Atlanta urgent care provider already seeing early flu cases
ATLANTA - The staff at Piedmont Urgent Care by WellStreet in Atlanta usually waits until October to begin pushing flu shots.
This year, the urgent care company has started its shot drive early, because Regional Medical Director Dr. Cassandra Barnette Donnelly says they have already seen their urgent care patients and several of her own staff members testing positive for the flu.
"Two of them have had the flu already," Dr. Barnette Donnelly says. "My boss has had the flu already."
First, Donnelly says, it's important to clear up a couple of myths about the flu vaccine.
She says the flu shot cannot give you the flu.
And, if you skip the shot because you've never had it and never been infected, Donnelly says, you could end up pretty miserable.
"It's that one time that you get it, you realize this is really bad," she says. "Again, it's not that cold you get every couple of years. It really will knock you on your bottom."
Health officials recommend Americans 6 months and older get vaccinated against seasonal flu. Vaccine providers are kicking off October flu shot drives.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone 6 months and older who can be vaccinated against seasonal flu get protected.
This year, both several varieties of injectable flu vaccine are available, along with the nasal flu vaccine, recommended for healthy people between the ages of 2 and 49.
Donnelly says getting a flu shot is especially important for people with a weakened immune system, like pregnant women, seniors and young children, and anyone with a chronic illness like diabetes, asthma, respiratory diseases, or HIV.
Those groups are at higher risk of experiencing deadly complications of the flu.
"Influenza, in itself, causes you to be very ill," she says. "Secondary infections after you get influenza are pretty bad as well."
Because the flu virus can weaken your body, that can open the door for a serious bacterial infection, like pneumonia or strep.
"Now your body is really already down because you're fighting off one infection, and, on top of that, you plow on another infection," she says.
If you do get the flu, an antiviral medication, given early, typically in the first 48 hours, may help.
October 1, 2019 marks the official beginning of flu shot season
Donnelly says you'll also need time and rest.
"Give yourself permission to heal and take a few days off," she says.
Don't go back to work or school until you've been fever-free without fever-lowering medication for at least 24 hours.
"The one this I would say is that people tend to go back too soon, and then, unfortunately, they infect their entire office," Donnelly says.