- people who have a severe allergy to chicken eggs
- people who have had a severe reaction to an influenza vaccination
- people who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome within six weeks of getting an influenza vaccine
- children less than 6 months of age (influenza vaccine is not approved for this age group)
- people who have a moderate-to-severe illness with a fever (they should wait until they recover to get vaccinated)
- people who want any kind of flu vaccine that contains thimerosal. This is because recently, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rescinded federal recommendations for all flu vaccines that contain thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine
While a little more than a decade old, the quadrivalent vaccine is available to those people ages six months to sixty-four years old. It is designed to protect against four different viruses: two influenza A strains and two influenza B strains. Historically, the flu vaccine was trivalent, and offered protection against two A viruses and only one B virus. However, this vaccine offers a broader protection.
A. The High-Dose vaccine is for people ages sixty-five and older. Since seniors are at a higher risk of developing serious complications from the flu, this vaccine offers more antigens and therefore offering seniors more protection from the flu virus. It is important for seniors to protect themselves each flu season because seniors aged sixty-five years and older make up for 90% of all flu-related deaths.
- Myth #1 – “The flu vaccine will make me sick.” The flu vaccine cannot give you the flu. There can be mild side effects such as a sore arm and headache from getting your flu shot, but the vaccine does not have a live virus in the serum.
- Myth #2 – “I’m healthy, so I don’t need a flu shot.” The flu can affect anyone. Regardless of your age and health, you are vulnerable to getting the influenza virus.
- Myth #3 – “I don’t think that the flu vaccine is safe.” The CDC closely monitors the way the flu vaccine is made each year. The flu vaccine has been administered to the public for over fifty years, and it has a very good safety record. Hundreds of millions of individuals have safely been given the flu shot.
