Who Should Be Vaccinated?

 
Influenza vaccination is an essential part of good preventive healthcare.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends annual influenza vaccination for all people over the age of 6 months. This universal recommendation means that protection from influenza is expanded to a greater number of people.

Children younger than 9 years of age may require more than one dose of influenza vaccine to be fully protected. Parents and caregivers should talk to their child’s pediatrician or other healthcare professional about how many doses their child may need this season.

Certain people may be at increased risk for developing influenza-related complications, including pregnant women and infants younger than 6 months of age. For details on influenza vaccination during pregnancy visit family-vaccines.org

Those younger than 6 months old are too young to be vaccinated against influenza, but they are at the greatest risk of hospitalization due to influenza-related complications. To create a protective “cocoon” of immunity around unvaccinated infants, parents should get older siblings, themselves, and all others who come in close contacts with the baby immunized. Learn about cocooning on family-vaccines.org.

For information on how adults can protect themselves against influenza, visit adultvaccination.org.

Find out where you can get your children and family vaccinated against influenza.

What should you do this influenza season?
Learn more about the current influenza season and how to protect your family.