Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Get a Flu Shot
There’s often a big push in early fall, the start of flu season, to encourage people to get a flu shot. If you happen to see your doctor during that time of year, you may be asked if you want a flu shot. Commercials on television remind you that you can get a flu shot at your nearest pharmacy. And, many employers and educational institutions make it easy to get vaccinated. But what if you decided to skip getting a flu shot earlier in the season or never got around to getting it done? Is it too late to do it now?
Absolutely not!
“Now is the perfect time to get a flu shot if you haven’t received one this year,” says Cesar Espiritu MD, PIH Health Family Medicine physician in Whittier. “Although getting a flu shot later in the year leaves you more susceptible to getting sick with the flu up until now, flu season typically peaks between December and March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with February being the month with the highest rate of illness. This means if you get a flu shot now, you’ll still be protected when the flu virus is circulating the most.”
Getting a flu shot every year is the best way to protect yourself from getting sick with the flu. Since there are many strains of the virus, each year’s vaccine protects against a few of the influenza viruses expected to be the most likely to circulate during the year. This means you can’t rely on the flu shot you received last year or in years past to prevent you from getting the flu—you need one every year for the best protection.
Flu shots don’t guarantee that you won’t get the flu, but they lessen your chances of getting sick with the flu. It takes up to two weeks to fully build immunity after getting vaccinated, so the sooner you get a flu shot, the sooner you’ll be protected.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older get a flu shot every year with few exceptions. It’s especially important for people at risk of complications from the flu to get vaccinated, including:
- Young children
- Older adults
- Pregnant women
- People with weakened immune systems
- People with chronic medical conditions, such as asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, kidney or liver disease, cancer and obesity
- People living in nursing homes or long-term care facilities
If you haven’t received your flu shot yet, don’t delay. Give yourself the gift of health and protect yourself against influenza. To find a PIH Health Physician near you, visit PIHHealth.org/Doctors.
