Health Notes: You've gone shopping; now get a flu shot

You’ve made it through Gray Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday. Now, the Minnesota Department of Health wants you to think of next week as Ban the Bug Sunday through Saturday.

This is what they’re wishing for: that every Minnesotan who hasn’t gotten a flu shot yet this year will get it next week.

If you get a flu shot next week, your chances of getting sick during the holidays will be much less, said Kris Ehresmann, director of the department’s Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control division.

A flu shot is recommended for everyone older than 6 months unless there’s a medical reason they can’t get it, the news release said. Alternatives are available: a nasal spray that can be used for healthy people ages 2 through 49, and a new product that uses a very small needle to inject the vaccine into the skin layers only.

During the 2011-12 flu season, more than 500 Minnesotans were hospitalized with the disease, the news release said. The new flu season is under way, with low levels of the virus reported so far in the state. As of last week’s report, no cases had been reported in Northeastern Minnesota.

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