With sniffles and coughs underway in northwest Ohio, medical experts share tips and tricks to protect against variants and strains this flu season.

Getting vaccinated will prevent illness and reduce symptoms, according to Dr. Donald Dumford, infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. This year’s flu vaccine is a trivalent vaccine, protecting against two types of influenza A and one type of influenza B.

The “proof of the pudding” for vaccine effectiveness is based on observations from the southern hemisphere, where their flu season precedes ours.

“It seems like there's an average southern hemisphere flu season, so I'd expect we'll have an average flu season,” the Akron-based doctor said.

The FDA recently changed the recommendation from a four-strain to a three-strain vaccine as the influenza B/Yamagata strain has not been detected since March 2020, leading to its removal from flu vaccines, according to the CDC.

Dr. Dumford advocated for flu vaccination as a way to protect not only the person, but also the community.

“If they're going to be around an infant, if they're going to be around somebody who's elderly, somebody who has a weakened immune system, chronic medical conditions, then they should really get vaccinated to protect those other people as well,” Dr. Dumford said.

Another way to stay healthy this year is to prioritize your health, Dr. Dumford suggested.

“'What's the magic bullet with boosting my immune system?’ Essentially, it's all the common sense stuff. It's get a well rounded diet, get good sleep, stay well hydrated. If you are sick, make sure you're covering your cough, consider wearing a mask so you're not putting other people at risk,” he said.

Regardless of health insurance status, the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department is providing vaccinations at public walk-in clinics throughout October and November.

Vaccine research for the coronavirus vaccine expanded overall knowledge of flu vaccine design and efficiency, Dr. Dumford explained.

"The one thing that's probably coming down the pike is looking at a combined flu and COVID vaccine that's going to be mRNA based. That was in the works over the past year, is currently being studied. It's not yet to market. But if you said, 'Well, what's the most likely thing that we're going to see that's new over the next few years?' It's probably going to be that combination flu and COVID vaccine," he said.

The accelerated research on the mRNA vaccine during the coronavirus pandemic has given scientists a chance to develop faster vaccinations, Dr. James Tita, chief clinical officer and critical care pulmonologist at Mercy Health, explained.

“The mRNA vaccines, as we saw with COVID, can be formulated rather quickly and produced quickly as well. So the hope is that for flu, that when these vaccines are approved, the mRNA vaccines will allow us to develop the vaccine quickly, which will help us in terms of matching to what's circulating in the community. So there won't need to be such a long lead time in order to develop the vaccines,” Dr. Tita said.

The mRNA vaccines for flu are in clinical trials and have not been registered to the public yet, but it’s expected to be on the market in the next few years, according to Dr. Tita.

“These vaccines are currently in clinical trials. They haven't been approved yet for flu by the FDA, but hopefully in the next few years, this will be available,” the Mercy Health doctor said.

There are no risks associated with getting the flu and coronavirus booster shots at the same time, Dr. Tita explained.

“We do one in each arm. They've done those studies. They did them last year, and they found that there was no difference in terms of side effect intensity or incidence. It is safe to do that, and it is recommended, just as a way of making it as easy as possible for people to get both vaccines,” he said.

The northwest Ohio annual flu season starts in early October and ends in late March, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Herd immunity occurs when a majority of the population is immune to a disease, making it difficult for it to spread effectively. The area often doesn’t reach herd immunity until the end of flu season, and by that point the immunity isn’t durable, according to Dr. Tita.

“With these respiratory viruses, for example, with flu and COVID, the immunity doesn't last that long, maybe in the range of four to six months, and the virus keeps mutating,” he said.

Herd immunity protects people that aren’t immune, because the circulation of the virus is low, Dr. Tita explained. This was most famously reached with measles and polio, but is harder to accomplish with the flu viruses that have a faster turnaround time.

“I don't think we'll ever reach that with flu or COVID, because those viruses, the immunity that you develop is not durable. That, of course, is why you need immunizations every year,” Dr. Tita said.

Soon, a person may be able to administer the vaccines at home. The FDA approved the first home nasal flu vaccine in July. It is available at physician offices, but it won't be available in stores until next fall.

“Starting next flu season, [FluMist] is going to become available for self administration. This is great news, because this is going to encourage more vaccination,” Toledo-Lucas County Health Commissioner Karim Baroudi said.

Mr. Baroudi said that a home nasal spray vaccine is an accessible and convenient option.

“It will be more available for kids who, usually it's hard to give shots to kids. So it will be more convenient for parents to vaccinate their kids that way, too. So it is exciting,” he said.

The commissioner explained that hand washing is an often overlooked preventative measure during flu season.

“We don't stress that enough, but your hands are your first line of defense. You touch everything with your hands. The flu and COVID, and a lot of those viruses do survive on surfaces for a little time. So doorknobs, anything, we handle as a community, we need to be aware of. So more hand washing will protect us better,” Mr. Baroudi said.

Contact your healthcare provider about vaccination options and resources or visit the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department’s website for more information on public walk-in vaccination clinics this flu season.

First Published October 6, 2024, 4:00 a.m.