Flu Season 2021-2022: What you need to know to stay safe

By Dr. Inessa Gendlina, Jack D. Weiler campus director, Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Montefiore Health System; assistant professor, medicine (infectious diseases), Albert Einstein College of Medicine

It’s fall – the season of color, pumpkins and flavored lattes. This is the season when we watch our beautiful Bronx take on shades of golds and reds. It is also the time of year when we traditionally talk about flu shots. This year, so much attention continues to be focused on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters that it may feel like flu does not exist.  

So, what do we know about flu in the era of COVID? The short answer is not very much. Before the COVID pandemic, predictions about flu (seasonal influenza) were made based on what was happening in the southern hemisphere and Australia, as these areas experience their peak flu season ahead of ours (in August). Since the pandemic, with everyone wearing a mask, various degrees of lockdowns and the strength of mitigation strategies (for example masking for vaccinated individuals, quarantine for travelers, frequent testing, just to name a few), last year’s flu season was pretty much non-existent. 

Last year, there was concern for a COVID-Flu “twindemic,” but it, thankfully, never happened. Instead, here in the Bronx, we endured another large COVID wave throughout the winter. This year, we’re not expecting the same mild flu season. In fact, there is quite a bit of concern for flu. 

As COVID vaccine mandates have gone into effect, masking has been relaxed and respiratory viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), are emerging throughout the U.S. Such spread of non-COVID respiratory viruses makes epidemiologists and infectious diseases doctors concerned about the spread of influenza as well.  

So, what do we know about this year’s influenza? Influenza season usually peaks in the winter in the northern hemisphere, with January and February being the hardest hit months. Influenza activity is being closely monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in order to predict and prepare as early as possible. So far this year, flu activity has been low in the southern hemisphere and Australia, although we are starting to see both Influenza A and B reports from South Africa slightly increase.  

What can we do to prepare and how can we prevent flu? The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from the flu is to get vaccinated against influenza. This, along with proper handwashing and wearing masks, helps dramatically lower the number of flu cases we see every year.  

In the past, flu vaccines were based on expert’s prediction of what strain of the flu virus was going to be circulating that year, based on the types of influenza virus that circulated in the southern hemisphere just months prior. These educated predictions were used to create our flu vaccine in the U.S. 

This year, all flu vaccines are quadravalent – meaning they are designed to protect against four different strains of the influenza virus, making them even more effective against preventing flu. Several different formulations of the influenza vaccine are also available, including an egg-free version and a high-dose vaccine available for people 65 years of age and older.

Flu vaccines are very accessible! You can get a flu shot at a commercial pharmacy (like Walgreens or CVS), at your doctor’s office and sometimes at community pop-up events at locations such as in houses of worship. Infectious disease experts encourage everyone to get a flu vaccine!

As has been the case for the past year and a half, all roads lead back to COVID, so a couple of words about COVID-19 vaccines. People who have not yet gotten their COVID-19 vaccine should do so as soon as possible. If you are eligible for a COVID booster shot, you should get that as soon as possible, as well.  If you’re in need of both a flu vaccine and a COVID-19 vaccine, rest assured that you can safely get both vaccines at the same time, just in different arms. If you don’t want both vaccines at once, they can also be given in any order and at any time. 

Bottom line – please make sure that you and your family get the flu vaccine, and when eligible, the COVID-19 vaccine, too.