Worried Doctors Stress Flu Shots More Important Than Ever

wo things are certain about the flu season knocking at our door during the COVID-19 pandemic: First, it’s never been more important to get your flu shot. Next, no one knows how this influenza season will play out.

The uncertainty covers almost every aspect of the flu — how dangerous this year’s strain will be, how contagious it will be, how the flu will interact with COVID-19, and what might happen if a person gets both the flu and COVID-19.

“It’s all too unpredictable,” said Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital. “We have nothing to compare to this year. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is just too new to know how it will react with an influenza virus.”