Immunization For Healthy Adults

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Healthy Adults

Stay Healthy and Working

Getting a flu shot can help keep you healthy and productive. It also can help keep influenza out of your home. By protecting yourself against influenza, you'll be less likely to pass it on to your children, spouse, parents, grandparents, or other loved ones.

In an average year, adults in the US miss 70 million days of work due to influenza. Experts estimate that the flu costs US workers as much as $10 billion in lost wages during the 2006-2007 flu season.⁴

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the support of leading health experts, recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older be immunized, including healthy adults.¹ This includes you and all of your coworkers.

You should get your flu shot as soon as it becomes available, which can be as early as late summer or early fall. Even if you didn't get vaccinated early in the flu season, immunization into the spring or as long as the influenza virus is in circulation can be beneficial. This is because in many seasons, influenza activity doesn't peak until winter or early spring. In fact, as long as influenza viruses are in circulation, it's a good idea to get vaccinated. For most adults, the flu vaccine can help protect against influenza within 2 weeks.¹

Annual influenza vaccination is especially important for health-care workers, not only to protect themselves, but also to help protect their patients. Many patients are at an increased risk for influenza and its related complications, so preventing the spread of influenza in a health-care setting is especially important. Unfortunately, no more than 49% of health-care workers have gotten their flu shot historically.¹

No matter where you work, a flu shot is a safe and effective way to avoid influenza. Get your influenza immunization this and every year.

Did you know?

Portrait Gallery

Daina Maxwell and Dez’Arae Harrison

Mother and Her Daughter With Asthma, Who Was Hospitalized for Influenza-related Complications

“I never knew how serious influenza was until Dez’Arae got it,” Daina said. “I am so lucky to still have her here, and I am not willing to take any more chances.”
Richard and Alissa Kanowitz

Parents of Amanda Kanowitz, Who Died From Influenza-related Complications at 4

When Richard and Alissa Kanowitz lost their daughter, Amanda, to influenza-related complications in 2004, they decided to do everything they could to save other families from enduring similar heartbreak.
Jessica Polakow

Mother-to-Be

When Jessica Polakow posed for this portrait, she was about to become a mother for the very first time. She made sure she was vaccinated against influenza because she knew pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized from influenza-related complications than non-pregnant women of the same age.⁹
Kristi Yamaguchi

Olympic Gold Medalist

Olympic Gold Medalist Kristi Yamaguchi takes her career as a figure skater seriously. Yet, since her victory on "Dancing with the Stars," and experience as an American role model, she has taken on an even more serious role in life – her family. As the mother of 2 young children, Kristi knows that influenza immunization is a must for everyone in her family.
Anne Schuchat, MD

Rear Admiral, US Public Health Service Assistant Surgeon General Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases

Dr. Schuchat has an important job of preventing disease through immunization, which puts her on the front lines in the fight against influenza infection.
Megan and Brandon Pienta

Sister With Severe Asthma and Her Brother, Household Contact

With a family of 6 children, the Pienta household sometimes can feel like a whirlwind of activities. But parents John and Jody always ensure annual vaccination against influenza stays on top of their family’s to-do list.
Lili Estefan

“La Flaca” and Mother of 2

Lili Estefan, widely known among Latino audiences as “La Flaca,” knows firsthand how serious influenza can be, and that it is something she never wants to experience again. Lili, the popular host of Univision’s show El Gordo y La Flaca, recalls how an experience with influenza kept her off the show, leaving “El Gordo” without his regular side kick.
Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD

Director, Community Asthma Prevention Program, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

As founder of the Community Asthma Prevention Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Tyra Bryant-Stephens knows how dangerous the flu can be to children with asthma and other respiratory problems.
LaShell Griffin

Singer and Mother of 5

“Singing is a big part of my life, but so is my family,” said LaShell. “With 5 children in the house, we stay busy. That’s why it’s absolutely necessary we stay as healthy as possible and our annual influenza vaccination helps us do just that.”
Randall Griffin

Healthy Adult Who Contracted the Influenza Virus

Randall Griffin was in peak form after turning 50. In the spring of 2009, Randall contracted influenza, which led to the development of double pneumonia, kidney failure, and respiratory failure – requiring dialysis, a tracheotomy, and a ventilator to stay alive.