There’s already a common vaccine that can help with the coronavirus pandemic

[Chris Smith]

• The upcoming flu season might be challenging for some communities that are still battling significant COVID-19 outbreaks, health officials have warned.
• Observing safety measures that can prevent the spread of COVID-19 and getting a flu vaccine this fall could reduce a person's risk of getting both infectious diseases in the coming months.
• Additionally, a new study says the flu vaccine may actually help reduce the severity of COVID-19 in patients, although the flu vaccine will not effectively block a coronavirus infection.
• There are other benefits from getting a flu shot that could help you better manage life during the coronavirus pandemic, and possibly reduce the spread of COVID-19.

It's already happening: COVID-19 survivors are getting infected with the novel coronavirus a second time. Cases from Hong Kong, Belgium, and the Netherlands showed that reinfection is possible, suggesting that the acquired immunity from surviving the virus can be very limited. The Hong Kong case gives us hope that a second COVID-19 infection could be a lot milder, but there's hardly enough data. One patient isn't enough to confirm such a hypothesis.

The timing of reinfection couldn't have been any worse. The flu season is coming soon, which means people will risk getting infected with one of both viruses during the winter, and that includes scenarios where you can get both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. By itself, the flu isn't as scary as COVID-19 because we have effective therapies and vaccines to fight it. Add a virus to the mix that has no cure at this time, and things get complicated. That's because both the flu and the coronavirus can cause the same symptoms, making it difficult for people to know which pathogen they're dealing it. Dual outbreaks could further strain hospital resources as well, as patients exhibiting symptoms will have to be tested for both illnesses and then treated accordingly.

That's where a flu vaccine might help, because it would give people protection against one of the two viral threats this fall and winter. And now, it's starting to look like a flu shot might have additional beneficial side-effects during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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There’s already a common vaccine that can help with the coronavirus pandemic originally appeared on BGR.com on Fri, 28 Aug 2020 at 12:13:16 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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