Everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every season with rare exceptions. Vaccination is particularly important for people who are at higher risk of serious complications from influenza.
Flu vaccination has important benefits. It can reduce flu illnesses, visits to doctor’s offices, and missed work and school due to flu, as well as make symptoms less severe and reduce flu-related hospitalizations and deaths.
Different flu vaccines are approved for use in different age groups.
- There are several flu shots approved for use in people as young as 6 months old and older, and two are approved only for adults 65 years and older.
- Flu shots also are recommended for pregnant people and people with certain chronic health conditions.
- The nasal spray flu vaccine is approved for use in people 2 years through 49 years of age. People who are pregnant and people with certain medical conditions should not receive the nasal spray flu vaccine.
There are many vaccine options to choose from.
- For people younger than 65 years, CDC does not recommend any one flu vaccine over another.
- For adults 65 years and older, there are three flu vaccines that are preferentially recommended for people 65 years and older. These are Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent vaccine, Flublok Quadrivalent recombinant flu vaccine, and Fluad Quadrivalent adjuvanted flu vaccine. If none of the three flu vaccines preferentially recommended for people 65 and older is available at the time of administration, people in this age group can get any other age-appropriate flu vaccine instead.
The most important thing is for all people 6 months and older to get a flu vaccine every year.
If you have questions about which flu vaccine to get, talk to your doctor or other health care professional. For more information, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccinations.htm