This week, the CDC affirmed the efficacy rate of the current flu vaccination against current circulating strains of the virus, yet across the country, flu vaccinations are lagging behind previous years.
That pattern holds true in San Diego County, where according to data from the health department, flu vaccinations have dropped significantly since October.
“To me, that’s a worrisome trend. I understand people are getting tired of getting vaccines. We’ve had a bunch of booster vaccines related to COVID, but this isn’t our time to give up now,” said Dr. Seema Shah, County Medical Director for Epidemiology and Immunization.
Shah said current data, including wastewater data for the flu, indicates influenza in San Diego is likely to get worse before it gets better.
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That’s hard to imagine given the astounding number of recent flu cases. NBC 7 has done the math.
There have been 12,946 flu cases this fiscal year – which runs from July to July — according to county health department data. At the same time last year, there were 424 cases, which represents a 2,953% increase.
Over the last week of November, there were 2,694 flu cases compared to 67 at the same time last year, which represents a 3,921% increase.
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“I think it’s just a convergence of a lot of different factors, but people aren’t masking as much, they’re interacting a lot more, and it’s created this environment in which the flu spreads very easily,” said Dr. Shah.
She also said flu surges do occur from time to time, and it’s not unusual to see seasons where there have been a high number of flu cases, like several years prior to the pandemic.
“This is our critical time period. Again, we’re going into another holiday season. So for those people that often decide to wait until December to get their flu shot, I wouldn’t wait so late in the month. Just go ahead and get it now, especially as we prepare for gatherings," she said.
But as there’s a push from doctors for people to get a flu vaccine, there’s also a now familiar debate over the personal decision to get a vaccine or booster.
“If you care about your personal health, if you care about the health and safety of our kids, it’s just an automatic thing,” said Bill Myers, 81, from Serra Mesa.
“If I put something in my body, it’s creating what I’m trying to keep away. It just doesn’t make sense to me,” said Oscar Gates, who will not get a flu shot.
On Thursday, the county will release new case numbers on the flu and COVID. It will include cases over the Thanksgiving holiday, which are expected to continue the recent upward trend.
