Myths About the Influenza Vaccination
Dr. Pete Mikkelsen busts the myths around flu vaccinations and explain why they are important to get each year.
Featuring:
Pete Mikkelsen, MD
Pete Mikklesen, MD, joined Pullman Regional Hospital in 2003. He has been Medical Director of the Emergency Department since 2011. His professional interests are compassionate emergency medical care and healthcare leadership. Transcription:
Bill Klaproth (Host): So, there are common myths when it comes to the flu vaccine. And what do you do if you think you have the flu, but the symptoms are also the same as COVID-19? Well let’s learn more about the influenza vaccination with Dr. Pete Mikkelson, Medical Director of the Emergency Department and Employee Health at Pullman Regional Hospital. Dr. Mikkelson, thank you so much for your time. So, first off, what is influenza? We hear people saying I have the flu bug. Is that the same thing as having the flu?
Pete Mikkelsen, MD (Guest): Kind of confusing about the flu bug versus influenza. Many people are getting more accustomed to using the term influenza but when you say the flu, a lot of people mean different things. Sometimes you can have a stomach flu, or you just have the flu. But influenza is a respiratory illness and it’s a specific acute respiratory illness caused by influenza A or B virus. Respiratory illnesses isn’t like the stomach flu or something like that.
Host: All right. Well that’s a good distinction. So, thank you for explaining that for us. So, why is getting the flu vaccine so important, particularly this year during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Dr. Mikkelson: It’s so true how important it is this year. We’re in unprecedented times, certainly in modern times around this horrible pandemic that we’ve been kind of coping with and fighting for the last I guess since December, around the world, maybe November. It’s really taken over our lives in a lost of aspects. So, I think everybody has been dreading the addition of piling on influenza illness on top of the SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19 pandemic. So, there’s been a lot of focus for a lot of healthcare providers and a lot of healthcare organizations to try to really do their best in doing whatever we can do to keep people as healthy as possible during the influenza season. Influenza is more of a seasonal illness as opposed to the COVID-19 which is year round. And so, in the northern hemisphere, we think of the flu season as starting in the fall and then going through the late spring or so.
There are three different things you can do to help combat influenza and the first one on all healthcare providers list is getting a flu shot, an influenza vaccine. The importance of it this year is that the healthcare system is already burdened with the SARS virus and COVID-19 disease. If we have an especially bad flu season, a lot of people are going to be getting real sick and they may not get the care that they need just because the system may be overburdened. I think that’s really the main reason why it's important to do everything you can about influenza this year. It’s about protecting yourself and about protecting others.
Host: Yeah, that’s a good way to say it because keeping yourself healthy, keeps you from getting sick and then potentially overburdening our hospital system. So, let’s talk about some common myths associated with the flu vaccine. We always hear this; I don’t want to get the flu shot because it gives me the flu. And then we also hear, I feel crummy after getting the flu vaccination. I don’t feel well so I don’t want to get it. Can you talk about that and debunk that myth about the flu?
Dr. Mikkelson: I think that’s a good opportunity to debunk the myth. This isn’t to minimize the way people feel after they get the shot. I understand that some people have gotten a shot and then afterwards, have felt symptoms. And I don’t want to say that’s untrue because people know what they felt. When the studies have been done, and they look at let’s say you give somebody a saline shot which is one study they did in Minnesota with 600 healthcare workers; then they give another group of people the flu shot. Yeah, some people felt sick afterwards, some people got fevers but there was no difference between those two groups of people. So, it’s to prove what everyone says about them getting the shot and what we think it is is that the timing is just bad. Sometimes you get the shot and some particular symptoms but it’s not from the shot. And some people worry that they might get influenza from the shot. It’s an inactivated vaccine. There’s not live virus that can give you the actual influenza.
When they looked at the difference between a saline shot in the arm and an influenza shot in the arm, the only difference between those two was your arm was a bit sorer with the flu vaccine. So, I think for a lot of folks, it’s probably not enough of a reason to not get the flu shot. I have to say that as the Employee Health Medical Director, I’ve been doing this for several years and I think I’ve heard probably almost every reason why someone wouldn’t get the flu. And then I hear some that are more common and really the thing that people talk about a lot is that it doesn’t work well enough. It’s not a perfect vaccine. The thing about influenza, is that the antigenic composition of the influenza or the different types of influenza viruses make it difficult to have a perfect vaccine. So, we either have three or four different types of viruses that are targeted by that year’s vaccine. And it’s not perfect but, the thing about it is, is it’s the best vaccine we have currently. We will at some point, have a universal vaccine but this one is the best one. And so, the efficacy of the vaccine I think is better than you think when you look at how many hospitalizations it prevents. Millions of Americans get the flu every year and hundreds of thousands land in the hospital. And then tens of thousands die from the influenza and getting the flu vaccine will prevent all three of those categories or decrease all three of those categories, I should say.
