The push for flu shots coincides with the availability of new COVID-19 booster shots. The boosters are formulated specifically for more contagious omicron subvariants.
Doctor Natasha Bagdasarian is the state’s chief medical executive. She says it’s going to take conversation and awareness campaigns to get both vaccination rates up:
“And again, we have to be cognizant that we are expecting to see an uptick of not only influenza but also COVID-19 this late fall and winter.”
Bagdasarian says evidence from the southern hemisphere would suggest a more severe incoming flu season.
That’s as COVID-19 precautions that helped keep flu numbers down the past couple of years are becoming less common.