[SYRACUSE, N.Y., October 10, 2018] —Following the 2017-2018 flu season, which the Centers for Disease for Control and Prevention reported last week was the deadliest in more than a decade, killing more than 80,000 Americans, medical officials say this flu season is unpredictable.
“It’s, it’s a gamble every year. Nobody really knows,” said Joy Kennedy, a pharmacist at Tops pharmacy in Baldwinsville. “The CDC predicts what strains are out there. They do their best guess. Estimate, calculate.”
Both Kennedy and Ben Domingo, the director of Health Services at Syracuse University, said the best way for a person to protect himself or herself from the flu is to get a flu shot. Flu shots are available from doctor’s offices as well as at local flu clinics and pharmacies.
Domingo said getting a flu shot is simple to do.
“It literally takes five minutes from sign in to injection to discharge.”
While getting a flu shot does not guarantee a person will not get the illness, Kennedy and Domingo both said getting one would make symptoms milder if a person does get the flu.
And Domingo says getting a flu shot is not only about protecting yourself.
“If everybody doesn’t get their shot, then you are potentially risking pockets of outbreaks,” Domingo said.
Last year, Syracuse University student Jackson Cusick did not get a flu shot, and he would up getting the flu. He said he is getting the flu shot this year to avoid getting sick.
“Boom, I got the flu, and this year I don’t want to make the same mistake.”
