Fall Vaccine Guide 2024: When to Get Your Shots—And How to Stack Them Generally, experts recommend COVID-19 and flu vaccines for most people and RSV vaccines for some. The vaccines are all safe to get together at the same time
Vaccines for the Fall and Winter 2024–2025 season are now available
- Vaccines for the Fall and Winter 2024–2025 season are now available.
- Generally, experts recommend COVID-19 and flu vaccines for most people and RSV vaccines for some.
- The vaccines are all safe to get together at the same time.
As the weather cools down and seasonal illnesses start circulating, now is the time to start thinking about vaccines. This fall, health experts recommend getting certain shots to protect against viruses that can cause serious illness, especially as people begin spending more time indoors.
Staying up-to-date on vaccines is crucial for reducing the risk of severe illness, which could lead to hospitalization, long-term health issues, or even death in some cases, according to Michael Chang, MD, infectious disease physician at UTHealth Houston.
“Unfortunately, to date, respiratory virus infectious such as flu and COVID-19 change enough year to year that we still need seasonal immunizations,” Chang told Health. “The wider uptake of immunizations, the greater the mitigation of the impacts of contagious infections even beyond the direct health consequences, to potentially include socioeconomic benefits across all age groups and walks of life.”
Here’s a guide breaking down the shots you might need this season and how to determine which ones are right for you.
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Vaccines Available This Fall and Winter
While staying up to date on vaccines is important to protect yourself and those around you, determining which ones you should get depends on factors such as your age, health conditions, risk factors, life events, job, and travel plans.
Here are some key vaccines to consider, including who they’re recommended for and when to get the shots.
Flu Vaccine
Flu Vaccine Basics
What it is: An annual influenza vaccine to reduce the risk of illness, severe illness, hospitalization, and death from the flu.
Who should get it: Everyone 6 months and older; people 65 and older should opt for a high-dose vaccine.
When to get it: September or October, ideally by Halloween.
The flu virus changes each year, so getting vaccinated annually helps protect against the most common circulating strains and reduces the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and flu-related deaths across multiple age groups, said Chang.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, everyone 6 months of age or older—with rare exceptions—should get an annual flu shot. The vaccine is particularly important for people at a higher risk of developing serious complications from the flu, including people who are over 65, pregnant women, and people who have chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and chronic kidney disease.
While most people can get the standard dose flu shot, said Chang, adults over 65 and some immunocompromised people such as transplant recipients should opt for a high-dose flu vaccine for better protection. These preferentially recommended vaccines are the Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent vaccine, Flublok Quadrivalent recombinant flu vaccine, and Fluad Quadrivalent adjuvanted flu vaccine.
Alternatively, younger people—those ages 2 through 49—with healthy immune systems may receive a nasal spray flu vaccine, said William Werbel, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Though flu season is technically year-round, flu activity peaks between December and February. In order to ensure protection during those months, the CDC recommends most people should be vaccinated in September or October—ideally before Halloween. “It takes a couple of weeks to get the full protection from most vaccines,” said Chang.
However, it’s never too late to get a flu shot: Vaccinations are offered throughout flu season as influenza viruses circulate.
COVID-19 Vaccine
COVID Vaccine Basics
What it is: A vaccine matched to common circulating COVID strains to reduce the risk of illness, severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID. The vaccine may also reduce the risk of Long COVID.
Who should get it: Everyone 6 months and older
When to get it: ASAP. If you’ve recently had COVID, you may wait up to three months to get an updated vaccine.
Since its emergence in 2020, COVID-19 has continued to circulate, leading some experts to question whether it’s become an endemic virus, like the flu.
Because of that—and because the virus continues to mutate from its original strain—scientists continue to make updated vaccines that target newer variants and can reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and complications.
“All the recent circulating variants, including the just-past summer wave, were Omicron variants, and the new vaccine targets an Omicron variant,” Chang said.
The vaccine also reduces the risk of catching COVID-19, and even if you do get infected, it can lessen the severity of symptoms. Staying vaccinated also helps limit the spread of COVID-19 to others, contributing to overall community protection.
There are three new COVID vaccines for the 2024–2025 season, made by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Novavax. The mRNA vaccines—made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech—are approved for use in the U.S. and recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older. Novavax’s protein subunit vaccine—a more traditional vaccine similar to the flu vaccine—is available for everyone ages 12 and older.
It’s a bit harder to determine when to get your new COVID vaccine since the virus doesn’t have a distinct peak like the flu. Some experts say it’s wise to get your flu and COVID vaccines at the same time for optimal protection in the winter months.
That said, the CDC says that while anyone who has recently had COVID still needs to stay up to date with their vaccines, they may choose to delay their COVID vaccine by up to three months to make sure you get the most protection possible.
RSV Vaccine
RSV Vaccine Basics
What it is: A vaccine to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death from RSV in older adults and infants.
Who should get it: All adults 75 and older; some adults ages 60–74; pregnant people who are 32 through 36 weeks pregnant.
When to get it: Late fall through early winter is the best time for older adults to get an RSV vaccine; for pregnant women, the window is September through January.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is often associated with children, but it can cause serious illness in older adults, leading to thousands of hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths each year among those aged 65 and older.
Vaccines are available for older adults to protect them from severe RSV and for pregnant women to protect infants from the virus.
The CDC recommends an RSV vaccine—GSK’s Arexvy, Moderna’s mResvia, and Pfizer’s Abrysvo—for all people ages 75 years and older. Adults ages 60–74 who are at an increased risk of RSV—including those who have a chronic heart or lung disease, a weakened immune system, or live in a nursing home—are also urged to get an RSV vaccine.
When given to older adults, the RSV vaccine is not currently intended to be an annual vaccine. So far, the CDC says RSV vaccines offer older adults some protection for at least two RSV seasons. An initial RSV vaccine should be given in late summer or early fall, according to the CDC.
For pregnant people, the CDC recommends one RSV vaccine (Pfizer’s Abrysvo) given while the pregnant person is between 32 and 36 weeks pregnant, from September through January, so that infants will be protected against severe disease at birth.
Children don’t currently have an RSV vaccine option, but “vaccine-like” monoclonal antibody products—Beyfortus (nirsevimab) and Synagis (palivizumab)—can help protect infants and young children from RSV complications. CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend Beyfortus for most infants and children, though Synagis may be used in some cases. “This is a game changer for infants, particularly those born prematurely or with medical conditions,” said Werbel.
Getting Vaccines at the Same Time
According to Werbel, it is generally safe to receive multiple vaccines simultaneously, and this approach is often more convenient for most people. Combining vaccines is associated with a slightly higher risk of mild reactions such as fatigue, aches, and pain at the injection site. There is no apparent reason not to get multiple vaccines on the same day, making “one-stop shopping” a practical option.
However, individuals who have experienced a more intense reaction or side effects to vaccines in the past might consider spacing out certain “reactogenic” vaccines from each other, Werbel said. For example, it may be beneficial to separate the adjuvanted RSV vaccine [such as GSK] and the COVID-19 vaccine. “Regardless, reactions tend to be mild or moderate, lasting less than 3 days.”
Chang added that while we don’t have safety data on every vaccine combination in adults or children, there is evidence supporting the safety of administering the COVID-19 and flu vaccines together. Similarly, there are data for flu and RSV vaccines to be received at the same time.
“Currently, the recommendation is that all three can be given at the same time,” Chang said. “But considering the recent huge summer wave of COVID-19, it may be possible to wait a week or two after flu and RSV vaccines to get a COVID-19 vaccine.”
This story originally appeared on: Health News - Author:Alyssa Hui
