Everyone ages 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every year.
If you’re at higher risk of developing serious flu complications, flu vaccination is especially important. These groups include:
No. You should get a flu shot as soon as you can if you’re not yet vaccinated.
Flu season starts in the fall, and most of the time, flu activity peaks between December and February. The CDC recommends that people get vaccinated early in the season, ideally by October 30, but it’s not too late to get critical protection from the flu if you’re not yet vaccinated.
Getting the vaccine reduces your chance of getting sick. It’s possible to catch the flu even if you’re vaccinated, but the vaccine reduces the severity of illness if you do get sick. If you’re vaccinated and still get the flu, you have a lower chance of getting seriously ill or needing hospitalization.
Yes. It is safe to get your flu shot and COVID-19 booster the same day if you are eligible for both. (See: COVID-19 Booster Doses for more information about eligibility.)
The best way to know if you or your child is sick with flu, RSV, or COVID-19 is to get tested for these viruses.
Flu, RSV, and COVID-19 are respiratory illnesses that can have varying degrees of symptoms, from no symptoms to severe symptoms. You cannot tell the difference between these illnesses by symptoms alone because they have some of the same signs and symptoms. Common symptoms between the two viruses include fever, cough, fatigue, runny or stuffy nose, and several others.
You need specific testing to confirm if you are sick with either virus. You can test for COVID-19 at home, while most flu tests and RSV tests are administered by a medical professional. Contact your health care provider if you have questions about testing and treatment, especially if you or your child are at high risk for complications from flu, RSV, or COVID-19.
A widely shared social media post includes a graph of the low rate of flu infections in the 2020-2021 flu season, implying that the missing cases were being counted as COVID-19 infections. Recommendation: Medium Risk
A video circulating on multiple social media platforms features a social media influencer who is pretending to be a medical expert. The man claims that flu cases are being miscategorized as COVID-19. The person claims to have collected 1,500 positive COVID-19 samples that, when viewed under a microscope, were all actually influenza viruses. Recommendation: Medium
In a video clip, a physician whose license was suspended for promoting COVID-19 misinformation claims flu vaccines are being used to experiment on people and that the government has been lying about the flu shot’s effectiveness for decades. Recommendation: High Risk
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