Des Moines, IA- A University of Iowa Medical School graduate, who’s now a national spokesperson for the American Lung Association is urging Iowans to get vaccinated this fall to protect themselves from the flu, RSV, and COVID.
Pulmonologist Dr. Jamie Rutland tells Radio Iowa that flu cases spiked in Iowa last year, compared to previous pandemic years, as most people were no longer masking or social distancing.
How severe will the flu season ahead be? “You are going to see influenza infection, but yeah, there’s not social distance and there wasn’t really social distance last year either, so I don’t expect it to be a worse flu season when compared to last year, but I do expect individuals to be infected,” Rutland says, “and I also would like individuals to protect themselves, especially individuals who have risk factors for a severe disease.”
Flu vaccines are already available in Iowa, and Dr. Rutland hopes that people will get their shots now so their immune systems are ready, especially those with things like heart disease, lung disease or diabetes.
“Individuals who have this overall inflammatory state in their body, so when they are infected with a virus like influenza, it leads to an extreme amount of inflammation and it can lead to organ failures and things of that sort,” Rutland says, “which leads to a lot of hospitalizations and a lot of deaths that can be preventable with influenza vaccination.”
Dr. Rutland says that RSV is also a big concern, especially during flu season, and that two RSV vaccines are now available, primarily for people 60 and over.
“One hundred percent of kids have had RSV by the time they’re the age of two, but when you look at RSV and the infection of RSV, it leads to a lot of wheezing, coughing, mucus production, shortness of breath as well, just like influenza,” Rutland says. “It’s very important for individuals who have risk factors for severe disease of RSV to be vaccinated as well.”
The CDC says that COVID-19 cases are rising again nationwide, and Dr. Rutland says that a COVID booster is recommended for most people this fall.
“We know that vaccination does protect against serious disease,” Rutland says. “When you look at vaccination overall, a lot of individuals are like, ‘Well, I can still get infected.’ Yeah, you could still get infected but the vaccine’s point is to prevent your immune system from over-responding to the presence of the infection — which puts you in the hospital.”
The CDC estimates there were as many as 54-million flu cases nationwide last year and between 19,000 and 58,000 deaths due to the flu. Iowa health officials reported 366 flu deaths statewide in 2021.
