This year, influenza and COVID-19 circulate within the same season, making it just as important to get the flu shot. While getting the flu shot won’t prevent COVID-19, it might help reduce you and your child’s risk of developing COVID-19 and help pediatricians and medical staff protect children and their families against the pandemic. These two illnesses present a double threat this year. While both respiratory illnesses, it’s essential that you know the differences between these two illnesses and why it’s safe to get the flu vaccination during the pandemic.
Is it Influenza or COVID-19?
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, all children six months and older should get the flu shot each year; both of these illnesses are present during the winter months and have similar symptoms. Both can cause no symptoms to occur and cause an illness with mild to severe symptoms—however, the time period when these illnesses appear to differ. For influenza, symptoms can show up one to four days after being infected, while COVID-19 can show up between 2 to 14 days after infection, with the most common signs showing up around five days.
Common Symptoms for Both Influenza and COVID-19 include:
• Fevers/Chills
• Extreme Tiredness
• Shortness of Breath
• Difficulty Breathing
• Muscle and Body Aches
• Stuffy, runny noses
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Headaches
The only symptom present with COVID-19 currently diagnose is a person’s loss of taste and smell and that their stuffy nose and throat feel dry.
How Do Symptoms Appear in Children?
Children will often experience the same symptoms with influenza as adults would, making it all the more important for children to get their flu vaccine, and the best place for getting the influenza vaccine is at your pediatrician’s office. Experts aren’t aware of how the two viruses interact with the body, and the intermixing of these two viruses can present life-threatening complications, posing higher risks to both children and adults.
Know It’s Safe To Get The Vaccine
Getting the influenza vaccine is safe, as long as clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals place safety measures for people wanting the vaccine. Visitor restrictions, symptom screenings, social distancing, and masks are the best measures we have for families. Getting the influenza vaccine is the best way to support our medical professionals out in the field helping those with severe COVID-19 symptoms and can help these professionals recognize COVID-19 from influenza by looking at the person’s medical history and discounting influenza as a cause for their illness.
They need to get the vaccine for children as it helps protect them from potentially compounding influenza with COVID-19. Children with the vaccine can help prevent the hospitals from further overflowing with patients infecting the COVID virus and help doctors care for those suffering from this pandemic. With a high chance of reducing the risk of getting COVID-19, the influenza vaccine gives both medical professionals and families the means to keep people safe during winter.
For more information about the influenza vaccine and what we’re doing to protect patients during COVID-19, contact Puri Pediatric Medical Group, operated by Dr. Veena Puri in Fremont, CA, for a vaccination appointment.
