Another flu season is upon us. And we are left hoping it will be nothing like last year, which proved to be one of the worst flu seasons we have had in many years. The 2012-2013 season brought two surges of flu in New York State, with the first surge being influenza A and the second surge being influenza B. Not only did we see high reports of flu, but we saw the flu season span a longer period of time than we were used to. The first cases of flu started as early as November and we continued to see it into May. We even had patients who were unlucky enough to have it twice within the same season.
(This is current information as of 1/31/2014 from the NYSDOH)
So as we embark on the 2013-2014 season, we are facing lots of questions, concerns, and misconceptions regarding the flu shot. Here is a list of the top things I hear from our patients, and our response.