This year you may have another reason to get the flu shot. Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine say they have found the flu vaccine “may provide vital protection against COVID-19.”  

This was the largest study of its kind and analyzed deidentified patient records from around the world strongly suggesting that the annual flu shot reduces the risks of stroke, sepsis, and DVT in patients with COVID-19. Patients with COVID-19 who had been vaccinated against the flu were also significantly less likely to visit the emergency department and be admitted to the intensive care unit. 

 Senior study author Devinder Singh, M.D. said:

“Only a small fraction of the world has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to date, and with all the devastation that has occurred due to the pandemic, the global community still needs to find solutions to reduce morbidity and mortality… Together with asking important questions, my team has been able to observe an association between the flu vaccine and reduced morbidity in COVID-19 patients.” 

According to a news release it isn’t known yet how the flu vaccine provides protection against COVID, but “most theories speculate that the flu shot may boost the innate immune system – general defenses we are born with that are not specialized to protect against any one specific illness.”

The authors of the study stress it’s still important to get a COVID vaccine, as well as a flu vaccine.

“In the future, the flu shot could be used to help provide increased protection in countries where the COVID-19 vaccine is in short supply or even aid in the ongoing struggle against breakthrough cases in those individuals already vaccinated against COVID-19.”