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Get your flu shot now before late flu season arrives, health experts say

Dr. Ann Thomas says it's too early to say when the coming flu season will peak, but she recommends if you haven't already got one, get a flu shot in the next couple of weeks.

PORTLAND, Ore. — When it comes to the flu shot, a little procrastination this year might turn out to be a good thing. Health experts say now is the ideal time to get vaccinated.

This time last year flu season was already in full swing. However, that is not the case this year.

According to the Oregon Health Authority, flu season is likely still a few weeks off.

Back in October, we did a story about why you should get your flu shot early this year. We were coming off the worst flu season in a decade, and health experts didn't want a repeat.

Previous story: Get your flu shot by the end of October, CDC says

But this year, Thanksgiving has come and gone and still no official flu season has been declared in Oregon.

"At this point, the numbers are starting to go up but we're not there yet," said Dr. Ann Thomas, a public health physician with Oregon Health Authority.

She said there's only been a handful of hospital stays in Oregon due to the flu and a relatively small number of positive flu tests.

Although she pointed out southern Oregon is reporting many more flu cases than northern Oregon.

"I'd say we're at least a few weeks behind last year," Thomas said.

In both 2017 and 2018 flu season peaked in January and February, but there have been years it's peaked in March.

Thomas says it's too early to say when the coming flu season will peak, but she recommends if you haven't already got one, get a flu shot in the next couple of weeks.

It takes about two weeks for the vaccine to start working.

"You want to do this before the holidays, before traveling...being around other people. That's often times when the flu really starts taking," she said.

And this season if you do get the flu, Tamiflu is no longer the only treatment A new medication called Xofluza can also shorten the sickness by a couple days.

Unlike Tamiflu, which requires two doses a day for five days, you just have to take Xofluza once. But you still have to take it within one to two days of developing symptoms for it to be effective.

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