Last year's winter flu season was so severe that some doctors are recommending earlier flu shots this year. Like now.
The trouble with that advice?
"It's absolutely wrong," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
While increasing the vaccination rate is a good idea, health officials say, at least 10 studies have found that the flu vaccine wears off as the weeks go by. Kaiser Permanente Northern California reported this month that the risk of a flu infection increases 15 percent every 28 days after vaccination.
The standard flu season peaks in mid-December and remains widespread through February. A shot in September might not yield any protection come February.
Delaying the start of vaccinations until late October would put pressure on clinics and flu shot providers, which prefer to spread patient visits over more days.
Osterholm said that shouldn't matter. "We have to adjust the practice of medicine to the science of medicine," he said, "and the science of medicine right now says get your flu shot as late as possible before the flu season."
Ideally, patients should still get their shots before the start of flu season because it takes the body two weeks to produce flu-fighting antibodies triggered by the vaccine.
