The head of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Robert Redfield, is urging everybody in America to get a flu shot when the next round of shots are available, in order to provide protection next Fall when both the season flu (influenza) and COVID-19 will be circulating.

Some of the symptoms of the two diseases are similar.  Redfield said this year, COVID-19 hit the country as the flu season was beginning to wind down.  In the Fall, the concern is that both influenza and COVID-19 will be in the community.  Health center and hospital capacity could be challenged because of the possible volume of patients.  Redfield said if people get flu shots, that will reduce the number of people who get the flu, and for those who do, it will likely diminish the severity and duration.

There is no vaccine available for COVID-19.  Work is going on internationally to get a vaccine or vaccines as soon as possible.  Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a researcher with Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center, part of  the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who is leading the effort for the federal government, says a vaccine may be available in late 2020 for front line healthcare workers, but won’t likely be available to the general public until sometime in Spring,  2021.