02/22/2024

This is the Best Time to Get a Flu Shot

it might not be when you think

Getting the flu shot any time during respiratory virus season is better than not getting it at all. But vaccine protection wanes, so timing the shot properly can help antibodies peak when cases are highest.

Researchers wanted to figure out the optimal time for getting a flu shot, and they took advantage of the fact children tend to get vaccinated in the month they were born. In a study published in BMJ, they analyzed health insurance data from more than 800,000 children, ages 2-5, who got a flu shot from 2011 to 2018. The data showed that kids vaccinated in October had the strongest protection—they were about 12 percent less likely to get the flu compared to kids vaccinated in August.

"It makes sense that October is the ideal time to get vaccinated," said the study's senior author Dr. Anupam Jena, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School and professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Get vaccinated in August or September, and immunity might wane too soon; get the shot in December or January, and immunity might not have time to build up before the December or January peak, he added. October seems to be the sweet spot. "These findings provide a data-driven way to show that's true."

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.