We still do not know for sure if the flu vaccine really does offer some protection against COVID-19 and its complications. It may be that the benefit is real though marginal or it may just be an illusion created by the imperfect studies done to investigate this effect. Regardless, the flu vaccine has real benefits. It protects against influenza, a disease which
some predict will be severe this coming winter season due to our dwindling immunity from not encountering the virus much last year. And the flu shot helps reduce hospitalizations due to influenza. Given the number of times our healthcare system, made up of bone-tired people, has groaned and buckled under the stress of the pandemic, every little bit of prevention helps.
Take-home message:
-The claim that getting the flu shot puts you at risk for COVID-19 is not true and was based on a paper published before the pandemic that made a mistake when calculating the risk of a coronavirus infection in people who had been immunized against the flu
-There is contradictory evidence on whether or not the flu vaccine offers a small protection against COVID-19, as this effect may simply be due to the people seeking out the flu shot being more health conscious, better off financially, and more willing to adopt public health measures during the pandemic
-Some infections and vaccines seem to be able to improve our defences against other infections by training a part of our immune system we used to think was incapable of this kind of training.