Chicago doctors urge vaccinations as flu season gets an early start

Doctors in the Chicago area are urging people to get their flu shot now as cases start to ramp up, with flu season starting earlier than expected.

"Typically, every year we start seeing flu cases going up in November, mostly in December," said Dr. Nadia Qureshi, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Loyola University Medical Center. "What is unusual about this season is that we have started seeing cases already, and this is only October."

Qureshi pointed to points to a mutation in this year's primary flu strain of H1N1 as the culprit of this early arrival.

"Because of that, it's easier for it to invade immunity, and that's why we are seeing this early surge, because it's the H1N1 that's currently circulating the mutated type," she said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the highest flu activity is currently on the West Coast, and while Illinois Department of Public Health data shows flu levels are low, those levels are trending upwards across the state.

Doctors like Qureshi said, even though this season's flu shot is not a perfect match, because it was developed prior to the mutation, people should still get the vaccine.

"Even if it cannot completely provide protection against not getting flu. But what it can protect against is hospitalizations, death. It can alter your disease severity and symptoms," she said.

Dr. Alex Sloboda, Medical Director and Deputy Commissioner of Emergency Preparedness and Immunization at the Chicago Department of Public Health, said flu levels in the city remain low, but are slightly higher than at this point the past five years.

Sloboda said the agency has already begun efforts to offer free flu and COVID-19 shots, regardless of insurance status. Chicago residents can get vaccinations at CDPH clinics, like on Saturday at the Arturo Velazquez Institute in the Lower West Side neighborhood.

No matter where you get your flu shot, Sloboda said the sooner, the better.

"Definitely don't wait any longer to get your flu vaccine, because numbers are going to start increasing soon and sooner than we normally see," Sloboda said.

The Chicago Department of Public Health said it's also urging vaccinations for measles. While cases in Illinois are primarily downstate, the city is monitoring for exposures, including a recent one at O'Hare International Airport from a DuPage county resident on Oct. 15.