The 2021/2022 Flu season is approaching and many of us are wondering what to expect, since COVID-19 is still around.
Should I get the COVID-19 vaccine or the flu shot? If you ask us, we highly suggest getting both so that you can avoid the dreaded “twindemic”. The CDC states that you can, in fact, receive both at the same time. In response to this, we have new updates to the flu vaccines to better prepare high risk individuals from getting the flu. AFC Urgent Care Natick now offers the highly effective quadrivalent flu vaccine and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine for COVID-19. Here’s what you should know so you can avoid the twindemic.
The flu vaccine has new updates for the 2021/2022 season
First, let’s get an old myth out of the way. Receiving a flu shot will not give you the flu. Flu vaccines given with a needle (i.e., flu shots) are made with either inactivated (killed) viruses, or with only a single protein from the flu virus. It will, in fact, encourage your body to start creating antibodies to fight a possible flu. That being said, let’s talk about which one will be right for you. There are many different types of flu vaccines, and the determining factors for which one you should get mostly come down to your age, and current state of health. Regardless, the flu shot is either going to be trivalent, meaning it protects against three strains of the virus, or quadrivalent, meaning it protects against four. AFC Urgent Care Natick offers the very effective quadrivalent flu vaccine. There have been updates to the vaccines to better combat possible strains in the 2021/2022 flu season. Here an updated list from The CDC about the new components in the vaccines:- The egg-based H1N1 vaccine component was updated from an A/Brisbane/02/2018 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus to an A/Guangdong-Maonan/SWL1536/2019 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus.
- The cell- or recombinant-based H1N1 vaccine component was updated from an A/Brisbane/02/2018 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus to an A/Hawaii/70/2019 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus.
- The egg-based H3N2 vaccine component was updated from an A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2)-like virus to an A/Hong Kong/2671/2019 (H3N2)-like virus.
- The cell- or recombinant-based H3N2 vaccine component was updated from an A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2)-like virus to an A/Hong Kong/45/2019 (H3N2)-like virus.
- The B/Victoria lineage vaccine component was updated from a B/Colorado/06/2017 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus to a B/Washington/02/2019 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.
- The B/Yamagata lineage vaccine component was not updated.