Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses like the flu this fall and winter is more important than ever.

Getting the flu vaccine this season could help reduce the burden on our healthcare systems responding to the pandemic and save medical resources for the care of COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Amir Barzin is a primary care physician, the Incident Commander for UNC Health’s Respiratory Diagnostic Center, and the Medical Director at UNC’s Family Medicine Center.

Barzin said every year, let alone during a pandemic, it’s very important to get a flu shot to prevent potential hospitalizations and severe illness.

“What we want to try and do is do the best thing that we can in medicine,” Barzin said. “As a primary care physician, in my mind, the best way to treat an illness is to prevent an illness from occurring. One way we can do that is by immunizing against the flu.”

In our region, Barzin said our flu season can range from September to Mid-March. Both he and the CDC recommend getting a flu vaccination in September or October when flu shots initially hit the market – but getting vaccinated anytime during the flu season can help protect you.

Barzin acknowledges that while the flu shot may not work 100 percent of the time, there are many benefits to getting it anyways.

“Let’s say you get an immunization and then you just so happen to also get the flu on top of getting the flu shot,” Barzin said. “What we know from looking back through studies is that those people who got the flu shot – if they got the flu – are less likely to end up with a severe, ICU-type setting, illness.”

He said even in the worst case scenario, getting a flu shot will help prevent someone from getting a more severe disease – although how and where people get a flu vaccine this year may look a little different due to the pandemic.

Some settings that usually provide flu vaccines, like workplaces, may not offer vaccination this upcoming season because of the challenges that come with maintaining social distancing – but Barzin said there are still many options available – especially within UNC Health.

“Anyone who’s coming for an appointment at UNC Health – they’re wearing a mask, we’re wearing a mask, we’re making sure that we’re doing appropriate screening questions and making sure that those who have symptoms are being assessed in a safe environment and not cohabitating with the rest of the patients.”

Barzin said UNC Health is continuously thinking about ways to make flu immunizations more safe and accessible to the general public.

“The most important message here is everyone is working on trying to make this as safe as possible,” Barzin said. “The action of immunizing is actually the thing that will keep you the safest the longest. So we’re really pushing and encouraging people to immunize – especially this year.”

Because some of the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are so similar, it may be hard to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. Because of this, Barzin said testing may be needed to help confirm a diagnosis.

“I wish I had a Magic 8-Ball I could look in and say ‘your fever and cough is COVID or it’s flu,’” Barzin said. “Unfortunately we really don’t have the ability to do that. What we do have the ability [to do] is if we do notice flu cases early, we do have anti-infective treatment for flu – which is some medications we can give people to help shorten the duration of their symptoms.”

Barzin said this is another reason getting a flu shot can be helpful – because if someone has symptoms that could stem from either COVID-19 or the flu, knowing whether or not that person had their flu shot could help physicians narrow down a diagnoses.

To keep up with the need for flu immunizations amid a pandemic, the CDC has worked with vaccine manufacturers to have extra flu vaccine available this flu season. For the 2020-2021 season, manufacturers have projected they will provide as many as 194-198 million doses of flu vaccine – which is more than the 175 million dose record set during the 2019-2020 flu season.

“So I am very, very hopeful and very excited about that because I think what we want to do is try to get as many people as possible immunized against the flu as we can,” Barzin said.

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