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Flu season is coming soon, why you need a flu shot

Posted at 10:17 PM, Sep 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-25 01:17:48-04

It still feels like summer in the Old Pueblo but we're only a week about from flu season

Medical experts tell people every year how important it is to get a flu shot but it still isn't enough to get everyone vaccinated. 

"The single most important thing a person can do to avoid getting influenza is to get a flu shot, " says Regional Chief Medical Officer at FastMed, Lane Tassin.

Dr. Tassin with says if there 7 out of 10 people who don't get the flu shot is the population that's able to "hold and maintain an ongoing infection within the community. You have to have a very high immunization rate to keep the illness from exploding in the community - there's enough of them to maintain an on-going infection within that community."

Tassin says, often times - people make up excuses for not getting vaccinated. 

According to the CDC, Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention monitors what is going on with the virus and they predict what the virus will be for the next season. 

"Sometimes there is a genetic drift which is a slight variation and sometimes there's genetic shift which is a major genetic variation in the virus so some years the flu shot is spot on and is very protective and sometimes the virus has changed in the time since the shot was formulated and sometimes it's not protective."

It's important to get your flu shot before the end of October.