HealthCheck: Time to get your flu shot

It's that time of year... Time to roll up your sleeve to get a flu shot.

It's also the time of year we start to hear a lot of myths about the flu shot.

But the more people who are vaccinated, the better off everyone in the community is going to be.

Health officials recommend most adults and kids over six-months-old should get a flu shot.

This year, they're saying do it early to best protect yourself and your family.

Like many viruses, the flu is unpredictable. But, based on what we've seen in Australia, it's possible that we could see a severe season that hits early.

That's why health officials want people to get vaccinated before the end of October.

They also do not want people to underestimate how dangerous the virus can be.

"I think we tend to forget that the flu is a very serious illness. And every year, hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized in the United States. Unfortunately, there may be between some 4,000 - 40,000 people who die of influenza every year," - Dr. Susan Rehm, Cleveland Clinic

Ali Gorman recently did a Facebook Live chat with Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Tom Farley.

Ali and Dr. Farley broke down a few common misconceptions.

"The flu shot does not give you the flu. The flu shot protects you from the flu. At worst, you will have a sore arm," - Dr. Farley

Another misconception is that you do not need a flu shot every year.

"You need to get vaccinated against flu every year because the flu viruses can change year to year and our immunity to flu viruses goes down in between each injection," - Dr. Rehm

It's especially important for young kids to get vaccinated because they're more likely to spread the flu.

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