Host: Yeah, that’s really important to remember and thank you for debunking that important myth that the flu vaccine gives you the flu when in fact, it does not. But so important to get the flu vaccine. So, in addition to getting vaccinated, what are some of the other things a person can do to prevent getting the flu?
Dr. Mikkelson: Yeah, the vaccine is certainly the priority but there are other things that we can do. The first thing is get vaccinated, the second thing is to stop the spread and this year, a lot of people are already doing things like that to stop the spread. What we are talking about is face covering or masks, careful hand washing, avoiding sick people, not being around other people when you are sick. Avoiding large crowds. And also just generally staying healthy, good health habits help to prevent yourself from getting sick with the flu as well.
Host: Right, so here’s an interesting question. What should someone do if they think they have the flu, but those symptoms are also the same as COVID-19? What does a person do in that instance?
Dr. Mikkelson: Yeah, they are both respiratory viruses so there’s a lot of overlap of the symptoms and it can be very difficult if not impossible to discriminate between those two just based on your symptoms or even a doctor examining you for signs of either infection. If you should talk to folks who have influenza, true influenza, they can almost pinpoint the time when they started getting sick. So, with influenza, you have these horrible body aches, and fevers so sometimes it’s a little more clear, but sometimes you don’t have the typical symptoms. And if you think you have COVID-19, or especially this year, in general, if you think you have influenza, then it’s important to access healthcare. Call your doctor, call your nurse practitioner, your physician assistant or go to location of care. The reason for that is, that one, you need to know if you have COVID-19 and secondly, if you have influenza; you need to know that too because you want to know about having influenza, so you don’t spread it to others, so you take care of yourself and there are also medications for influenza. So, the difference between COVID-19 and influenza as far as prevention, is treatment as we have a vaccine, we also have antiviral medications that you can take as well to help shorten the length and severity of the illness.
Host: So, if you think you have the flu and or COVID-19, first thing to do is always call your healthcare provider.
Dr. Mikkelson: Exactly.
Host: Well Dr. Mikkelson, this has really been interesting, and we urge everyone to get the flu shot. Thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.
Dr. Mikkelson: Thanks so much.
Host: That’s Dr. Pete Mikkelson and to learn more about the flu vaccine and COVID-19, please visit www.pullmanregional.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is The Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.
Bill Klaproth (Host): So, there are common myths when it comes to the flu vaccine. And what do you do if you think you have the flu, but the symptoms are also the same as COVID-19? Well let’s learn more about the influenza vaccination with Dr. Pete Mikkelson, Medical Director of the Emergency Department and Employee Health at Pullman Regional Hospital. Dr. Mikkelson, thank you so much for your time. So, first off, what is influenza? We hear people saying I have the flu bug. Is that the same thing as having the flu?
Pete Mikkelsen, MD (Guest): Kind of confusing about the flu bug versus influenza. Many people are getting more accustomed to using the term influenza but when you say the flu, a lot of people mean different things. Sometimes you can have a stomach flu, or you just have the flu. But influenza is a respiratory illness and it’s a specific acute respiratory illness caused by influenza A or B virus. Respiratory illnesses isn’t like the stomach flu or something like that.
Host: All right. Well that’s a good distinction. So, thank you for explaining that for us. So, why is getting the flu vaccine so important, particularly this year during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Dr. Mikkelson: It’s so true how important it is this year. We’re in unprecedented times, certainly in modern times around this horrible pandemic that we’ve been kind of coping with and fighting for the last I guess since December, around the world, maybe November. It’s really taken over our lives in a lost of aspects. So, I think everybody has been dreading the addition of piling on influenza illness on top of the SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19 pandemic. So, there’s been a lot of focus for a lot of healthcare providers and a lot of healthcare organizations to try to really do their best in doing whatever we can do to keep people as healthy as possible during the influenza season. Influenza is more of a seasonal illness as opposed to the COVID-19 which is year round. And so, in the northern hemisphere, we think of the flu season as starting in the fall and then going through the late spring or so.
There are three different things you can do to help combat influenza and the first one on all healthcare providers list is getting a flu shot, an influenza vaccine. The importance of it this year is that the healthcare system is already burdened with the SARS virus and COVID-19 disease. If we have an especially bad flu season, a lot of people are going to be getting real sick and they may not get the care that they need just because the system may be overburdened. I think that’s really the main reason why it's important to do everything you can about influenza this year. It’s about protecting yourself and about protecting others.
