What You Need to Know About the 2020 Flu Shot (From the CDC)

This information was sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website as of December 2, 2020.

Due to COVID-19, taking the proper precautions to prevent the flu is more important than ever. This includes social distancing, washing your hands with soap and water, covering your mouth when coughing and sneezing, staying hydrated, and getting the 2020–2021 flu vaccine. While the flu vaccine does not protect you against COVID-19, it will reduce the risk of flu illness.

DID YOU KNOW? Most insurance plans cover the flu vaccination, which can help prevent the flu. Contact your ARC representative for more information!

Here are some facts about the 2020–2021 flu vaccine that you should be aware of:

Each year, the flu vaccine is reviewed to protect against the circulating viruses. The vaccines are produced to protect against the three or four viruses that are predicted to be the most common for the year. According to the CDC, for the 2020–2021 year, trivalent (three-component) egg-based vaccines are recommended to contain:
- A/Guangdong-Maonan/SWL1536/2019 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
- A/Hong Kong/2671/2019 (H3N2)-like virus
- B/Washington/02/2019 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus
The flu vaccine will not protect you against COVID-19, but it will reduce the risk of flu illness, which can help conserve potentially scarce health care resources.
It may be difficult to tell the difference between the symptoms of the flu and COVID-19. As a result, it’s important to consider testing to confirm a diagnosis.

For more information regarding the flu vaccine, please refer to the link below from the CDC.

Resources

Frequently Asked Influenza (Flu) Questions: 2020-2021 Season (CDC)