When is a good time to get your flu shot?

Fall is here, school is starting and we're entering the respiratory season when COVID-19, RSV and flu viruses spread. It’s time to get an annual flu shot to protect yourself and others from the flu. It's especially important for people at a higher risk for severe illness, such as young children, older adults, pregnant people and those with chronic health problems.

The CDC says everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu shot every year. It’s the best way to protect yourself and those around you.

The best time to get a flu shot is between September and the end of October, before the flu starts to spread in your community. It takes about 2 weeks after you get your shot for antibodies (proteins that prevent infections) in the shot to start to protect you.  

The only people who need to have their shots earlier are children under age 9 who haven't had a flu shot before. They need 2 shots at least 4 weeks apart.

Pregnant people in their third trimester may get the flu vaccine. This is to protect their babies from getting flu as a newborn when they’re too young to get vaccinated.

A flu shot has been shown to reduce the risk of having to go to the doctor with flu by 40%-60%.

It’s impossible to predict when or if you’ll get the flu, or how your body will react to the virus. Even usually healthy people can get the flu, and it can be serious. Getting a flu shot is a safer choice than risking an illness.

If you get a flu shot and still get sick with flu, being vaccinated can help make your illness less severe. Even healthy people can get the flu and other illnesses from it. One of the best ways to protect yourself is to get a flu shot.

Flu shots, like other vaccinations such as the COVID-19 shot, are made with an inactive virus or protein. The vaccines are not complete or live viruses and cannot cause illness.

Some people may get a low-grade fever, headache and muscle aches after having a shot. This is your immune system responding to the shot. The immune system is the part of your body that fights illness. This kind of response usually goes away in 1 to 3 days.

It’s more common to have soreness, redness or swelling on your arm where you get the shots. These kinds of responses to the shot mean your body is gearing up to fight the virus. If you're later exposed to the flu or COVID-19 virus, you'll be more ready to fight it.

Yes, the 2024-2025 flu season was the most severe season in many years. During the 2024-2025 flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates there were up to:

• 21-37 million flu-related medical visits
  
• 610,000-1.3 million flu-related hospital stays
• 27,000-130,000 flu-related deaths
• 270 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported to the CDC during the 2024-2025 season. This is the highest number of pediatric deaths reported in any non-pandemic flu season since they started reporting in 2004.
• Among children who qualify for the flu shot, 90% of reported pediatric deaths last season happened in children who were not fully vaccinated against the flu.

Respiratory viruses like the flu spread easily. People who are ill can spread germs that cause respiratory illnesses through droplets when they sneeze, cough or talk. Those droplets can land in your nose, mouth or eyes if you're nearby. 

Plus, a person who is sick can leave infected droplets on objects such as doorknobs. If you touch the doorknob and then touch your nose, mouth or eyes, you might get those germs and become sick.