What, if any shots should you get?
Influenza is not “just a bad cold.” Influenza lays you out with hacking cough, fever and muscle aches. While it rarely kills healthy young adults, it can, and it certainly kills frail elders and small children. Even young healthy people can be laid up for a week or more.
We never know how bad a flu season iwill be until it is upon us, and everyone should get an annual flu shot, which you can get at your doctor’s office, many pharmacies and local town-run clinics. The standard shot is fine for most. People over 65 or those with weakened immune systems should get either the “high dose” formulation or the new mRNA shot (which may not be as readily available this season).
What is most exciting about the mRNA flu vaccine is that in future years, it will allow the virus to be targeted much more accurately. The way flu shots are now made requires the manufacturers to commit to a flu virus target well in advance of the season. Sometimes the experts nail it while other times the shot is not a great match for the circulating strain. The new technology will shorten development from 6 months to six weeks, allowing manufacturers to adjust the shot if the virus mutates.
COVID is still with us, and yes, you should get a booster. The current shot is quite different from the original one, though not very different from last fall’s.
The FDA prioritizes those over 65, but there is no reason why anyone except perhaps young healthy men should not get one. (For reasons not fully understood, adolescent and young adult males are most prone to serious side effects such as inflammation of the heart, though even in that group, the heart damage is self-limited and benefits outweigh risks.)
While the COVID shot is only modestly effective at preventing infection and mild illness, it is very effective at preventing serious illness and death.
If you are over 75 and/or have bad lungs, get a one-time RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) shot. If you have had one, you do not need to repeat it.
Women in late pregnancy during the fall and winter should get immunized to protect their infants; RSV is a major illness for newborns. If the mother is not immunized, infants can be protected by a shot of monoclonal antibodies.
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