DEAR EDITOR:

The most wonderful time of the year is almost upon us — and with that also comes a part of the year that people dread … flu season. Each year influenza (flu) lands thousands of people in the hospital and many die each year from flu-related causes.

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to protect yourself from getting the flu! Simple things such as hand-washing and covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze can help prevent you from getting sick, but the best way to protect yourself is to get the influenza vaccine.

So how does the flu shot protect you? The flu vaccine causes antibodies to develop in your body and the antibodies then protect your body against the infection when you are exposed the virus. You should get the flu vaccine early because it takes about two weeks for the antibodies to develop, so ideally you should get vaccinated before the end of October, but deciding to get vaccinated even up until January could be beneficial.

Even if you do get sick after being vaccinated, it has been shown in some studies to reduce the severity of the illness.

It is also important to know that with most insurances the flu shot is free. Some stores will even offer a small gift card for receiving a vaccine at their pharmacy.

Getting vaccinated is such an easy way to help protect yourself from getting an illness that could potentially land you in the hospital or even kill you. To me, the decision is easy get vaccinated and keep yourself out of the hospital this flu season!

DAWN KABETSO

Canfield