Flu-vaccine push starts in state

Officials kick off efforts to encourage immunizations

Arkansas Department of Health public health nurse Gwen Herlacher gives Rodney Scott a flu shot during the Mass Flu Vaccine Clinic at the State Fairgrounds in Little Rock in this Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, file photo. More information about future dates for such clinics and public school clinics is available at healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/influenza.
Arkansas Department of Health public health nurse Gwen Herlacher gives Rodney Scott a flu shot during the Mass Flu Vaccine Clinic at the State Fairgrounds in Little Rock in this Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, file photo. More information about future dates for such clinics and public school clinics is available at healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/influenza.

A rejiggered vaccine shows promise for the coming flu season, though the year's overall outlook remains hazy, public health officials said this week.

The 2019-2020 U.S. vaccine, which targets four strains of flu, underwent small tweaks to help it better fight two kinds of the virus, including the influenza A H3N2 type that circulated in the spring.

That's a reason for optimism as flu season ramps up, a period that can be "quite variable" from year to year, Arkansas immunizations director Dr. Jennifer Dillaha said in an interview.

For example, the 2017-2018 stretch saw 228 deaths in the state -- the most in decades.

"I have the impression that one reason our flu deaths were high was because our rates of flu vaccination that year were especially low," Dillaha said.

"Flu will kill even healthy, vibrant adults. You might not think that you're vulnerable to it."

Both state and national public health campaigns tied to flu season have kicked off in recent days, emphasizing its dangers and urging members of the public to get a flu shot by the end of October.

At a livestreamed news conference Thursday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar joined doctors at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to underscore the dangers of the viral illness.

That can include a higher risk of heart attack or stroke for some patients, spiraling health effects from inflammation, hospitalization or death, they said.

"Flu is unpredictable, but we can predict it will arrive. It needs to be taken seriously," said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

"As health care professionals, we need to insist -- diplomatically -- on vaccination for our patients."

Those who have had the vaccine yet get the flu are much less likely to end up in the hospital or to die, physicians said in their remarks.

"I think we need to drive this point home," pediatrician Dr. Patricia Whitley-Williams said. "We all know that it won't provide 100 percent protection. But it will reduce the severity."

Doctors and public health professionals have faced an uphill battle on the flu amid rising vaccine hesitancy, which the World Health Organization has named one of the top 10 threats to global health.

Officials Thursday took pains to emphasize the flu vaccine's safety, which Azar said has been administered through "hundreds of millions" of doses over the past 50 years.

Dillaha said the federal Food and Drug Administration carefully monitors the manufacturing of the flu vaccine, adding that, although it can make you feel a bit under the weather, it's a misconception that it will get you sick.

"The flu shot does not have a complete virus in it," she said. "It just can't cause the flu."

Flu is thought to spread through respiratory droplets -- where someone has spoken or sneezed -- or from where a sick person has touched a surface, like a doorknob.

Its prevalence usually spikes with the school year, peaking around February in the U.S. (Rough forecasting for vaccine production is possible because the Northern Hemisphere's flu season follows that of the Southern Hemisphere.)

Other than rigorous hand-washing, health care professionals often say that vaccination is the best protection during flu season. People who have the flu should stay home from work or school to keep others from getting sick.

Older adults, people with chronic illnesses (such as asthma or diabetes) and pregnant women all are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from flu and and should take special care to get immunized, Schaffner said.

According to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, about 959,000 Americans were hospitalized from flu or related complications during 2017-2018, and roughly 79,400 people died.

In Arkansas, most flu deaths have occurred in adults age 65 and older, who don't respond as well to the vaccine, Dillaha says.

That's one reason why it's important for the younger people in their lives -- grandkids and caregivers -- to get vaccinated, she said.

Although we often imagine children bringing flu home to their parents, adults should get vaccinated to avoid transmitting flu to kids and babies, who can't be vaccinated until they're 6 months old, she added.

"We depend on people around them to protect them," she said.

ARKANSAS EVENTS

A mass free flu shot clinic on Thursday in Little Rock was among the first Health Department events this year to fight flu in the state.

Similar clinics are expected to be held in every Arkansas county, as well as at schools for students and staff, Dillaha said. The effort administered 240,849 vaccines last year.

At the Arkansas State Fairgrounds on Thursday morning, signs in English and Spanish directed people to the glass doors of the Hall of Industry building, where the immunization clinic was in progress.

Inside, D.L. Taylor said he was a regular of the annual event. Once something of a skeptic, the 64-year-old started getting the flu shot about 10 years ago and hasn't had the flu since.

He added that his age was part of what motivated him to get vaccinated.

"When you get older, your immune system's not as good as it used to be, and [the flu is] harder on the body," he said.

Alan Robles, 39, said he was also returning to the clinic, adding that his wife would go in later that day after getting off work.

"We come every year, me and my family," he said. "I think we don't get sick."

Information for this article was contributed by Lauran Neergaard of The Associated Press.

photo

NWA Democrat-Gazette

Fatima Garcia Barrera holds her daughter, also maned Fatima, as Dora Zuniga gives Fatima a flu shot Thursday at the Jones Center in Springdale. Washington County’s Health Unit is offering flu vaccinations from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Jones Center. People who have health insurance should bring their cards, but the shots are free for people who don’t have insurance or whose insurance doesn’t cover flu shots.

Metro on 09/27/2019

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