Study suggests flu shot linked to less severe Covid cases
While no direct link to preventing death, research suggests benefits to getting both shots
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Your support makes all the difference.People with flu shots are less likely to be admitted to hospital with Covid, and reported less severe symptoms, a study has found.
The research, which was carried-out by scientists from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida, suggested that there were benefits from flu shots amid the ongoing outbreak of Covid.
More than 74,700 people from the US, the UK, Italy, Germany, Israel and Singapore, all of whom tested positive for Covid, were featured in the study, which was published in August 2021 in the journal Plos One.
It suggested that receiving a flu shot within six months of contracting Covid-19 could cut the chance of ICU admission by 20 per cent, and of visiting an emergency room by 58 per cent.
While those with flu shots reported less severe symptoms of Covid, the research found that it could not stop fatalities.
The study questioned whether those who received a flu shot were more likely to also get vaccinated against Covid, and in turn, were more likely to live a healthier lifestyle that prevented the worst of Covid, in some cases.
It was also unclear whether or not the annual change in the flu shot would prevent similar results in future, according to ABC News, though previous studies have found a link between Covid survival and the flu shot.
The Miami Millar study’s senior author, Devinder Singh, toldthe Deccan Herlad that further solutions were needed to reduce severe illness from Covid in the wake of slow vaccination rates across the world.
"Only a small fraction of the world has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to date, and with all the devastation that has occurred due to the pandemic, the global community still needs to find solutions to reduce morbidity and mortality,” he told the outlet.
Mr Singh also called on people to get both their flu vaccines and Covid vaccines to prevent illness from the respiratory disease.
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