1. The flu vaccine can save lives
It protects you against the most dangerous flu strains expected each year, says Clicks pharmacist Waheed Abdurahman – and flu can be deadly, especially if you are over 65 or have a comorbidity such as diabetes, ischemic heart disease or asthma. Getting a flu shot also helps protect others you may inadvertently infect: flu is contagious in the 48 hours before you begin to have symptoms, so you can spread it before you know you have it. The Centers for Disease Control reports that in South Africa, nearly 10 000 deaths and 40 000 hospitalisations are due to flu each year.
2. Having a flu shot can help reduce symptom confusion
Flu and COVID-19 can both cause fever, chills, a cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, a sore throat, muscle pain, body aches, a headache, and occasionally, vomiting and diarrhoea. The biggest distinguishing symptom is loss of taste and smell with COVID-19, but not everyone with COVID-19 experiences this, or they may develop it only at a certain stage of their illness. Mistaking COVID-19 for flu may lead to you not taking the necessary precautions to prevent spreading it (such as going into isolation). And mistaking flu for COVID-19 can lead to you adding to the already overburdened health system by seeking help.
Click here for more information on how COVID-19, flu and allergy symptions differ
3. A flu shot may help to a degree should you get COVID-19
A study published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine analysed data for more than 92 000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and found that patients who had received a recent flu jab experienced on average 8% lower odds of requiring intensive care treatment, 18% lower odds of requiring invasive respiratory support, and 17% lower odds of death.
4. A flu shot may also help protect you from COVID-19 in other ways
Flu is known to make people more vulnerable for bacterial infections such as pneumonia. While there is not yet any clinical evidence to suggest that one viral infection, such as flu, increases susceptibility to infection by another, such as COVID-19, some infectious disease experts say this is plausible. Both viruses generally target and damage the respiratory tract, and the risk of developing more severe symptoms and complications caused by duel infection, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome or multi-organ system failure, is ‘conceivably higher’.
5. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has advised people to get a flu shot
They are also advising the public to get a COVID-19 vaccine. According the NICD website, “Both vaccines are important, especially in persons who are at risk of severe COVID-19 and/or influenza infections. However, these vaccines should not be given at the same time. If a person has a choice, the COVID-19 vaccine should be taken first. The two vaccines should be given on opposite arms, and should be given between 14 and 28 days of each other (at least two weeks apart). This is to assist with monitoring persons if local reactions occur to each vaccine.”
To book your flu vaccination, or for more information, visit our Fight the Flu page