It has been said that the U.S. doesn’t have a health care 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 many of these deaths could be prevented if more people received an annual flu shot. Dr. Khilnani, a pulmonologist and head of Valley View Hospital’s Lung Center, says that during the 2024-25 flu season, he saw many very sick patients, including many who were young, who were hospitalized with serious, preventable complications of influenza. Of lesser concern, but still important, influenza also accounts for many lost workdays and school absences.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends an annual flu shot by the end of October for everyone 6 months and older, with rare exceptions. Egg allergy is no longer one of them. Children younger than 6 months should not receive flu shots, so it is particularly important that their caregivers are immunized. Adults 65 and older should receive a higher-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccine, and there is a new mRNA flu vaccine approved this year for older adults.

Influenza is caused by viruses, which do not respond to antibiotics. The most severe forms of flu are influenza A and B, with influenza C generally causing milder illness. In temperate climates such as ours, flu viruses are usually active during the colder months — late fall, winter and early spring.

It takes about two weeks for flu shots to take effect. Flu shots can be obtained in most doctors’ offices, pharmacies and public health offices. They are adjusted every year because of changes in circulating flu viruses. Go to the CDC website to learn about the flu vaccine options available this year, or discuss them with your primary care provider or whoever is giving you the vaccine.

Side effects from flu shots are generally mild, with soreness around the injection site for a day or two among the most common. People sometimes claim that the flu shot gave them the flu, but flu vaccines cannot cause influenza. The average adult gets several non-influenza viral infections each year, such as colds, so some of the millions of people who receive flu shots annually will coincidentally come down with another viral infection and blame it on the flu shot they just received.

Influenza is highly contagious and is transmitted through the respiratory route, including droplets and respiratory secretions. The incubation period is one to four days. Typical symptoms include fever, chills, malaise, generalized aching, chest discomfort, headache, nasal stuffiness, dry cough and sore throat. Older patients sometimes present with fatigue and confusion rather than the other typical symptoms. Common flu complications include sinus and ear infections, bronchitis and pneumonia, both viral and bacterial. Pneumonia is a major cause of influenza-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 trigger the rupture of arterial plaque, resulting in heart attacks and strokes. According to Bale and Doneen, experts in heart attack prevention, a large study showed that as many as 91,000 Americans die annually from heart attacks and strokes triggered by the flu. Those deaths are not included in statistics for flu-related deaths.

Rapid flu tests performed in doctors’ offices can be helpful for diagnosis, although false negatives are common. Remember that flu shots protect against influenza, not colds or illnesses commonly referred to as the “stomach flu.” They are not 100% effective at preventing influenza, but the disease tends to be shorter and milder in immunized people, and serious complications, including death, are less likely to occur.

Be proactive about your health and get a flu shot before the end of October. When you do, check to see whether you are up to date on other recommended adult immunizations, such as COVID-19, pneumococcal disease, RSV and shingles.

Dr. Greg Feinsinger is a retired family physician with a special interest in prevention, treatment, and reversal of chronic disease through nutrition. He is available for free nutritional counseling and shop-with-a-doc grocery store tours. He can be contacted at 970-379-5718 or gfmd41@gmail.com.