Q. My doctor said I should get the flu and COVID-19 vaccines. But I have never had the flu or COVID-19, so why do I need the vaccine?
A. Most people are not as lucky as you. Most people in the U.S. have been infected with the coronavirus, even though many people have had the flu multiple times in their lives and some may be infected. This is shown in blood tests. I haven’t noticed.
Each of these viruses can make people seriously ill. Between 15,000 and 50,000 people die from influenza each year in the United States, and more than 1 million die from the coronavirus. Fortunately, there is no question that vaccines for each virus are effective in reducing the risk of severe illness. Even knowing all this, you may be wondering if you can really benefit from these vaccines.
So there’s one more thing to consider, as shown in some important recent studies. Both the flu and coronavirus can damage your body and make you more susceptible to developing new major illnesses. Let’s catch the flu. A study of 26,000 people published in the medical journal NEJM Evidence in July 2024 found that in the week following the flu, inflammation caused by the influenza virus destabilizes atherosclerotic plaques and increases the likelihood of blood clots forming. It turned out that it was caused. They found that people were six times more likely to have a heart attack in the first week after getting the flu compared to the year before they got the flu and the year after they recovered from the flu. Many of those people had never been diagnosed with heart disease before.
Another new study compared 135,000 people who developed the coronavirus with 5.2 million people who did not develop the virus, but were similar in age, gender, and medical conditions. These individuals were identified in 2020, before a coronavirus vaccine was available. Scientists have found that people infected with the new coronavirus have a much higher risk of heart, lung, gastrointestinal and brain diseases, including heart attacks, strokes and new-onset Alzheimer’s disease, over the next three years. . This was also true for people who had mild symptoms of COVID-19. This evidence was published in June 2024 in the journal Nature Medicine.
Finally, an excellent study of nearly 6 million people in the United States found that getting a coronavirus vaccine significantly reduces these risks. The study results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in July 2024.
So even if you’re one of those special people who’s never had the flu or coronavirus, or at least never had severe symptoms from them, there’s still good reason to get the vaccine. There is more. Not only does it reduce your risk of catching the flu and coronavirus, but it also reduces your risk of contracting several serious illnesses. Who wouldn’t want that?
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