Doctors have a message for vaccine-weary Americans: don’t skip your flu shot this year.
After virtually disappearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors are seeing signs the flu may be making a comeback.
“The flu is picking up this year because of the letdown of all the masks and all the public measures against COVID."
Zissis Chroneos is a professor in microbiology and immunology at the Penn State College of Medicine. He said while we don’t know how bad it could get, data indicates that the flu will return in a big way.
Australia had a severe flu season during the winter that just ended.
“The data we have both in the U.S. and Australia, because it’s a seasonal infection, it’s expected to be a high peak season," he said. "Now how severe? We don’t know yet.”
This year, the medical community is urging people 65 and older to get an extra-strength shot.
The usual flu season starts in November in the U.S. and often peaks in January or February.
