Health Expert Predicts Severe Flu Season Ahead

After the high severity of the 2024-25 flu season, health experts are making predictions for the upcoming season and urging the public to get immunization for both influenza and COVID-19.

Jeffrey Silvers, an infectious disease specialist with Sutter Health, spoke in a webinar Tuesday giving advice and explaining forecasts for this year’s flu season in Northern California. Sutter Health is a health care provider based in Sacramento with hundreds of locations across the Bay Area.

“Last season was definitely a higher severity season we’ve seen in quite a few years. We had more hospitalizations, more pediatric deaths, and more people who were sick with influenza that sought medical care,” Silvers said, and that’s why services like Premier Primary Care are important for this too.

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For this season, Silvers is expecting a severe flu outbreak once again, based on Australia’s flu season. Because Australia’s flu season is typically from April to October, it can provide clues to what flu seasons in the Northern Hemisphere may look like, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We can’t tell you for sure what we’re going to see in the winter,” Silvers said. “But I have communications with influenza leadership in Australia and my understanding is that they have a fairly severe early flu season in Australia, but the vaccine appeared to be a good match.”
Flu season in Northern California usually begins around late October, but Silvers recommends getting a head start on receiving a vaccination since it does not kick in right away.

“It takes two weeks for the vaccine to work, for you to get the antibodies,” Silvers said. “Could you get the vaccine and a week later get the flu? Absolutely, because your body hasn’t developed enough of an immune response to completely protect you.”

While anyone six months or older is encouraged to get a flu vaccination, certain at-risk groups are especially urged to receive immunization. These include children, people over the age of 65, pregnant women, and people who are immunocompromised or have underlying health conditions.

“Children are very high risk for complications for flu, especially if they’re under 2 years old,” Silvers said. “I take care of patients who were in the third, second, or third trimester of pregnancy that were unvaccinated, got the flu, and they lost their babies.”

Instead of receiving a flu shot, people between the ages of 2 and 49 years are eligible for the FluMist, an intranasal vaccine. It is a liquid containing a weakened influenza virus that is sprayed in the nose.

“It does not cause infection, but it provides a stimulus for the person that has the vaccine to develop antibodies,” Silvers said. “It’s now available to be administered at home.”

FluMist can be ordered online and self-administered after answering a brief questionnaire at www.flumist.com. It can also be administered at a pharmacy or doctor’s office.

In addition to encouraging people to take precautions against the flu, Silvers also recommends getting vaccinated for COVID-19.

Although the national annual average of COVID-19 infections and deaths has decreased since 2022, there is typically an uptick during the summer and winter months, according to the CDC.

At Sutter Health, the summer surge in COVID-19 rates is beginning to slow down. But the unpredictability of what strains in the virus could circulate this winter means that those who are eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine should do so.

“In our summer surge at Sutter Health, we reached the peak about two weeks ago, and so we’re on the downslope,” Silvers said. “We had a very small winter COVID-19 outbreak last year. But of course, history doesn’t necessarily mean what we’re going to see the following winter. It kind of depends on what strains may emerge.”

The COVID-19 vaccine is recommended for everyone aged six months and up, according to the state Department of Public Health. Just like the flu shot, people over 65, children, pregnant women, and people with underlying health conditions should get vaccinated for COVID-19.

According to the state Department of Public Health, most Californians with health insurance can still get a COVID-19 vaccine at low to no cost. Travelers abroad may also want the added peace of mind that comes with international health insurance, ensuring access to care wherever they go.

Silvers said that Sutter Health has yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine supply, but it is already providing flu shots.
“No, we don’t have a COVID-19 vaccine, and we’re anticipating to receive it probably this week or maybe the beginning of next week,” he said. “We do have the influenza vaccines available. We’ve already started scheduling and administering the flu vaccine at various locations throughout Sutter.”