With the return of winter weather to Western New York, it also marks the return of the cold and flu season. This could be significant with COVID-19 numbers on the rise again across the country, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner.
While it has been stressed by many for people to go out and get vaccinated for COVID-19, have people also been getting vaccinated for influenza this year?
According to the trends seen thus far by Dr. Thomas Russo - Professor and Chief of Infectious Disease for the Department of Medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo - the numbers of people getting vaccinated are not where they should be at this time of year.
"A number of individuals have gotten their flu shot, but we're lagging behind a little bit from the large number of individuals who got their flu shots last year," Dr. Russo said. "Given what we're seeing right now, in terms of some outbreaks in various parts of the country, we need to get more shots in arms and we need to protect people from influenza. Particularly since COVID is still circulating, we don't want the combination of lots of flu and COVID at the same time."
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To back up what Dr. Russo has observed so far this year, President of Western New York Immediate Care, Dr. Joseph Chow is seeing people still getting vaccinated for the flu, but stresses how important it is others to not forget about protecting themselves this upcoming season.
"I think there's certainly been a lot of news about COVID, vaccinations, but making sure that people don't forget the flu season will be upon us very soon," Dr. Chow said. "This is typically the right time, if not actually a little bit late, to get the flu shot. We're starting to get a little bit of pick up on the flu vaccinations, but definitely need to get that higher."
While neither doctor is exactly sure why people are not getting their flu shots this year compared to last season, both agree that there should be more emphasis on getting vaccinated for both the flu and COVID-19.
"I think last year was a significant concern for the 'twindemic', so people were stepping up and getting their flu vaccine, whereas this year, perhaps the level of concern is not as great. However, I think it should be," Dr, Russo said.
"At this time, we're not sure what the effects would be if someone got infected with both influenza and COVID. But we anticipate that there's going to be a big bump in the influenza cases here in Erie County and the country. Since we still have not shaken this Delta wave, the pandemic is not yet over. I don't think we want to learn about that combination of both COVID and influenza, and the best way to protect yourself from that potentially lethal scenario is to get both your influenza vaccination and get your COVID vaccine. If you already have your COVID vaccine, make sure you go ahead and get your booster shot for maximum protection."
"One of the things that we'd be concerned about is, what you've heard about as 'twindemic' - having COVID as well as the flu and add a whole host of other viruses," Dr. Chow says in agreement with Dr. Russo. "The best thing we can do to protect ourselves is to actually get both of the vaccines. It's an important time right now to get those."
While both doctors agree the flu was really a non-factor last year, they do see the trends that this season for the flu will be significantly worse than in 2020.
"Depending on how high it goes, we have a lot to contend with," Dr. Chow said. "We'll have COVID, we'll have the flu, we'll have RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) season. So I think this season that we have coming up, I would suspect the flu would be certainly worse than it was last year. It may not be as bad as years past. I think some of the social distancing and the masking measures will likely have an effect to kind of blunten that also, but again, compared to last year, I can only suspect that it'll be higher."
"People are traveling again, people are interacting," Dr. Russo added to Dr. Chow's comments. "The flu is back, and there's already a few parts of the country - Michigan, for example, the University of Michigan has a significant outbreak on their campus. So I think it's critical that people go ahead and protect themselves at this time before we start to see large numbers of cases here in Erie County.
"I should add we've already seen some cases here in Erie County, so the flu is here, it's almost certainly going to get worse over time."
The message from both doctors going forward as the temperatures get colder and the holiday season approaches is to get your vaccinations to protect yourself as best as you can, health-wise, this winter.
"I think that we're going to have to wait and see how things play out, but it is concerning that the flu may be showing up a little earlier this year than last year," said Dr. Russo. "If you haven't yet gotten a flu shot, it is not too late. So please go out there - you can get flu shots at your pharmacy, you can get flu shots from your healthcare provider. Please go ahead and try to protect yourself as soon as possible.