You’ve probably been told “patience is a virtue.”
Well, it’s not virtuous to postpone getting your flu shot.
That’s something the staff at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center is aware of. So the hospital provided about 1,200 flu shots to Legacy personnel and community members on Tuesday, during the hospital’s “Kick the Flu” event.
“As soon as you see a shot available, take it,” advised Bryan Goodin, the Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center manager for employee services. “The shot is known to last six months or a year, so there’s no such thing as too early. But that’s a big myth. People are like, ‘Oh, I’m going to wait until mid-November to get my flu shot.’ The issue with that is that the flu circulates year-round. So we see people with the flu in May. If you’re waiting until November you’re still being exposed all year round.”
Goodin, who remembers having the flu once as a kid, said the Pacific Northwest flu season tends to peak in January. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting a shot before the end of this month. Goodin did say that if you must have a final deadline, “get it before Turkey Day because then all the holiday travelers are bringing more virus into the population.”
The flu is monitored by researchers who observe the Southern Hemisphere and Australia, since their winter is reversed with the U.S. winter. That way they can see what mutations have occurred and what we should expect for our flu season — although that method isn’t a completely accurate indictor of what will happen here.
Dr. Hoa Ly, a physician at Legacy, said Tuesday that his family gets the flu vaccine every year. He also appreciates that personnel at Legacy emphasize vaccinations since they can transmit the disease to sick people.
“They want to protect, not only themselves and their families, but also the patients here,” Ly said. “It’s our duty to get it done.”
The CDC reported that the 2017-18 flu season was one of the worst in the U.S. There were about 80,000 estimated deaths, including 180 children — the most since the CDC started using its latest surveillance procedures. About 80 percent of those child deaths happened to children who didn’t receive a flu shot.
In Clark County, the flu killed at least 14 people during the 2017-18 season.
Goodin mentioned it’s difficult to know how bad this season will be until its underway.
“I don’t agree with people who say ‘I’m waiting to see how bad the virus is before I get my flu shot,’” Goodin said. “By the time we see how bad the virus is, you’ve probably been exposed or are at risk for being exposed.”
