Doctor talks flu season and flu shots after North Carolina reports first death

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Flu season has arrived in North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported the first flu-related death Wednesday .

Despite the report, Duke infectious disease specialist Dr. Cameron Wolfe said he is expecting this year’s flu season to be fairly normal, based on trends in the southern hemisphere which hits flu season about six months earlier than North Carolina does.

“The total volume of illness was not a bad year,” he said. “It was present, but not terrible.”

North Carolina’s 2023-24 flu season was the deadliest in six years, but Wolfe said he is not expecting a massive spike this year. Still, Wolfe recommends people get the flu vaccine.

“The strains that we’re seeing circulating are not so dramatically different than last year for us to predict that this would be a really sudden, really big season,” he said. “Is [the flu vaccine] perfect? No. But in many ways, I think lots of healthy adults can consider this as a vaccine of convenience, accordingly move forward, and try not to get sick.”

Wolfe said this is especially important for people at higher risk, like older adults and young kids or people with respiratory conditions. Even for healthy adults, he said the vaccine can prevent the flu, but even if it does not, there is still a benefit.

“Even if you do get a breakthrough case, it reduces your severity, reduces your transmission risk,” Wolfe said.

A new COVID vaccine is also available this season. Wolfe recommends people over 75 get an RSV vaccine.

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