Vaccines

Updated Flu Vaccine Recommendations for 2023-2024 Flu Season

Flu vaccination recommendations are updated each year. See what's new for the 2023-2024 flu season.
Read about this year's flu season vaccination recommendations
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Latest Articles

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Vaccines

How Vaccine Hesitancy Affects Vaccination Rates and Public Health

The numbers of people getting annual flu vaccines have remained low, putting public health at risk. The rise in vaccine hesitancy is one reason why.
May 23, 2023
Read how and why vaccine hesitancy has grown over the years
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Flu

Influenza and Flu Vaccine Myths: Separating Fact From Fiction

Misconceptions about the flu and flu vaccine myths keep people from understanding how to protect themselves from the flu.
Apr 30, 2023
Learn what's actually true about influenza and flu shots
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Vaccines

World Immunization Week: Highlighting the Importance of Vaccination in Public Health

This year, World Immunization Week is focusing its attention on getting child vaccination rates back to pre-pandemic levels.

Apr 22, 2023
Read about the 2023 theme for this annual event

Flu Vaccine Technology

Masked female receiving a flu shot in the arm

Vaccines

Overview of Flu Vaccine Types

There are a range of choices among the vaccines available today.

Recent Articles

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Vaccines

Improving Vaccine Equity, Equality and Access in Flu Vaccinations

Inequities in healthcare have contributed to lower rates of flu vaccination in communities of color.

Learn about ongoing efforts to change flu vaccination inequities
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Vaccines

2022-2023 Flu Vaccine Effectiveness

How well have flu vaccines worked this season? Early reports show they have given significant protection to the vaccinated.

Review details about flu vaccine effectiveness in the 2022-2023 flu season
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Vaccines

Children With Flu and COVID: Can Flu Shots Impact Outcomes?

Among children who had flu and COVID at the same time during 2021-2022, those who had gotten a flu vaccine tended to have less severe illness.

Learn how flu shots may affect outcomes for kids who get flu and COVID

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Vaccines

Is It Too Late to Get a Flu Shot?

From December 2022: Think it’s too late to get a flu shot? Think again. Flu cases are higher than they have been in years and are not yet likely have to hit their peak — so getting a vaccine can still provide protection.

Learn about getting your flu shot late in the season
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Vaccines

About 2022-2023 Flu Season Vaccines

Influenza vaccines distributed during the 2022–2023 flu season appear to be well matched to currently circulating flu strains, as of December 2022.

Learn about flu vaccine availability in the 2022-2023 flu season
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Vaccines

What Kind of Flu Vaccine Is Right for You?

Depending on your age, certain vaccines may be preferentially recommended by the CDC.

Learn how recommendations on flu vaccination are different for some people

Flu Vaccine FAQ

View all questions and answers
01

Influenza can cause mild to severe illness. A mild case of the flu may cause you to feel ill and miss work, but more serious complications can happen, too. Of the millions of people who get the flu each year, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized due to flu-related causes, and tens of thousands die from them.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), annual influenza vaccines are the best protection against the flu. Flu vaccines can reduce the risk of getting sick from the flu and having to be hospitalized for it. You might still get influenza after you’ve been vaccinated, but vaccines can reduce the severity of sickness you might feel if you do catch the flu.

02

Influenza viruses are continually changing, so flu vaccines need to be updated to protect against the viruses that are considered to be most likely to circulate during each new flu season. Also, the immunity you get from a flu vaccine will lessen over time, so getting a new vaccine for the upcoming flu season will help increase your immunity.
03

The CDC recommends that adults aged 65 and older receive an adjuvanted or a higher dose flu vaccine. If these two vaccine types are not available, adults of this age group can receive a standard-dose flu vaccine. For other people outside this age group, the CDC does not recommend any particular flu vaccine over another, with rare exception.

If you are trying to decide which vaccine might be best for you, make sure you talk to your doctor or another healthcare professional.

View all questions and answers