Host: Yeah, that’s a good way to say it because keeping yourself healthy, keeps you from getting sick and then potentially overburdening our hospital system. So, let’s talk about some common myths associated with the flu vaccine. We always hear this; I don’t want to get the flu shot because it gives me the flu. And then we also hear, I feel crummy after getting the flu vaccination. I don’t feel well so I don’t want to get it. Can you talk about that and debunk that myth about the flu?
Dr. Mikkelson: I think that’s a good opportunity to debunk the myth. This isn’t to minimize the way people feel after they get the shot. I understand that some people have gotten a shot and then afterwards, have felt symptoms. And I don’t want to say that’s untrue because people know what they felt. When the studies have been done, and they look at let’s say you give somebody a saline shot which is one study they did in Minnesota with 600 healthcare workers; then they give another group of people the flu shot. Yeah, some people felt sick afterwards, some people got fevers but there was no difference between those two groups of people. So, it’s to prove what everyone says about them getting the shot and what we think it is is that the timing is just bad. Sometimes you get the shot and some particular symptoms but it’s not from the shot. And some people worry that they might get influenza from the shot. It’s an inactivated vaccine. There’s not live virus that can give you the actual influenza.
When they looked at the difference between a saline shot in the arm and an influenza shot in the arm, the only difference between those two was your arm was a bit sorer with the flu vaccine. So, I think for a lot of folks, it’s probably not enough of a reason to not get the flu shot. I have to say that as the Employee Health Medical Director, I’ve been doing this for several years and I think I’ve heard probably almost every reason why someone wouldn’t get the flu. And then I hear some that are more common and really the thing that people talk about a lot is that it doesn’t work well enough. It’s not a perfect vaccine. The thing about influenza, is that the antigenic composition of the influenza or the different types of influenza viruses make it difficult to have a perfect vaccine. So, we either have three or four different types of viruses that are targeted by that year’s vaccine. And it’s not perfect but, the thing about it is, is it’s the best vaccine we have currently. We will at some point, have a universal vaccine but this one is the best one. And so, the efficacy of the vaccine I think is better than you think when you look at how many hospitalizations it prevents. Millions of Americans get the flu every year and hundreds of thousands land in the hospital. And then tens of thousands die from the influenza and getting the flu vaccine will prevent all three of those categories or decrease all three of those categories, I should say.
Host: Yeah, that’s really important to remember and thank you for debunking that important myth that the flu vaccine gives you the flu when in fact, it does not. But so important to get the flu vaccine. So, in addition to getting vaccinated, what are some of the other things a person can do to prevent getting the flu?
Dr. Mikkelson: Yeah, the vaccine is certainly the priority but there are other things that we can do. The first thing is get vaccinated, the second thing is to stop the spread and this year, a lot of people are already doing things like that to stop the spread. What we are talking about is face covering or masks, careful hand washing, avoiding sick people, not being around other people when you are sick. Avoiding large crowds. And also just generally staying healthy, good health habits help to prevent yourself from getting sick with the flu as well.
Host: Right, so here’s an interesting question. What should someone do if they think they have the flu, but those symptoms are also the same as COVID-19? What does a person do in that instance?
Dr. Mikkelson: Yeah, they are both respiratory viruses so there’s a lot of overlap of the symptoms and it can be very difficult if not impossible to discriminate between those two just based on your symptoms or even a doctor examining you for signs of either infection. If you should talk to folks who have influenza, true influenza, they can almost pinpoint the time when they started getting sick. So, with influenza, you have these horrible body aches, and fevers so sometimes it’s a little more clear, but sometimes you don’t have the typical symptoms. And if you think you have COVID-19, or especially this year, in general, if you think you have influenza, then it’s important to access healthcare. Call your doctor, call your nurse practitioner, your physician assistant or go to location of care. The reason for that is, that one, you need to know if you have COVID-19 and secondly, if you have influenza; you need to know that too because you want to know about having influenza, so you don’t spread it to others, so you take care of yourself and there are also medications for influenza. So, the difference between COVID-19 and influenza as far as prevention, is treatment as we have a vaccine, we also have antiviral medications that you can take as well to help shorten the length and severity of the illness.
Host: So, if you think you have the flu and or COVID-19, first thing to do is always call your healthcare provider.
Dr. Mikkelson: Exactly.
Host: Well Dr. Mikkelson, this has really been interesting, and we urge everyone to get the flu shot. Thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.
Dr. Mikkelson: Thanks so much.
Host: That’s Dr. Pete Mikkelson and to learn more about the flu vaccine and COVID-19, please visit www.pullmanregional.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is The Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.