Doctors are reminding everyone to get vaccinated for National Flu Shot Week

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – It’s National Flu Shot Week and doctors are reminding everyone to consider getting vaccinated to protect yourself and your family from the virus.

“Right now we’re seeing a large amount of flu in the Baton Rouge market that probably occurred in the last two weeks,” said Lance Fudickar, director of Advance Practice Practitioners at Premier Health Louisiana.

Fudickar says the flu is on the rise and will only get worse as the holiday season progresses.

“In general, what’s going to happen as our kids get out of school and go home for the holidays and go away for Thanksgiving is going to see another uptick as the travel season comes around again, people are shopping at the malls, you know, crowds of people together,” Fudickar said.

According to the CDC’s November 23 weekly influenza surveillance report, Louisiana is in the high range, second only to Washington DC

“Maybe because we’re the melting pot, I don’t know, a lot of things come in and out of Baton Rouge, football games, college football games from two universities are here. We have New Orleans where people often commute and work between here and Baton Rouge, so we’re exposed to a lot of different dynamics,” Fudickar said.

Fudickar says immediate vaccination is the best way to increase the chances of escaping the virus.

“Getting the flu shot is probably the best way to protect yourself and against the particular strain of flu,” Fudickar said.

He says it’s not just the flu that you need to watch out for this year.

“We’re seeing an unprecedented amount of mycoplasma and pneumonia, so these patients generally can have virus-like symptoms and rash, maybe some diarrhea, fatigue, cough, low-grade fever, negative flu, negative COVID,” Fudickar said.

If you are feeling unwell or experiencing any of these symptoms, you can schedule a telemedicine appointment with Lake Urgent Care or get a swab test from your car.

“Be mindful of what you do, shop when to shop, make sure you do your Christmas shopping and so on, and be careful about exposing yourself to people who might see you coughing, People who have fever and chills and get swabbed. “We have the flu so we don’t spread it further,” Fudickar said.

Click here report a typo. Please provide the heading.

Click here to subscribe to our daily WAFB 9 News digest and breaking news alerts delivered directly to your email inbox.

Copyright 2024 WAFB. All rights reserved.