Even if you don’t have a regular doctor or nurse, you can get a flu vaccine somewhere else, like a health department, pharmacy, urgent care clinic, and often your school, college health center, or work.
Visit the HealthMap Vaccine Finder to locate where you can get a flu vaccine.
Are there new recommendations for the 2016-2017 influenza season?
On June 22, 2016, CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted that the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) should not be used during the 2016-2017 flu season. ACIP continues to recommend annual flu vaccination for everyone 6 months and older. The ACIP recommendation must be reviewed and approved by CDC’s director before it becomes CDC policy. The final annual recommendations on the prevention and control of influenza with vaccines will be published in a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) in late summer or early fall.
What flu viruses do this season’s Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere vaccines protect against?
There are many flu viruses and they are constantly changing. The composition of flu vaccines for the United States is reviewed annually and updated to match circulating flu viruses.
For the 2016-2017 season (Northern Hemisphere winter), trivalent vaccines are recommended to contain:
- an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus,
- an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus
- a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus (B/Victoria lineage).
Quadrivalent vaccines will include the same viruses plus an additional flu B virus called B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (B/Yamagata lineage).
What is flu vaccination using a jet injector?
On August 14, 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved use of one jet injector device (the PharmaJet Stratis 0.5ml Needle-free Jet Injector) for delivery of one particular flu vaccine (AFLURIA® by bioCSL Inc.) in people 18 through 64 years of age. A jet injector is a medical device used for vaccination that uses a high-pressure, narrow stream of fluid to penetrate the skin instead of a hypodermic needle. For more information, see Flu Vaccination by Jet Injector.
What is adjuvanted flu vaccine?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed a new seasonal influenza (flu) vaccine containing adjuvant for adults 65 years of age and older. An adjuvant is an ingredient added to a vaccine to create a stronger immune response to vaccination. FLUAD™[155 KB, 13 pages] was licensed in November 2015 and will be available during the 2016-2017 flu season. It contains the MF59 adjuvant, an oil-in-water emulsion of squalene oil. FLUAD™ is the first adjuvanted seasonal flu vaccine marketed in the United States. For more information visit: FLUAD™ Flu Vaccine With Adjuvant.
How well will flu vaccines work this season?
Influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) can vary from year-to-year among different age and risk groups and even by vaccine type. How well the vaccine works can depend in part on the match between the vaccine virus used to produce the vaccine and the circulating viruses that season. It’s not possible to predict what viruses will be most predominant during the upcoming season. CDC monitors circulating viruses throughout the year and provides new and updated information about the vaccine match as it becomes available. Information is published weekly in FluView and summarized at intervals in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Vaccine effectiveness estimates are also provided when they become available.For more information about vaccine effectiveness, visit How Well Does the Seasonal Flu Vaccine Work?.
Will this season's flu vaccine be a good match for circulating viruses?
It's not possible to predict with certainty if the vaccine will be a good match for circulating viruses. The vaccine is made to protect against the flu viruses that research and surveillance indicate will likely be most common during the season. However, experts must pick which viruses to include in the vaccine many months in advance in order for vaccine to be produced and delivered on time. Also flu viruses change constantly (called drift) – they can change from one season to the next or they can even change within the course of one flu season. Because of these factors, there is always the possibility of a less than optimal match between circulating viruses and the viruses in the vaccine.
Over the course of the flu season, CDC studies samples of circulating flu viruses to evaluate how close a match there is between viruses used to make the vaccine and circulating viruses.
One of the ways that helps CDC evaluate the match between vaccine viruses and circulating viruses is with a lab process called ‘genetic and antigenic characterization’. Results of genetic and antigenic characterization testing are published weekly in CDC’s FluView.
How long does a flu vaccine protect me from getting the flu?
Multiple studies conducted over different seasons and across vaccine types and influenza virus subtypes have shown that the body’s immunity to influenza viruses (acquired either through natural infection or vaccination) declines over time. The decline in antibodies is influenced by several factors, including the antigen used in the vaccine, the age of the person being vaccinated, and the person's general health (for example, certain chronic health conditions may have an impact on immunity). When most healthy people with regular immune systems are vaccinated, their bodies produce antibodies and they are protected throughout the flu season, even as antibody levels decline over time. Older people and others with weakened immune systems may not generate the same amount of antibodies after vaccination; further, their antibody levels may drop more quickly when compared to young, healthy people.
For everyone, getting vaccinated each year provides the best protection against influenza throughout flu season. It’s important to get a flu vaccine every season, even if you got vaccinated the season before and the viruses in the vaccine have not changed for the current season.
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