For millions of people each year, the flu can cause a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, muscle aches, chills, and miserable days spent in bed instead of at work or school. However, you may not realize that more than 200,000 people are estimated to end up in the hospital from flu complications each year in the United States. And while unpredictable, the flu can be serious, even deadly. CDC estimates that between 1976 and 2007 annual flu-associated deaths in the United States ranged from a low of about 3,000 people to a high of about 49,000 people during the most severe season.
CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get a yearly flu vaccine. The single best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu vaccine each season, even if you were vaccinated in prior years. Flu vaccination can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, missed work due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations and deaths. The vaccine is a safe way to protect yourself from the flu and potentially serious complications, like pneumonia. Millions of people have safely received flu vaccines for decades.
Flu vaccines are made each year to protect against the flu viruses that worldwide surveillance indicates are the most likely to cause widespread illness during the upcoming season. Traditional flu vaccines made to protect against three different flu viruses (called “trivalent” vaccines) are available, in addition to flu vaccines made to protect against four different flu viruses (called “quadrivalent” vaccines). The trivalent vaccine will protect against an influenza A (H1N1) virus, an influenza A (H3N2) virus and an influenza B virus. The quadrivalent vaccine will protect against the same three viruses as the trivalent vaccine, but it also protects against an additional influenza B virus. CDC does not recommend one flu vaccine over the other. The important thing is to get a flu vaccine every year.
Neither the flu shot nor the nasal spray vaccine can give you the flu. The most common side effects from a flu shot are a sore arm and maybe a low fever or achiness. The soreness is often caused by a person’s immune system making protective antibodies to the killed viruses in the vaccine. These antibodies are what allow the body to fight against flu. The nasal-spray flu vaccine might cause congestion, runny nose, sore throat, or cough. If you do experience them at all, these side effects are usually mild and short- lived, lasting 1-2 days after vaccination.
“Stringent vaccine safety processes are followed every year for flu vaccines. Before flu vaccines are approved, they undergo careful testing, and each batch is checked for purity and strength before it is released,” says Dr. Anne Schuchat, Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service and CDC’s Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Seasonal flu vaccines have been given for more than 50 years, and have consistently had a very safe track record.”

Every year, CDC works closely with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to monitor the safety of influenza vaccines. CDC and FDA share in the responsibility of monitoring the safety of vaccines and ensuring systems are in place to promptly detect unexpected health problems following vaccination.
“Vaccines are medicines, and taking any medicine can carry some risk,” adds Dr. Schuchat. “With the flu vaccine, that risk is extremely small. The risks associated with getting the flu are far greater.”
Flu vaccines are offered in many locations, including doctor’s offices, clinics, health departments, retail stores and pharmacies, and health centers, as well as by many employers and schools.
For more information about the dangers of flu and the benefits and safety of the flu vaccine, talk to your doctor or nurse, visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu, or call CDC at 1-800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636).
Source:
CDC