--- title: More People Have Gotten a Flu Shot Than This Time Last Year, CDC Says description: CDC data shows that early 2018-2019 flu season vaccination rates are higher among both kids and adults than they were for 2017-2018. canonical: https://time.com/5481429/flu-shot-vaccination-rates/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-17T17:05:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:17:42.610Z article:section: Health og:title: More People Have Gotten a Flu Shot Than This Time Last Year, CDC Says og:description: It's a promising sign og:url: https://time.com/5481429/flu-shot-vaccination-rates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd920f5fade596b5/698941a74ee262a65b3139f4/flu-shot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Allentown Hospital Sets Up Mobile Tents To Handle Influx Of Flu Cases og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: More People Have Gotten a Flu Shot Than This Time Last Year, CDC Says twitter:description: It's a promising sign twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd920f5fade596b5/698941a74ee262a65b3139f4/flu-shot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # More People Have Gotten a Flu Shot Than This Time Last Year, CDC Says > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=91ce062a-b0f8-444a-a5f2-fa11737588ac&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Do I Need a Flu Shot? TIME Explains [Watch (HLS stream): Why Do I Need a Flu Shot? TIME Explains](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jxdi6F8H.m3u8) (2:20)  _Published 2013-11-04. If you think it's one and done like a measles vaccine, think again. The flu virus is ever-changing and mutating. So this year health experts created new vaccines that can protect you from upto 4 of the latest strains._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 17, 2018 5:05 PM UTC If you think it's one and done like a measles vaccine, think again. The flu virus is ever-changing and mutating. So this year health experts created new vaccines that can protect you from upto 4 of the latest strains.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 17, 2018 5:05 PM UTC Early numbers show that more people have gotten [flu shots](http://time.com/5415276/flu-shot-2018/) than they had at this time last year — but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. About 45% of both children and adults had gotten a flu shot as of mid-November, [according to data](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/nifs-estimates-nov2018.htm) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s almost 7% higher than last year’s early-season coverage estimate for kids, and about a 6% increase for adults. Overall, an estimated [37% of adults](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-1718estimates.htm) and [58% of children](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-1718estimates-children.htm) received a flu shot during the 2017-2018 flu season, according to the CDC. The CDC’s latest data, which was based on surveys with adults and parents of children ages six months to 17 years, doesn’t explain why vaccination rates are up over last year, but it’s possible that the [unusually severe 2017-2018 flu season](http://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/), which killed about 80,000 people, motivated more people to get their shots this year. However, the data deals only with early-season coverage, so it’s also possible that some people simply got vaccinated earlier this year than last. It’s too soon to say whether whole-season coverage rates will be higher than last year’s. Dr. Tanaya Bhowmick, an assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Rutgers’ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, calls the preliminary numbers “exciting.” Nonetheless, they’re still well below the CDC’s target of near-universal vaccination. The agency recommends that almost every American older than six months of age get a flu shot, but a recent poll showed that about 40% of people [don’t plan to heed that advice](http://time.com/5472530/flu-shot-2018-survey/). Bhowmick says high vaccination rates are crucial for public health. If more people get vaccinated, she explains, fewer people get sick. And if fewer people get sick, there’s less total flu virus to go around, reducing population illness rates. “The vaccine protects the individual, but if there are more people in a population that are vaccinated, you’re not going have the virus running rampant,” Bhowmick says. Cutting down on total virus spread is especially important since some people, such as babies younger than six months old, can’t get the vaccine. Even among those who do get vaccinated, some people don’t respond as well as others. “Some adults are immunocompromised, so their immune systems are not as strong. They’re more susceptible to getting sick,” Bhowmick says. “It’s about protecting those people, too.” While the 2018-2019 flu season has been [relatively mild](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/) up to this point, Bhowmick cautions that “we’re still picking up,” and influenza activity is likely to intensify. She urges people who haven’t gotten their shots yet to do so, as she says it’s never too late “as long as it’s still flu season.” ## Transcript [00:00] It's time for your annual flu shot. But will the vaccine [00:03] protect you? Here's what you need to know. It's [00:12] flu season which means it's time for your annual flu [00:15] shot. So, the question always is: Why do we need to get [00:18] a shot every year? Why isn't the influenza vaccine more [00:22] like measles or rubella or polio, where it's one undone [00:26] and you're protected for years if not for life? Well, you [00:30] can blame the influenza virus for that. It has gotten so [00:33] good at mutating to bypass the effects of the vaccine [00:37] that we have to get rearmed against whatever [00:39] circulating that season each year. So, every [00:43] spring, officials at the World Health Organization [00:46] convene influenza experts and they decide which [00:49] strains of the virus should be included in the upcoming [00:52] season's vaccine. They do their best to look at which [00:55] strains are emerging in people who are starting to get [00:58] sick with flu but it's a guess. It's and educating yes, but [01:02] it's still a guess. So, why did they make this decision so [01:05] early? Nearly nine months before the first sneezes and [01:09] cough start? Influenza viruses are grown on chicken [01:12] eggs and in order to grow enough virus to fill those [01:16] vaccines, it takes several months. This year, when you [01:20] go to the doctor, you'll have far more choices than [01:22] you've had before. You could still get the traditional flu [01:25] shot which contains three different influenza strains [01:29] and kids who are afraid of needles can get the nasal [01:31] spray. And for adults who are needle- phobic, there's [01:34] also a micro needle version, which contains a smaller [01:37] needle that gives a little less painful job. And for the [01:40] first time this year, there's also an influenza vaccine [01:44] that protects against four different flu strains. So, it [01:47] gives you a little more protection once the season [01:49] starts. And the elderly can also get a little extra dose [01:53] from a high dose vaccine that protects their weaker [01:56] immune systems and gives them a little bit of a boost. [01:59] For those who are allergic to eggs, there's also a [02:01] cell- based flu vaccine that allows them to get [02:04] vaccinated against influenza for the first time. So, given [02:08] all this choice, there should be something for everyone. 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