NEW YORK— NYC Health Commissioner Tom Farley is urging everyone to get flu shots because this season’s flu cases are at a higher level than in previous years.
Bloomberg said at a prescription drug press conference Thursday that he still got sick despite getting vaccinated. “But maybe it was a cold, a bad cold,” the mayor added.
“I probably had the flu a few weeks ago,” he said. “Pharmacies have to decide a year in advance what the next strand of flu is going to be. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don’t.”
Still, Farley strongly urges New Yorkers to get a flu shot if they have not already.
“Not everyone is going to be protected, but most people will be protected. Or if it doesn’t totally protect you, what it does is it makes the illness milder,” Farley said.
Farley said a flu epidemic occurs every year. “It’s mainly type AH3 and AH2 [this year], which tends to be a little more severe.”
The commissioner said there is no need to declare a public health emergency, and most people will get better without needing to visit emergency rooms, which are currently overcrowded due to an influx of flu patients.
Locations to get flu shots and medication are listed on the The NYC Department of Health website.
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