The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is recommending eligible people six months and older get the annual influenza vaccine. It notes that only 18% of residents have been vaccinated so far this year, or about one in six people.
“It is important because we have a lot of high-risk individuals who either can’t get the flu shot or who are just at risk for getting a severe form of the flu and potentially can die from it, and so we want to not only protect ourselves, but protect other people.”
Kent County’s Public Health Supervisor for Communicable Diseases Cathy Armstrong says the emergence of a new flu variant known as subclade K makes it even more important to get vaccinated.
“It’s of a concern because the variant may not be a match to this year’s flu vaccine but we also know that, even though it may not be a match, it does seem to show some protection for hospitalizations for children and adults.”
Armstrong says Kent County is seeing a rise in flu cases.
“We have seen an increase, pretty gradual, and then just last week it seems to be going up a little more than it had been.”
The MDHHS says emergency departments saw nearly 8,600 flu-related visits at the height of last year’s flu season, almost double from the previous year.
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