Public health officials say flu vaccine is important, too

While prospects for a COVID-19 vaccine are promising, it is another vaccine Louisianans should be focused on obtaining right now to protect themselves.
Doctors participating in a video call Friday titled “Protecting Our Communities from the Flu and COVID 19” stressed that getting the flu vaccine is the most important vaccine that residents should be focused on right now.
Dr. Tina Stefanski, Region 4 Office of Public Health director, serving the Acadiana region, said it is important to get the shot immediately because that could rule out the flu as a possible illness if you become sick with symptoms of COVID-19, whose symptoms also can mirror the flu.
“If you get your flu shot, it’s less likely you’re going to get the flu, and if you do it should be a milder case,” she said.
Dr. Eric Griggs, director of community medicine for Access Health Louisiana, said that COVID-19 is not the flu, explaining they are two separate viruses from two different families. He said the flu that we usually are concerned with stem from the Influenza A and Influenza B family.
“COVID 19 is from the family of coronavirus that happens to have something that we are familiar with, which is the common cold,” he said. “It’s typically seasonal. It’s typically not lethal. It’s something that we get over with, and we really don’t have any permanent immunity to the common cold. So it’s (COVID-19) from the family of viruses called coronaviruses, but its acting differently.”
Griggs said COVID-19 is more contagious and more deadly than the flu, noting 250,000 Americans have died from it compared to 36,000 to 80,000 people who succumb to the flu each year.
“That’s with a vaccine,” he said of the flu deaths.
Dr. Chip Riggins, Region 3 Office of Public Health director for areas including Assumption and St. Mary parishes, said the flu vaccine is critical, especially for at-risk populations.
Based on World Health Organization data, though, convincing people to get the vaccine for the flu or anything else may be difficult.
Riggins said last year that for the first time ever, the World Health Organization listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the world’s 10 global health threats.
“It’s reached that level, and it’s not just flu,” he said. “It’s vaccine hesitancy in general. Influenza is a challenging virus to try to prevent, but the flu vaccine is still our best tool.”
He noted it prevents other things such as missed time away from work or school.
“Flu vaccine for businesses is one of the most cost effective things that we can do for our workforce in terms of economic benefit as well,” he said.
While the holidays are approaching, Dr. Lacey Cavanaugh, medical director for Region 5 of the Office of Public Health for the Louisiana Department of Health, serving southwest Louisiana, said the best way for families to be safe is to stay at home with their immediate family.
“But we also realize that not everybody can or wants to do that for a whole lot of reasons, and so we also have to realize that we have to meet people where they are,” she said.
However, Cavanaugh said that can be done safely, such as meeting with people in outdoor settings, opening windows, having hand sanitizer available or spending shorter times with people inside.
“It’s not like an all or none,” she said. “It’s not like you can only spend the holiday in the traditional way or spend the holiday with your immediate household. There are lots of ways in between that you can at least put some measures into place to try to reduce your risk.”
Regarding the talked-about notion of herd immunity, Cavanaugh said a vaccine is the safest way to reach that status. She said herd immunity is a phrase used to describe when enough people get the virus and then development immunity to it that it will no longer spread or not as quickly because many are immune to it.
“Most of the studies I’ve seen have shown maybe 10% of our local population here have had and recovered from COVID, and to reach herd immunity status, we would have to get up to 80 or 90% of the population that had then recovered from COVID,” Cavanaugh said. “If we get there, we are going to be talking about a massive amount of deaths. Everyone in this community would know someone or multiple people who died of COVID, so that the death tally from trying to use that as a strategy would be pretty devastating.”
Hence, the reason the vaccine is the safest method.
“Because if enough people will get the vaccine that a large portion of us are protected, then it will also stop the disease from spreading amongst us and provide that protection that way as well, and with that way, we don’t have a massive death toll in our wake,” Cavanaugh said. “It just unfortunately takes a little bit of patience, because a vaccine is very promising and coming. It’s just not quite here and distributed yet. So we’re kind of trying to get folks to hang on. There is a light at the end of this tunnel. We’re just not quite there yet, but it’s coming.”
As for the vaccine, Griggs said with the two most promising vaccines of the more than 125 in clinical trials, he said that it would take at least two doses of it per person.
Riggins said when a vaccine is available, they will recommend that even those who have had COVID-19 take it, noting that there have been a few documented cases worldwide and in the United State that COVID-19 immunity isn’t long lasting.
“We don’t know what it is at this point, but you may be in the herd immunity group for three to six months but back into the group of suspectibles much sooner than you think,” he said. “So we’re going to be encouraging folks, even who believe or know that they’ve had COVID-19, to become vaccinated, because we believe the vaccines are going to provide a much more enduring, longer lasting level of immunity.”
Regarding the current situation in the region, Riggins said in the last few weeks, an increase in COVID-19 has been seen in emergency rooms and doctors’ offices.
“Sadly, we’ve had a doubling in the last week of our percent/positive,” he said. “That’s a rate that we look very closely at in most of our parishes. This is very concerning, as I’m sure everyone’s aware, because of the approaching holidays and we hate to see an increasing trend just as folks are about to be on holiday and presumably wanting to visit and be with their loved ones. So a challenging time. The good news is that here in region 3, and for the most of the state, flu has yet to really make its appearance.”
He said they are seeing many colds at the moment.