ANNOUNCER:
The flu – it can be hard to escape
Steven Lamm, Internist:
You cough, you sneeze, you shake hands with people, and that’s how this disease is spread, and it is very contagious.
ANNOUNCER:
Doctors say getting a flu shot is your best defense.
Steven Lamm, Internist:
Vaccines are very, very effective and can reduce the likelihood of contracting influenza by anywhere between 60 and 80%.
ANNOUNCER:
And you’re not only helping yourself when you get a flu shot
Steven Lamm, Internist:
You’re protecting your family, maybe an elderly parent or grandparent or your kids or a pregnant woman or people at work. So it’s not just yourself that you’d be immunizing. You’d be reducing the likelihood of spreading this infection.
ANNOUNCER:
And despite the myths, getting a flu shot can not give you the flu because it’s made from inactive or “dead” viruses.
Steven Lamm, Internist:
What happens is a lot of people are vaccinated where they’re already incubating a series of different kinds of respiratory viruses.
So it would not be unusual to give somebody a vaccine, and within days they come down with a cold, and of course they blame it on the vaccine
ANNOUNCER:
Because the flu virus changes every year, there’s a new vaccine every year.
Steven Lamm, Internist:
I think if you have a pulse you should get the vaccine. I mean, other than if you’re allergic to eggs, which is where this vaccine is created, or you’ve had some unusual reaction to the vaccine in the past. I would recommend that each and every one of you really get the vaccine.
ANNOUNCER:
Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily!
