Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press.
The San Mateo County Health Department urged all residents over the age of 6 months to get the influenza vaccine to protect themselves and their loved ones, which will also help prevent a double pandemic, along with COVID-19.
Through its website, the county mentioned that this vaccination campaign is part of a health strategy that not only reduces the burden of influenza, but also helps preserve the health resources needed to care for patients with COVID-19.
It should be noted that older adults, pregnant women, young adults, children, and people with other underlying health conditions are at increased risk of influenza, but all people older than six months should be vaccinated.
It also takes two weeks after immunization to be fully protected, and the vaccine is only effective for about a year, so it is important to get the vaccine annually.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza and COVID-19 are contagious respiratory diseases, but they are caused by different viruses.
COVID-19 is caused by infection with a new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and influenza is caused by infection with influenza viruses.
There are some key differences between the two, since COVID-19 spreads more easily than influenza and causes more severe illness in certain people, and people may take longer to develop symptoms and be contagious for longer.
Because some of the symptoms of influenza and COVID-19 are similar, it may be difficult to distinguish between them based on symptoms alone, so a screening test may be needed to help confirm the diagnosis.
Both COVID-19 and influenza can be spread from person to person between people who are in close contact with each other, and both diseases are spread mainly through aerosols that go into the air when the sick person coughs, sneezes or speaks.
Facemasks can help prevent people wearing them from spreading the virus and passing it on to others, however, they do not protect against VIDOC-19 alone, but must be combined with physical distancing and hand hygiene.
