Your questions, answered "Flu season is about to start. Should we get our flu shot as we have done all these years?" — Joan in New York Absolutely. Health experts have said it is especially important to get your flu shot this year as the coronavirus continues to surge across the United States due to the delta variant — both to protect yourself from influenza and minimize the burden on the health-care system at a time when it is under significant strain. The country saw a very mild flu season last year "largely because people were doing all the things we were doing to prevent transmission of covid-19 — masking, social distancing, staying at home," said Thomas Lawrence Holland, an infectious diseases expert at Duke University. But with more than 168 million people fully vaccinated against covid-19 and many trying to reclaim some sense of normalcy, Holland said the flu is expected to make a comeback this year and people should take steps to protect themselves. "This is a year where we are stretched thin from a hospital capacity standpoint and from a public-health standpoint," he said. "So any ability we have to attenuate this year's flu season is helpful." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends annual flu shots for people 6 months and older, especially essential workers, people are who are at increased risk for complications from the flu and those who are at increased risk for severe illness from covid-19. In addition to vaccination, testing sick patients for both influenza and covid-19 will also be important as the symptoms for both diseases — fever, chills, body aches — can closely resemble one another, though possible treatments are very different. Of course, health experts said those who are not vaccinated against covid-19 should get those shots too. Only about half of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Holland said it is entirely possible to get covid-19 and the flu, either back-to-back or at the same time. So to answer your next potential question: Yes, you can get the vaccines together. The CDC states that the coronavirus vaccine can be administered along with other vaccines "without regard to timing." And, at some point in the future, you may be able to get a messenger RNA coronavirus vaccine combined with a flu vaccine. At least one vaccine manufacturer, Moderna, has plans for it. Holland said the severity of the flu season will depend at least partly on the decisions people make both in terms of getting their flu shots as well as taking additional precautions such as mask-wearing and social distancing once the time arrives. "We have some say over the flu season," he said. | 
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