It's a new season which means doctors are recommending that people start getting their seasonal flu shot. It's recommended to get the shot multiple times a year to help prevent the flu but doctors have a special message for some people who often choose to pass.
Each year its estimated that millions will get the flu virus, but Dr. John Joseph from Baylor Scott & White said the season change isn't the only factor that can determine this.
"Immunity in individuals may decrease making them more susceptible of getting influenza. Or it's even possible that the influenza virus itself tends to thrive, tends to grow, and tends to be more contagious during the winter months," Joseph said.
Joseph said every year the center for disease control creates a flu vaccine that embodies a killed strand of the virus they predict will be in the community, but it still does not guarantee people won't get sick.
"Some people just don't develop antibodies or don't develop protection even though they have received the vaccine," Joseph said.
Joseph said for some who receive the vaccine it can take up to two weeks to start working but if they come in contact with someone who already has the flu they can, unfortunately, develop influenza.
These are some reasons why one parent said her family no longer takes the vaccine. "I got one one year and it made me and my children sick so we don't take them anymore," Renee Wiggins said.
Joseph said there are other ways to prevent the flu but they might not be as effective. This is why he still recommends everyone gets the preventative vaccine.
"It's estimated that nationwide between 9.2 and 35.2 million people develop influenza each year and this is a preventable illness."
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