If You Haven’t Gotten Your Flu Shot Yet, Now’s the Time

Millions of Americans get the flu every year, and while some infections can be relatively mild, others result in hospitalizations, serious infections, and even death. An annual flu vaccine is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of infection and keep you from spreading the flu to someone else.

Flu season typically peaks in the winter months, with infections declining once warm weather returns. In Maryland, your flu risk remains high long after the new year arrives, so it’s not too late to enjoy the protection a vaccine can provide.

At Clarksburg Urgent Care in Clarksburg, Maryland, our team offers annual flu shots as part of a regular well-care visit or as a walk-in service. Here’s how the flu vaccine works and why getting vaccinated is so important for your health and the health of your loved ones.

The basics of influenza

Flu infections are caused by the influenza virus, an ancient and common virus that’s likely been infecting humans for thousands of years. While researchers aren’t sure when the flu first began, they theorize it’s probably linked to the time period when people started keeping flocks of animals.

Today, flu is easily transmitted from one person to another through airborne droplets expelled when you sneeze, cough, or even speak. You can also pick up the virus by touching contaminated surfaces, including handrails and door knobs at work, school, or home.

Once you’re infected, the flu virus invades your respiratory tract, causing a sore throat, muscle aches, headache, cough, runny nose, and fever. 

If your immune system can’t fight off the infection, your risk of developing pneumonia or other serious infections increases. Every year, thousands of Americans die from flu infections and pneumonia caused by the flu.

You can protect your health to some degree by staying away from people you know are sick, disinfecting often-touched surfaces like keyboards and phones, and frequently washing your hands, particularly before meals. But, of course, having an annual flu vaccine is one of the best ways to avoid the illness.

How a flu shot works

Flu vaccines trigger your immune system to produce antibodies designed to fight off flu germs. Once those antibodies are produced, your body remembers how to make them. 

If flu germs invade, your body immediately responds by producing those antibodies to fight them off. Every year, the germs that cause the flu change slightly, which is why you need to get a shot annually to help keep infections at bay.

Like colds and other respiratory viruses, flu infections tend to peak in the cooler months, probably because we spend more time indoors around other people. In Maryland, flu season tends to peak between December and late March, which means we’re in the thick of it now. 

Flu vaccines only take about two weeks to work and provide immunity against infection, which means now is an ideal time to schedule a shot if you haven’t had one this season. 

Get your flu shot today

A flu shot only takes a few moments but can provide months of critical protection against potentially serious infections. To schedule your shot, request an appointment at Clarksburg Urgent Care today. Call our office, walk in during regular business hours, or book your visit online.