When Dr. Maria Luisa Corpuz recommends that her patients get their annual influenza vaccine, she’s doing so based on eight decades of clinical evidence and her own personal experience.
“I remember the one time I did not get the shot,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘I’m young, I’m mostly healthy. I don’t need it.”
Dr. Maria Luisa Corpuz, a UToledo Health primary care specialist, advocates for vaccination based on personal experience decades of clinical data.
Then she got influenza.
“That’s the worst illness I’ve ever had. I really struggled to breathe,” said Corpuz, a UToledo Health family and geriatric medicine specialist.
Like nearly 30 million other Americans, she has asthma, a chronic condition that causes a person’s airways to become inflamed and narrow. Common symptoms include wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath, and — as Corpuz experienced firsthand — it can make the punch of other upper respiratory viruses significantly stronger.
“Ever since then I’ve been getting the flu shot every year and I recommend the same to my patients. Don’t make the mistake that I did,” she said. “You might feel a little achy and sore for a day or two afterward, but that just means your immune system is working. If you get influenza and you’re not vaccinated, you’ve got good chance of feeling a whole lot worse than the minor vaccine side effects you might experience.”
With summer now in the rearview mirror and cold and flu season rapidly approaching, Corpuz and other primary care physicians say it’s time to start thinking about seasonal vaccines.
Though there has been a lot of news about vaccines, the recommendation for flu shots remains the same as it always has been, with federal health agencies promoting the vaccine for everyone age 6 months and up.
“We suggest broad vaccination against influenza. It’s important for everyone but it’s especially important for older individuals, pregnant women and those with chronic health conditions affecting the heart, lungs, or other major organ systems,” Corpuz said. “Those are the people who are at highest risk of serious complications if they contract the flu.”
The University requires an annual influenza vaccine for all on-campus students, employees who are not represented by a bargaining unit, and all healthcare workers at the University of Toledo Medical Center and UToledo Health clinics.
Free flu vaccines are available on campus to all current faculty, staff and students through Wednesday, Nov. 26. A full schedule of vaccine clinics is available on the University’s Flu Preparation webpage.
For those not affiliated with the University, flu shots are available to anyone age 12 and older at UToledo Health’s outpatient pharmacies. Current UToledo Health patients also can schedule a vaccine with their primary care provider’s office. The patient’s insurance will be billed.
Last year’s flu season was particularly severe in the United States. According to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between Oct. 1, 2024, and May 17, 2025, there were between 35 million and 82 million influenza cases in the United States last year, leading to as many as 1.3 million hospitalizations and 130,000 deaths.
Without vaccines, however, the burden could have been even worse. The CDC estimates vaccination prevented an estimated 240,000 hospitalizations during last year’s flu season.
While federal health officials are forecasting a more moderate flu season this year, vaccination remains important, and Corpuz said it’s important that people seek out reputable information about the shots.
Flu vaccines have been in widespread use since the 1940s and have been shown to be safe and highly effective. Year-to-year effectiveness varies, but vaccination typically reduces someone’s chance of getting the flu by 40% to 60%.
“It’s the best way to protect yourself,” Corpuz said. “These vaccines do not always prevent you from getting sick but they could potentially save your life. If you are vaccinated, the illness you experience is much more likely to be mild.”
Corpuz also continues to recommend her patients — particularly those who are older or immunocompromised — get vaccinated against COVID-19.
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently narrowed eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations, the shots remain widely available for all individuals 65 and older, as well as those as young as 6 months who have health conditions that put them at a higher risk of serious complications.
Despite the new eligibility criteria, federal officials also have said the shots will remain available to anyone who wishes to receive one after consulting with their doctor.
Corpuz said anyone with questions about the COVID-19 vaccine — or any vaccine — should have a discussion with their healthcare provider.
