options available this year, or discuss with your PCP or whomever is giving you the vaccine.

Side effects from flu shots are rare, other than mild soreness around the injection site for a day or two. People sometimes claim that the flu shot gave them the flu, but that has never been proven to occur. The average adult gets five, non-influenza viral infections a year such as colds, so out of the millions of flu shots that are given every year some people will coincidentally come down with one of these other viral infections and blame it on the flu shot they just had.

Influenza is highly contagious, and is transmitted by the respiratory route, meaning nasal drainage and droplets expelled by coughing. The incubation period is 1-4 days. Typical symptoms include fever, chills, malaise (feeling really crummy), generalized aching, chest discomfort, headache, nasal stuffiness, dry cough, and sore throat. Elderly patients often present with lassitude and confusion but not the other symptoms. Common flu complications include sinus and ear infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia (viral and bacterial), with pneumonia usually being responsible for flu-related deaths.

Did you know that flu shots can reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes?  Bacterial, and viral infections such as influenza cause inflammation that can triggers rupture of arterial plaque—resulting in heart attacks and strokes. According to Bale and Doneen, respected experts in heart attack prevention, a large study showed that up to 91,000 Americans die annually from heart attacks and strokes triggered by the flu—deaths that are not included in the statistics for flu-related deaths.

Rapid flu tests done in doctors’ offices are helpful for diagnosis, although false negatives are common.  Remember that flu shots only prevent influenza A and B–not colds or intestinal flu. They are not 100 percent effective in preventing influenza, but the disease tends to be shorter and milder in immunized people, and complications including death are less apt to occur.

Be proactive about your health, and get a flu shot every year by the end of October. When you do that, check to see if you are up to date on other adult immunizations such as COVID (a new booster that covers the latest variant is now available, and can be given concurrently with flu shots); Pneumovax (“pneumonia shot”); RSV; and shingles.

Dr. Greg Feinsinger is a retired family physician who started the non-profit Center For Prevention and Treatment of Disease Through Nutrition. For questions or to schedule a free consultation about nutrition or heart attack prevention contact him at gfmd41@gmail.com or 970-379-5718.