Flu vaccine that protects against all types of flu #IPromisetoStopFlu

Dr.Amrita Basu(MBBS,MS)

5 years ago

When I moved to a new place of work almost six years back, I was not aware that seasonal cold and cough would be an everyday thing. But with a ten-month-old, you come to know such things soon. When my daughter was not a pre-schooler, it was easier to protect her from this. We just stayed at home during colder weather or bundled her up and got from home to car in record time.

Night travel or visits to relatives’ places were strictly curtailed. This caused some restrictions but was better than managing the sniffles and the problem of the entire family catching the flu.

It’s rightly said that motherhood gives us more insight than any other life experience and that’s when I started looking for more options than staying at home for protection. A family friend’s child getting admitted with flu in a hospital made us very worried. The child hardly left home, and her caregivers were the house help and my friend’s in-laws. Soon we heard the helper was suffering too

Our mind was made up. We could hardly prevent socialization for the child or us. The problem is people are infectious from a few days before and up to five to seven days after they are themselves ill. This makes the virus spread quickly. But we needed more than personal hand and cough hygiene.

We needed complete protection against all types of influenza which endangers us. As a doctor, I know about how the influenza virus constantly mutates and has changed its antigenic character regularly. So, the Quadrivalent influenza vaccine that protects against 4 types of flu viruses, was on our minds.

What is flu or Influenza?

Influenza is a virus causing a broad spectrum of upper respiratory and lower respiratory infections. There are different varieties which affect humans and different species. It’s communicable and spreads by cough droplets while sneezing and talking, that is both nasal and oral secretions.[1]

What are the different types of flu?

There are A, B, C, D types of Influenza virus. Most of the infections are species-specific, but the problem is they can change their transmissibility and have caused epidemics and pandemics.

What are the common flu symptoms?

High-grade fever with chills and rigor is common. But cough, rhinitis, headache, weakness, sore throat, respiratory problems, can all occur.

What does the flu vaccine do?

The flu vaccine protects against 4 types of flu viruses circulating in India. It’s a quadrivalent vaccine. [3]

Can you get flu twice?

It’s unlikely that you will get infected with the exact same genetic type of flu virus, but infection with the other types is possible. The flu virus is smart and keeps changing itself. So we get ourselves the flu shot every year. It is because prevention through vaccination is the best way to keep away flu.