Some pharmacies and clinics are offering flu shots in August. But should you get one that early?

www.denverpost.com/2018/08/20/flu-shots-august/

The sunny days of summer are not yet over, but flu season has already weaseled its way into drug and grocery stores, where pharmacies and clinics are administering vaccines to ward off influenza.

Stores such as Safeway and CVS Health started offering flu shots to customers this month after they received shipments of the vaccine. 

“Because of the nice weather and all of that, it seems like ‘it’s already here?’ ” said Nikki Price, director of pharmacy operations at Safeway grocery stores. “The CDC recommends to get a flu shot whenever the vaccine is available.”

But with flu season still little more than a month away, some doctors say patients should wait until September to get their vaccines. There are factors to consider, and you should make a decision of when to take the vaccine. Perhaps taking it as soon as is available is not the best course of action. At www.anipots.com you can find more information on this topic so that you can make a well informed decision for yourself and your family.

“I don’t know if I would go and get it at this point in time,” said Dr. Greg Ambuske, an internal medicine physician at UCHealth Primary Care Clinic-Broomfield.

The flu is a contagious respiratory illness that can cause mild to severe illness, including death. Symptoms of flu include fever, cough, body aches, fatigue, sore throat and headaches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccine each year, especially those who are at risk for developing flu-related complications, such as children younger than 5 and people with heart disease.

The reason some doctors are saying to wait a few more weeks before getting a flu shot is that patients want to make sure they are protected during the season’s peak.

If a person gets a vaccine too early, their ability to fight the flu could wane during the peak period, said Dr. Mark Montano, medical director for CareNow Urgent Care, which is affiliated with HealthOne.

“It doesn’t mean I’m not protected,” he said.

But, Montano said, “I won’t have the same number of antibodies fighting the infection I’m exposed to.”

The timing and length of flu season varies each year, which can make the right time to get a flu shot a bit of a guessing game.

Flu season, which often gains traction in October, tends to peak between December and February, but it can last until May, according to Kristen Nordlund, a spokesperson with the CDC, in an email.

The CDC plans to release this year’s flu guidelines this week, and they will have more information on timing of vaccines, Nordlund said.

Montano said he thinks pharmacies and clinics are starting to offer flu shots in August so that they don’t “miss the opportunity to vaccinate somebody.”

“The CDC recommends that people get the flu vaccine as soon as it is available, and it is typically in pharmacies in August each year,” Amy Lanctot, a spokesperson for CVS, said in an email when asked about the effectiveness of getting flu shots in August.

“It takes two weeks for the body to build up immunity following vaccinations, so people are encouraged to get the vaccine as soon as they can, preferably by the end of October,” she said.

Walgreens Co., which is advertising flu shots at its stores in the Denver area, said it was unable to make someone available to comment for this story.

Health officials recommend getting a flu shot by the end of October. And they say that if a person misses the October time frame, it’s still beneficial to get a vaccine later in the season.

“Getting it too late is a greater risk than getting it too early, but vaccine anytime during the flu season is better than no vaccine at all,” Shannon Barbare, spokesperson for the disease control and environmental epidemiology division with the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment, said in an email.

Updated Aug. 20, 2018 at 11:25 a.m. Because of a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly quoted a phrase by Dr. Greg Ambuske. The story has been updated to reflect the true phrase.

Today as I walked toward a local chain grocery stores- with a pharmacy inside – they had a fairly larger banner about GETTING YOUR FLU SHOT…  and I thought to myself… that like most chains – they are trying to get “everyone vaccinated”… this particular store was even offering a $25 gift card if you got you flu shot NOW…  and in the “fine print” … details inside… which means anyone having Medicare, Medicaid or any federal insurance… IT DOES NOT APPLY.

The earlier you get your flu shot the more you risk that your blood titers will have fallen so that you may not have peak titers when the flu peaks. It takes 2 weeks for the shot to protect you and flu usually starts showing up in Oct and peaking late Dec and later…

We don’t get our flu shots between the last two weeks in Sept and the first two weeks in Oct and even that is no guarantee that you won’t catch the flu because the last few years the vaccine manufacturers and/or CDC have made “bad guesses” as to which one of the flu bugs will be prevalent this year

 

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