Getting a flu vaccine is the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from flu and its most serious complications. And it could also help ensure that you don’t contract COVID-19 and the flu at the same time.
Doctors don’t yet know what will happen to patients with that kind of dual diagnosis, says University of California Epidemiologist George Rutherford.
What’s clear is that the flu and COVID-19 both target the lung. COVID + Flu = Trouble!
“And to the extent that the lungs are damaged by one disease and the other one comes along and damages it more, you can get into trouble faster,” he said.
Influenza can also make you more susceptible to infection by other pathogens.
“In fact, a lot of the deaths of the 1918 flu pandemic were probably from staphylococcal pneumonia as a superinfection on top of influenza pneumonia,” he said.
So get your flu vaccine today; most insurance companies and health departments pay for it. And remember the 3 W’s because they apply to COVID-19 and the flu:
WASH your hands.
WEAR your mask.
WATCH your distance.
