Is it too late to get a flu shot?

“Antivirals interfere with the virus and decrease the level of the virus in a person’s body, and thereby decrease complications, decrease symptoms, get you better faster, and in some cases,

[they] even prevent death,” Amesh Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, explained in a recent media briefing with the National Foundation for Infectious

Diseases (NFID).   Antiviral treatment is especially important for older adults, who are more likely to get seriously ill from an influenza infection, says William Schaffner, M.D., a

professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Between 50 and 70 percent of flu-related hospitalizations occur in adults 65 and older, CDC data shows, and 70

to 85 percent of flu-related deaths happen in this age group. “As we get older and physically age, our immune systems also aren’t quite as robust as they were when we were younger, and so

our immune systems are less able to fight off these infections,” Schaffner said during the NFID briefing. “As a consequence, older people are more likely to be hospitalized, admitted to the

intensive care unit, and, frankly, die of these infections. We would like to do as much as we can to prevent that progression of illness.” Taking an antiviral early on in the course of an

influenza infection may also reduce your risk of developing a secondary infection, like pneumonia. That’s because antivirals help keep your immune system in fighting shape so it’s better

able to mount a defense against other infections that are trying to take hold, Adalja explains.  “When you have influenza, it’s kind of a battle between the virus and your immune system. And

a lot of the defense systems go into overdrive fighting influenza, and that puts you at risk for developing bacterial pneumonia because you are paralyzed fighting influenza,” Adalja says.

“Year in and year out, the data would indicate that taking an antiviral as early as possible does reduce the severity of illness and keep you out of the hospital and the intensive care

unit,” Schaffner says. “And often when it comes to influenza, the secondary bacterial infections that cause the more severe cases of pneumonia, that’s what puts you into the intensive care

unit.” A few other tips to help stay healthy this flu season: Avoid people who are sick, cover your coughs and sneezes, and wash your hands and frequently touched surfaces often, the CDC

says.