(Radio Iowa) – Health officials are encouraging more Iowans to get vaccinated for influenza before the year-end holidays arrive. Iowa has few reported flu cases at the moment, and one death, but experts expect the numbers to jump in the coming few weeks. Melanie Wellington, an infectious disease specialist at University of Iowa Health Care, says it’s important Iowans get vaccinated not only to protect themselves, but to protect those around them.

“Flu vaccine doesn’t just work on an individual level. It’s very important that it works on a population level,” Wellington says. “So the more people that get immunized, the better it works for each individual person.” According to state data, only about 20 percent of Iowans have received a flu shot so far this season. Wellington says the more people who get flu shots, the harder it will be for the virus to spread. “You can either have a long highway that the virus can travel on to you,” she says, “or it could be a surface street with lots of stop signs and some detours and some road closed.”

Wellington says there are concerns this could be a more severe flu season, but early data from the U-K also indicates the flu shot is good at combating the dominant flu strains circulating this year.