Public health officials have faced a challenge dealing with anti-vaccination sentiment, but this reluctance is not focused on COVID-19 vaccines alone. 

Dr. Shad Marvasti with the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix says the hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to compound the upcoming seasonal flu season. 

He says misinformation is spreading to other areas. 

“We’ve never seen this scale of misinformation and anxiety around a vaccine to the extent we have seen with the COVID-19 vaccines. So I think that definitely spill over effect in terms of getting vaccinated in general as well as for the flu," he said. 

With more flu cases, that will only load more stress onto health care providers who are already at higher numbers due to the pandemic. 

The state's ICU's are at about 92% capacity. 

Since there wasn't a large flu season last year, this could lead to a drastic rebound from the influenza virus. 

Marvasti says due to isolation last year, people have virtually no protection against the flu after last year. This could lead to a double threat of COVID-19 and the flu.