With the fall and winter respiratory virus season approaching, Kaiser Permanente is now offering free flu and COVID-19 vaccinations to members at locations across Northern California.

“The flu and COVID-19 vaccines decrease your chances of getting sick and can keep these diseases mild if you do get infected,” said Connie Park, MD, an infectious disease specialist and flu vaccine lead for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. “The vaccines also reduce the rate of intensive care unit admissions, organ failure, and death.”

Raphael Gonzalez, 66, of Richmond, California decided to get both COVID-19 and flu vaccinations in early September at the Richmond Medical Center.

“I see it as one of the most important things to do for the community,” said Gonzalez. “I don’t want to get the flu or COVID, and I don’t want to infect other people, because you never know what’s going to happen to others if they get it.”

Both the flu and COVID-19 can be deadly for the very young, the very old, and those who have existing health problems. From November of last year through mid-September, there were 4,695 deaths in California from COVID-19, and 718 from flu, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Dropping vaccination rates

“It’s going to be more important than ever before for people to get vaccinated this year,” said Dr. Park. “We’ve seen our flu vaccination rates drop 10% to 15% since the pandemic started. That gives us worry, because we need a critical mass of vaccinated people to keep the flu from spreading and getting to epidemic proportions.”

Fewer people have taken the flu and COVID-19 vaccines for numerous reasons, said Dr. Park. They include fatigue from having to continually receive updated vaccines and confusion from vaccine misinformation that has proliferated online.

“Last year because of the lower numbers of flu vaccinations, we had children getting hospitalized, more so than previous years,” said Dr. Park. “The fact that the vaccinations can prevent these hospitalizations is really powerful evidence to get vaccinated.”

A flu vaccine nasal spray called FluMist is available this season, and it’s typically given to needle-phobic children who are at least 2 years old.

Dr. Park said the recent summer surge of COVID-19 may motivate people to get vaccinated before an expected winter uptick arrives. This year’s flu vaccine contains the predominant strains that circulated in the recently concluded flu season in the southern hemisphere, so it should offer good protection.

“And for the flu, it bears repeating that it can be very serious and can cause complications and tens of thousands of deaths nationwide every year,” she said. “We really need to get back to the basics and make getting these shots a priority early in the season.”

For more information, check out Kaiser Permanente’s website that offers information on how to recognize symptoms of a respiratory illnesses and home-care options if you do get sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has information on how to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses when you are sick.

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