Is It Too Early for a Flu Shot?

Email to a friend Permalink

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

GoLocalProv Health Team

Flu season may feel like a long way off, but according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), individuals should consider getting their flu shot as soon as it becomes available in your community. Getting vaccinated sooner rather than later provides protection in case the flu season comes early and will protect you throughout the entire flu season. Even if you got the flu shot last year, you still need to get it again this year. It does not last for more than one year and protection from vaccine declines over time.

What's in the shot this year?

The flu shot this year contains the same components as last year, including protection from seasonal influenza and the H1N1 virus that sickened so many people a few years ago. Who exactly should get the flu shot? The answer is anyone over the age of 6 months. There are certain groups of people who are considered at risk for serious flu complications. This includes: 

Pregnant women
Children younger than 5, but especially children younger than 2
People 50 years of age and older
People of any age with certain chronic medical conditions
People who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
People who live with or care for those at high risk, including:
Health care workers , Household contacts of persons at high risk for complications from the flu , Household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of children less than 6  months of age (these children are too young to be vaccinated)

Paula Foster, occupational health nurse at VNA of Care New England, reminds everyone, "Flu can be deadly. Each year, in the United States, an average of 36,000 people die from seasonal flu-related complications and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related causes. Of those hospitalized, 20,000 are children younger than 5 years old. More than 90 percent of deaths and about 60 percent of hospitalizations occur in people older than 65. People should take a few minutes to get their flu shot.”

Click here to locate a flu clinic in your area. For more information and a list of frequently asked questions, click here.