STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Getting a flu shot and washing your hands are the best ways to protect, not only yourself, but vulnerable people in your life, medical experts advise as we head into flu season.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it predicts flu numbers to be similar to what we experienced in the 2024-2025 season.

Last year, the federal agency reported 43 million illnesses, 560,000 hospitalizations and 38,000 deaths across the country, with the season being categorized as “high severity.”

NYC sees between 1,500 and 2,000 deaths annually due to the flu and pneumonia combined, according to the city Health Department. Last year, three pediatric deaths were reported, the agency said. And over 22,000 lab-confirmed cases were reported by early February 2025.

Vaccines available now

Vaccines are readily available and are trivalent, meaning they protect against the three main groups of influenza viruses predicted to be circulating this season: Influenza A (H1N1), Influenza A (H3N2), and Influenza B., according to the CDC.

They are available from your primary care physician, or from pharmacies, clinics, and community health centers. They are covered by Medicaid and most insurance plans.

They really are a person’s best weapon against what will likely be a week to 10 days in bed with fever, chills, respiratory infections, sore throat and body aches, two of Staten Island’s top doctors told the Advance/SILive.com. The flu can possibly lead to hospitalization or even death, they warned.

And Dr. Theodore Strange, chairman of medicine at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, recently posted an opinion column in the Advance/SILive.com urging vaccination.

The peak of flu season is expected from mid-November through February, but cases are already beginning to trickle in at SIUH, according to Dr. Thomas Gut, associate chairman of medicine there.

Those who think the flu vaccine can cause the flu have nothing to fear, said Gut, and Dr. Alexander Beylinson, director of internal medicine at Richmond Health Network, the network of outpatient clinics operated by Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton.

“Just about all of the vaccines do not contain the live virus‚’’ Gut said. ”Can you get the flu from just being out with people, just getting the flu from going out to get the flu shot? Of course … that being weighed, the benefit of improving your risk and the risk of loved ones around you definitely outweighs any downsides to the vaccine.”

The only vaccine containing the live virus is the nasal spray flu vaccine, known as FluMist, which can be administered at home. It contains weakened versions of the influenza virus that are not strong enough to cause illness in healthy individuals, according to the Food and Drug Administration, but it is not recommended for children under 2, adults over 50, pregnant women or those with compromised immunity.

Severity of this year’s season

Predicting this season’s flu severity is nearly impossible task, said Gut, but activity in the Southern Hemisphere has given us a glimpse of what may be.

“It’s like predicting weather‚’’ he said. “It’s really hard to say for sure. The Southern Hemisphere, they have flu season before us, and they had a moderate season.”

Handwashing and vaccines are the best ways to prevent getting the flu, the doctors say, and keep your eyes open for the first symptom, most often fever, Beylinson said.

“Go see a provider as soon as possible (with a fever), because (flu) can be treated in the first 48 hours. There’s a medication called Tamiflu, and after the first 48 hours, there’s really no treatment. It has to be started within the first 48 hours,” he said.

Vaccines for flu and COVID-19 can be administered at the same time, Beylinson said. Seniors age 75 or 65 with risk factors receiving the vaccine for RSV should wait, as the three vaccines given simultaneously are too much, he said.

Beylinson said he convinces people to get the vaccine by reminding them of the serious difference between the flu and a common cold.

‘You can’t do anything’ when sick

“They feel like it’s just going to be a cold or the sniffles‚” he said. ”Flu is debilitating. You’ll get a fever for at least a week. You can’t go to work. You can’t do anything. You’re basically bedridden for at last a week.”

And those with health risk factors can end up in the hospital with secondary infections or complications of many sorts, he said.

“Also, think about those around you,’’ he said. ”If you’re going to see your dear old Grandma, or if you live with your parents who are diabetics, they can get the flu from you.”

Those at greatest risk include seniors, babies, pregnant women, and those with compromised health.

Gut said he believes the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has widened the divide of public opinion about vaccines.

“I think people have become even more firm in their beliefs‚’’ he said. ”I think people who were firmly against are more so, and I think people have become more polarized. Now it’s either you go out of your way to get it, or you refuse to get it.”

He said that the medical community does not expect any shortage of vaccines this season, with the egg-free vaccines expected to be in the shortest supply.

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