WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — With flu season on the horizon and COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, doctors fear people will forgo getting the influenza vaccine this year sparking a major problem for hard-hit healthcare facilities.
Health experts are warning of a potential “twindemic” with COVID and flu seeing a potential case uptick over the winter months, according to the New York Times.
For that reason, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield is urgently pushing people to get a flu shot and for companies to find ways to provide shots to its employees.
Along those same lines, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, is saying the flu shot could “at least blunt the effect of one of those two potential respiratory infections.”
The CDC notes flu season happens in the fall and winter months with a usual peak between December and February. The impact of a flu season varies depending on the year. The CDC says flu activity usually starts to increase around October and can continue as late as May.
Flu and COVID share some symptoms: fever, headache, cough, sore throat, muscle aches and fatigue.
Doctors fear getting the flu can leave you in a position to a harsher case of COVID-19 and say getting both viruses at once could be a major problem.
Currently, there is no vaccine for COVID-19.