Flu season under way despite government shutdown idling clinics

By Stephanie Barry, The Republican

Medical experts say it’s too soon to tell how the flu season  will shake out this year, and the government shutdown has idled most agencies – including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the largest tracker of the flu virus.

Pharmacist Jill Ruth Nguyen, right, gives Maxine Ijams a flu shot during a flu shot event at Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, sponsored by the National Council on Aging Tuesday in Tucson, Ariz. (Madison Kirkman / Associated Press)

However, doctors and pharmacists say common sense should continue to prevail outside Congress and virtually everyone should get flu vaccines early.

That means now.

The top infectious disease expert at Baystate Medical Center  said humans have a responsibility to not only themselves and their families, but to the entire community, to stop the spread of the flu.

“There are a substantial number of people who opt out of flu vaccines for reasons that are not scientifically valid,” said Dr. Daniel J. Skiest, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Baystate Medical Center. “You cannot get the flu from the flu virus.”

Several unofficial flu trackers have supported a very slight uptick in reported cases of the disease already, but thousands of CDC workers remain on furlough with no immediate end in sight. So, the nation’s primary flu vaccine booster could be behind the eight-ball.

Flu virus morphs into subtly different variations in most seasons, Skiest said, most memorably in 2009 when H1N1, or the swine flu, caused numerous deaths and became a household name.

While of fourth strain of flu (outside the expected three strains) has emerged this year, the government still is recommending a standard flu shot as opposed to a so-called new “quad shot,” which attacks the fourth strain.

“It’s the first year on the market and the CDC doesn’t recommend one over the other,” said Michael DeAngelis, spokesman for the Rhode Island-based CVS
pharmacy chain. 

Read the full article by Stephanie Barry of the Republican.