Blog #2 – Flu

The influenza virus is an single stranded, RNA, enveloped virus that is responsible for seasonal epidemics in america. In the 2019-2020 flu season there has been a higher number of reported flu cases in America. There is a concentration of cases in the south and in the west. More specifically, a larger number of the cases have been caused by type B rather than type A, which is a generally good thing considering type A is the more serious infection and a higher number of type A cases would be a greater cause for concern. The symptoms of the influenza virus are typically similar among all age groups with the exception of nausea in younger children that is not seen in adults. the virus causes significant morbidity each year, however most people who die from the disease are immunocompromised, or who did not receive the vaccine.

Because quality scientific resources should be peer reviewed and published it was difficult for me to find an article on the effectiveness of the flu vaccine for this year, as we are still in the middle of the flu epidemic, and analysis of its effectiveness will take some time. However, I found an article written about the influence of the media on whether people received the vaccine this year and how it effected their overall perception of vaccination. Receiving the vaccine does not guarantee that one will no contract the flu, however, it aids the immune system in fighting off the infection more effectively and could save one from dying due the the virus. The study that the article discusses shows that 86.3% of adults felt that the vaccine was safe and 73% felt that it was effective. These are hopeful statistics, but the younger adult population when surveyed had stronger negative opinions towards vaccinations.

In my opinion, it is important to inform the younger population of the safety and importance of vaccination so that herd immunity may continue into the following generations. The best way to go about doing this is to get accurate information about vaccines onto platforms that the younger generation uses and identifies with, like social media or having a celebrity spokes person that could speak to the benefits of vaccination and ease the public’s mind about the dangers. While this public figure may not be the most scientifically reliable, they tend to have a much stronger influence over the larger younger population than an article in a scientific journal. This approach has been effective on other issues in the past. In reference to the effectiveness of this years vaccine, i am going to hypothesize that because there was a higher number of cases of the flu this year, that the vaccine may not have been as effective as in years past, especially against type 2 strains of the flu.