{"id":141674,"date":"2018-09-20T12:10:12","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T16:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?post_type=school-college-post&p=141674"},"modified":"2018-09-20T12:10:12","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T16:10:12","slug":"flu-shot-october-ideal-better-late-early-never","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/09\/flu-shot-october-ideal-better-late-early-never\/","title":{"rendered":"Flu Shot: October Ideal, but Better Late \u2013 or Early \u2013 Than Never"},"content":{"rendered":"

You probably know you should get a flu shot. But do you know when<\/em> you should get it?<\/p>\n

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Dr. George Kuchel, director, UConn Center on Aging<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation<\/a> is for all adults and children at least six months old to take some form of the influenza vaccine (unless their physician believes there to be a contraindication, or reason not to). Most health care professionals will agree with that recommendation. But the timing of our flu shot can have an impact on its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key is that you don\u2019t want people to get the vaccine too early, for example August or September, only to have the immunity wane in February or March when the attack rates can be high,\u201d says Dr. George Kuchel, director of the UConn Center on Aging.<\/p>\n

The vaccine\u2019s effectiveness tends to not last as long in the elderly as it would in younger people.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, you don\u2019t want people to get the vaccine too late, for example December or January, only to be unprotected during those earlier months,\u201d Kuchel says.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Montgomery Douglas, chair, Family Medicine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just as it\u2019s an educated guess each year as to which strains of the influenza virus the vaccine should target, it\u2019s impossible to pinpoint when the flu season will start, how long it will last, and how severe it will be.<\/p>\n

The sweet spot this year seems to be October and November. The CDC recommendation is by the end of October.<\/p>\n

Dr. Montgomery Douglas<\/a>, chair of the UConn Health Department of Family Medicine, sees patients of all ages. While he agrees with late October being the ideal time, early or late is still much better than not at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary issue we have with the flu vaccine in both young and old is not enough people get it, period, not the timing of it per se,\u201d Douglas says. \u201cSo once the vaccine becomes available, I start giving it whenever eligible persons are in the office, because chances are \u2013 like many in the U.S. \u2013 a big chunk of them otherwise might miss it entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dr. David Banach, hospital epidemiologist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Things to know about the flu shot:<\/strong><\/p>\n