Flu today in Delhi centers on prevention for older adults. Dr Navin Dang said adults over 60 and higher-risk adults should look at four core vaccines as H1N1 becomes the dominant influenza subtype in the city.
Delhi has recorded 2,602 influenza cases so far this year, and H1N1 accounts for more than two thirds of them. Dang, the founder and director of Dr Dangs Lab, said, "None of the vaccines on this list stop you from catching an infection. What they do is bring down how severely it hits you."
Delhi and H1N1
The Indian Council of Medical Research said the circulating H1N1 strain is not a new one. It said the virus remains part of the H1N1 pdm09 family that has circulated globally since the 2009 pandemic, and it added that there is no cause for panic.
That warning sits beside a sharper practical point for readers in India and Delhi. Young children, the elderly, and people with underlying medical conditions face a significantly higher risk of complications, while adults over 65 and people with underlying health conditions are ending up in hospitals with serious infections.
Four vaccines for adults 60
Doctors classify people age 60 or older as high risk, along with people age 50 or older who have serious comorbidities such as heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes. For those groups, the vaccine list starts with an influenza shot given as one intramuscular dose every year, ideally before flu season begins.
The other options are a pneumococcal vaccine, one Tdap dose if a person has not had it in adulthood, and periodic updated COVID-19 boosters. A single dose of PCV20 provides broad coverage and is now the preferred pneumococcal option; PCV13 followed by PPSV23 at least eight weeks later is an alternative when PCV20 is unavailable.
Dr Navin Dang on protection
Dang said the point of vaccination is to reduce severity, not to block every infection. He tied that advice to the people most likely to need it now: adults over 60, adults over 50 with serious comorbidities, and people with underlying medical conditions.
That leaves the immediate decision with the reader’s doctor. The practical next step is to match age, medical history, and prior vaccination status to the four vaccines listed here, rather than treating one shot as enough for every adult.
