The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that influenza claims between 3,000 and 49,000 lives annually. While the majority of patients who succumb to deadly complications are people over the age of 65, other high-risk patients include those who have otherwise complicated immune systems or diseases that make them more susceptible to infections from flu.
Flu Vaccines Are Life-Saving
It is unknown whether living with cancer may increase your chances of contracting influenza, but cancer may increase a risk of developing complications that result in hospitalization or death. Because of this, the CDC advocates that people who have cancer or a history of cancer, as well as their caregivers and those who share their households, should receive an annual seasonal flu vaccine.
While the flu vaccine is not 100 percent effective, these vaccines are developed annually to guard against three (trivalent flu vaccines) or four (quadrivalent flu vaccines) strains of flu that experts believe will be most likely to circulate among the general population during each flu season and may provide life-saving protection against an otherwise common illness.
What Type of Vaccine Is Right For Me?
Flu vaccines given in injection form are made up of inactivated (dead) viruses, whereas the nasal spray vaccine comprises live (active) viruses. Because many cancer patients have weakened immune systems, cancer patients and those with a history of cancer should not receive the nasal spray vaccine.