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Kids being back in school means they are touching doorknobs, sneezing and coughing close to others.
Dr. Steven Eshenaur, the public health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said this is shaping up to be a typical year for upper respiratory illnesses.
“Once you close the windows, kids go back to school. That’s typically when we see a rise in respiratory illness, traditionally, whether it be RSV, COVID, flu,” he said.
Eshenaur said the health department has their initial doses of the flu vaccine and that, yes, they will last all season if you get them now.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for the 2025/2026 flu season, all flu vaccines for use in the United States are trivalent (three component) vaccines. That means they can address three different flu strains.
The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older, with rare exceptions, should get a flu vaccine every season.
Eshenaur agreed with that recommendation, saying he considered staying out of the hospital with the flu a win for the vaccine.
“People tell me they got the vaccine and they still got the flu,” he said. “I ask them if they were hospitalized. If not, the vaccine did its job because it could have been worse.”
The CDC estimates the flu was responsible for 9.3 million to 41 million illnesses, 120,000 to 710,000 hospitalizations and 6,300 to 52,000 deaths annually between 2010 and 2024.
The wide variation happens because of fluctuations in severity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, flu infections went down as people practiced social distancing and stayed home.
The CDC reports show that older adults (65+) and young children (0-4 years) are at higher risk of hospitalization due to the flu.
Eshenaur said he was unsure about the COVID-19 vaccine, because the approval process at the CDC had been turned on its head.