GIVE IT A SHOT

GIVE IT

Getting the flu vaccine will lower stress on the health care system — and it’s readily available

By Chris Walker

Thank you to all the heroes who have made this year better. Your courage, strength and dedication to serving others has not gone unnoticed!

Kendall County MAGAZ IN E

etting the flu shot this year won’t protect you from COVID-19, but it will help prevent you and others in the fight against getting sick from the flu.

According to Dr. Garrett Katula, a family practice physician in Yorkville, there are three key reasons why you should get the flu shot, which could save your life, the lives of others and help lessen the burden on the country’s health care system. Since influenza and COVID-19 viruses both cause respiratory disease, their wide-ranging symptoms are similar and can cause one to question what they might have. “We have to avoid confusion between what we call influenza, the flu, and COVID because the symptoms can be from many different viruses,” he says. “We’re very concerned about COVID, which can take kids out of school and employees out of work for 10-14 days for these symptoms. And if they just have the flu, the flu vaccine can eliminate one of the major viruses that causes these symptoms.” At least this way, someone with the flu won’t be sidelined for up to two weeks in quarantine when they don’t need to be. Throughout the pandemic, there have been concerns of overwhelming health care facilities. Katula says by having more individuals get the flu vaccine, health systems will be less burdened. “It’s probably the most important thing because we have to reduce the total number of hospitalizations,” he says. “Everyone getting the flu vaccine reduces the burden on the health systems. We did a fairly good job of lowering the curve in Illinois, and we were not overburdened like in New York and Detroit.”

The presence of COVID-19 does not eliminate the threat of influenza, a disease that can vary widely and whose impact can place a substantial burden on not only the Kendall County community, but the health of the entire country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s preliminary data for 2019-20 estimates last year’s flu season resulted in about 38 million symptomatic illnesses, 400,000 hospitalizations and roughly 22,000 deaths. “A third reason (to get the flu shot) is that people underestimate the flu because they’re so cognizant of the COVID,” Katula says. “It’s not only a problem for the elderly. Babies and children get the flu and if people aren’t getting the flu vaccine, that can overburden the hospitals and becomes a problem, a perfect storm of potential illness to have to deal with.”

Finding somewhere nearby to get the flu shot is definitely easier than trying to avoid catching it. “The flu vaccine is readily available at all the clinics, all the retail stores,” he says. “There’s no reason at all for not getting the flu vaccine.”

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