BRYAN, Texas — COVID-19 and the flu are different, but health officials say getting vaccinated for both could prove to be pivotal when it comes to health care workers.
The 2020-2021 season saw a historically low number of flu cases according to the Centers for Disease Control, but medical experts are concerned flu cases will rebound and surpass pre-COVID-19 numbers
"We do expect to see more flu this year, part of that is because kids have gone back to in-person school, more people have gone back to indoor activities," Rosha McCoy, Senior Director at the Association of American Medical Colleges, said. "We do think it's more likely that we will see more flu this year. While certainly, COVID-19 is much more serious than the flu, every year when we have significant flu seasons, we do have people who get really ill with the flu and can die. "
McCoy and the Association of American Medical Colleges can't stress enough the importance of being vaccinated for both the flu and COVID-19.
"If we get an influx of flu cases, that's going to stress the health care system even more than it has been," McCoy said. "That's what we're trying to avoid. People
With cancer and other serious illnesses are not able to get hospital beds in some communities right now."
During the 2019-2020 flu season, only 51.8% of people ages six months and older got a flu vaccine, according to the CDC.
"What we saw last year was absolutely phenomenal," Mary Parish, Workforce Development Coordinator at the Brazos County Health District, said. "We saw our flu numbers at an all-time low, and that was because people were social distancing, wearing their masks, and washing their hands more frequently. Along with getting a flu shot, doing all of these can help in the battle against the flu and covid."
The Brazos County Health Department is offering free walk-in flu and COVID-19 shots Monday through Friday.
As of today, St. Joseph health says they currently have no open ICU beds and all their patients in the ICU are unvaccinated.
In a statement from Baylor Scott and White "The overwhelming majority of the patients we are treating for covid-19 are unvaccinated, and the rising number of cases is discouraging."