Keep Calm, Carry On, and Get Your Flu Shot

Ah, the magical serenity of mid-August! Students face the new school year with dread, parents face the new school year with joy, London is set ablaze, Syria shells its own civilians, and the stock market behaves like a brick thrown out of an airplane window.

But for primary care doctors, mid-August is the time when the new flu shots arrive. Our office received a batch this week. The flu season is not yet upon us, but it’s not too early to get your flu shot.

Who should get the flu shot? Since last year, the CDC has been recommending the flu shot for everyone over 6 months, but the people for whom the flu shot is particularly important are:

• Children younger than 5
• Adults 65 or older
• Pregnant women
• People with chronic illnesses that would make flu more dangerous
• Health care workers
• Household contacts of people at high risk for complications from flu
• Household contacts and caregivers of children younger than 6 months

Take a look at the CDC Seasonal Flu Shot page for details.

Who should not get a flu shot?

• People who have ever had a severe allergic reaction to eggs
• People who have ever had a serious reaction to a previous flu shot
• People with a history of Guillain–Barré Syndrome that occurred after receiving influenza vaccine

So make an appointment to get your flu shot. Because the only thing I can think of worse than a double-dip recession would be a double-dip recession with the flu.

Learn more:

CDC Questions and Answers: Seasonal Flu Shot

Keep Calm and Carry On

Important legal mumbo jumbo:
Anything you read on the web should be used to supplement, not replace, your doctor’s advice.  Anything that I write is no exception.  I’m a doctor, but I’m not your doctor.