4 other reasons to get the flu shot

3. IT COULD CURB COMPLICATIONS FROM OTHER CHRONIC CONDITIONS Like heart disease, some chronic health conditions make you more prone to flu and its harmful effects. For people with diabetes

or chronic lung diseases, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an annual flu shot is one of the best ways to avoid aggravating these underlying health problems.  Evidence comes

from researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis who followed people age 65 and older in a large health plan who had

respiratory diseases over three flu seasons. Their findings, published in _Annals of Internal Medicine_, show that patients who got vaccinated were 52 percent less likely to be hospitalized

for pneumonia or flu and 70 percent less likely to die from these diseases during that period. Similarly, a UK study showed that when people with diabetes got the jab, it reduced their

chances of being hospitalized by almost 80 percent during the two flu seasons that were studied. 4. IT MAY MAKE FOR A LONGER LIFE The flu shot might even increase your life span. The

evidence: In a recent study out of Toronto, researchers looked at more than 54,000 people age 65 and older who had been tested for the flu between 2010 and 2016. They found that those who

received the flu shot were less likely to die from any cause over the multiyear period. “In large databases from Ontario, we found that influenza vaccines may reduce the chances of older

adults dying by as much as 34 percent,” says study author Jeff Kwong, M.D., associate director of the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases at the University of Toronto. Flu shots likely

protect older adults from dying simply by preventing the infection in the first place and by preventing those who do get infected from getting very sick from the virus, Kwong says. While

getting the jab is critical, Kwong also recommends wearing face masks indoors, washing hands and avoiding sick people during flu season to prevent complications from both flu and other

respiratory illnesses that tend to cause problems in the fall and winter, such as COVID-19. “In many places in the world, when mask-wearing was made mandatory, influenza basically

disappeared,” Kwong says. “Vaccines should be thought of as one layer of protection, and the more layers one has, the better.”  _Editor’s Note: This story, first published Oct. 3, 2022,

has been updated to reflect new information._