Your immune system is already working harder than it should
Chronic inflammation is the baseline state in both diabetes and asthma. In type 2 diabetes, persistently high blood glucose blunts the function of neutrophils and macrophages, the white blood cells that reach an infection site first. In asthma, the airways are in a state of ongoing immune activation. When influenza arrives on top of either condition, the immune system is not starting from rest. A 2019 study published in Diabetes Care found that adults with type 2 diabetes had a 6-fold higher risk of influenza-related hospitalisation compared to adults without the condition. The flu shot reduces that hospitalisation risk by 30 to 40 percent in diabetic patients, according to the same body of research. That is not a marginal benefit.
