Has the coronavirus pandemic made you more likely to get the flu vaccine later this year?
It might be July but we’re already beginning to think about this year’s flu vaccination programme. You may be wondering if the flu vaccine will still be important for people with asthma this year and the answer to this is yes. We’ll be sharing updates on this and the advice on what people with asthma should do soon.
Flu is a top asthma trigger, as it can cause your airways to become more inflamed and make it harder for you to breathe. Find out more about how flu can affect people with asthma more severely.
Colds and flu as asthma triggers | Asthma UKColds and flu can be miserable for anyone, but if you have asthma they can potentially trigger symptoms.asthma.org.uk
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Claire_ALUK
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Not more likely - but only because I've been sure to get it anyway!
For anyone reading this and thinking 'mild' asthma means you don't need it - get it unless there's a really good medical reason why not. I had mild asthma and thought I'd grown out of it - no inhaler at uni, some episodes I now know I shouldn't have ignored. Never bothered with the flu jab.
Then I got swine flu in 2009, asthma 'came back' and got gradually worse. Now I have severe asthma with many weird features, and it overreacts madly (hospital level) to even colds and viruses which aren't supposed to be a major issue. I really do not want to get flu again, and while of course this won't happen to every asthmatic who gets flu - it can do, and it's very much worth trying to avoid. I don't advise finding out the hard way. (I couldn't have got the swine flu jab, it didn't exist when I caught it and I wasn't high risk anyway at that point - but back then I'd probably not have bothered even so.)
To answer the common points I often see raised about flu jabs - these have already been addressed many times but just to reinforce:
-'but it's only x percent effective' - it isn't perfect, it does vary based on whether the predicted strains are the ones which actually turn up. BUT it's better than not having it. For a start, it can make any flu you do have less severe - could make the difference between hospital or not, or 7 days off work vs 14. A a nice analogy is that seatbelts aren't 100% effective in preventing injury in car accidents, but they're still a lot better than not having one, and most people use them.
-'but I had it and got flu' - it wasn't flu (bad respiratory viruses, even colds, can be horrible especially with asthma, but they're not all flu - that should be obvious with current events!), it was a strain not protected against (see above), it was flu but you got it less badly than you would have without the jab (see above), you caught flu before the vaccine could take full effect (it takes up to 2 weeks). The flu jab DOES NOT give you flu.
-'but x side effect from the flu vaccine' - many of these are actually more likely with the flu than the vaccine.
-'I've never had flu so I don't need it' - lucky you, but speaking as someone who's had flu twice, you're really not missing any fun experiences. Help your own luck along and have the jab.
-'I'm healthy and don't need it' - yeah that's what I thought, with very mild asthma. When it comes to flu viruses, you are more vulnerable than you think. And even if you weren't, others around you might be for various reasons. Do it for them at least.
-'Flu isn't serious/doesn't kill you' - I have no idea how you missed all the media comparisons between 2020 and 1918, but flu can literally be more deadly than a world war. Even if you're young and healthy.
I'm fortunate to get the free flu vaccine. Last year I think more people who are entitled to it actually went for it because it was predicted to be a severe and nasty strain of the flu. This year I've read that it's going to be a very mild strain of the flu. I don't know if this will make some people think they don't need to get it because it won't be so bad?
I've nearly always had apart from when it was alive vaccine and I had a bad reaction to it was told not to have it ever again until they brought out the dead one.
A nurse practitioner came and said I want to see you and I said I've got appointment with the Doctor and nurse replied its alright he's running late and it's only the flu jab.
I turned around and said I can't have it, was told it's alright now it's a dead virus you were allergic to the live one.
Still get a slight side effects my arm swells up also soon as the mention it I come down with a chest infection either before or after I had it.
So i tell them don't mention the flu jab its cursed if I'm seeing someone just give it to me whilst I'm there.
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