Ask a health care provider when the perfect time is to get your annual flu shot, and so they’re prone to let you know that it doesn’t matter when it you get it—simply that you simply get vaccinated.
However there’s a candy spot to optimize your immunity.
When is the optimum time to get the flu shot?
Flu season lasts from October to Could, and instances within the U.S. peak from December to February. That’s why the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention recommends that individuals get their flu vaccine by the tip of October, because it takes the immune system about two weeks to rev up its most response to the vaccine. This implies producing adequate immune cells—together with antibodies—towards the virus. “The proper time to get vaccinated towards flu is true earlier than instances begin to take off,” says Dr. Kawsar Talaat, affiliate professor in worldwide well being on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being.
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However the actuality is that pharmacies, clinics, and medical doctors’ workplaces cannot accommodate everybody flooding in on the identical time. So should you’re on the pharmacy and there’s no line in September, there’s no motive to not get vaccinated.
“Now we have seen flu flow into as early as October, so it’s not too early to get vaccinated now,” says Talaat. And whereas safety from the vaccine begins to wane after three to 4 months, “it doesn’t go right down to zero.” Even when your safety begins to fade, you’ll nonetheless be protected.
There are some exceptions to that steering, says Dr. Robert Jacobson, professor of pediatrics at Mayo Clinic. Kids below 9 years previous who’re getting vaccinated for flu for the primary time want two doses, spaced a month aside. For them, beginning in late July or August is smart, particularly if mother and father need their kids to be vaccinated earlier than the beginning of the varsity yr. Anybody age 65 or older must also contemplate getting vaccinated in late summer season as nicely, since influenza does begin circulating then and older persons are at greater danger of growing issues, being hospitalized, or dying from the flu. Lastly, pregnant girls of their third trimester must also contemplate getting vaccinated in July or August, so their our bodies can move on protecting antibodies to the child in utero. This safety is vital since infants typically don’t get their first flu vaccine till they’re about six months previous. If they’re born in the course of the flu season, the safety they obtain from their moms serves because the strongest protection towards influenza of their first few months of life.
How efficient is the annual flu shot?
That is dependent upon the yr. Every spring, well being specialists predict which influenza strains can be circulating and inflicting illness, giving producers sufficient time to incorporate them within the vaccines. Usually, says Talaat, if the shot is an efficient match with circulating strains, then you possibly can count on your shot to guard you from getting flu about half the time. And should you do get contaminated, you’re extra prone to have a milder bout of illness than should you hadn’t been vaccinated. You are additionally much less prone to be hospitalized or die from influenza: dangers that particularly have an effect on older individuals.
Research present that being vaccinated towards the flu can shield you from different well being points as nicely, akin to coronary heart assaults and strokes. Flu infections can worsen irritation, which may contribute to coronary heart illness and different situations.
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Even with waning, the vaccine continues to supply good safety, says Jacobson—sufficient that well being officers don’t suggest that older individuals who get vaccinated in late summer season, for instance, get boosted with one other dose later within the season. “We contemplate them protected for the season,” he says. Plus, individuals age 65 and older typically obtain one in all a number of stronger flu vaccines to generate probably the most sturdy immune response; one in all them consists of 4 instances the quantity of immune-activating flu antigens. “They’re secure and efficient, and for individuals over 65, they’re the best way to go,” says Jacobson.
Can I get the flu shot and COVID-19 vaccine on the identical time?
Sure, and also you should not hesitate to take action. Talaat has performed a research exhibiting that individuals getting each pictures didn’t report any extra unwanted side effects—akin to sore arms, muscle aches, or fevers—than individuals who obtained them at totally different instances.
And for individuals questioning if getting the 2 pictures on the identical day would possibly someway yield weaker immune responses to each COVID-19 and influenza, “we now have not discovered any interference with flu and COVID-19 vaccines,” says Jacobson. By not getting the vaccines on the identical day, “you aren’t doing all your immune system any favors.”
Even should you’ve already had the flu, or if it’s later within the season (say January or February), it’s not too late to get vaccinated. There are normally a number of strains of influenza causing-disease, and the shot would shield you towards the strains you haven’t gotten but. In truth, flu vaccines generate a extra wide-ranging immune response towards a number of influenza strains included within the shot than a pure an infection would, because the an infection is barely a single pressure of the virus. “This can be a good instance the place pure an infection is inferior to vaccination, and positively not as secure,” says Jacobson. “Our vaccines lately are refined and designed to work with one another, and we now have good proof that they’re secure and efficient. Get all of the vaccines you’re due for.”
