Why it's more important than ever to get a flu shot

The first shipments of this year’s flu vaccine are going out -- and it's more important than ever that you get a flu shot this flu season. Public health experts are concerned that this year’s flu season will coincide with an increase in Covid-19 infections -- and that could mean added stress to our hospital systems.

Getting a flu shot can help you either avoid the flu, or at least lessen the severity of your flu symptoms. Also, because symptoms of the flu such as fever, cough or fatigue can be mistaken for Covid-19, getting a flu shot can potentially help rule out influenza if you do start getting sick.

And if you need more reasons to get vaccinated this year, new research from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston finds that getting a flu shot can also reduce your risk of developing dementia. The researchers examined the records of more than 9,000 patients over the age of 60 and found that people who got vaccinated just once had a 17% reduction in Alzheimer's incidence. Those who were vaccinated more than once over the years saw an additional 13% reduction in incidence. And that protective association increased the earlier in your life you got your first flu shot.

A lot of work still needs to be done to understand the why, but some researchers believe that getting vaccinated can prevent viral infections that can have cascading effects on our immune systems and inflammatory pathways that can trigger Alzheimer’s-related decline.