It's that time of year when you start hearing about getting those flu shots. But it is much more important for a certain group of people according to Dr. David Hilden of Hennepin County Medical Center.
Hilden joined WCCO's Health Radio and he says those over age 65 should be getting a shot, and opting for the higher dose flu vaccine.
"Giving you just a little extra added boost in that shot is typically what is done," Hilden explains. "So I do recommend doing that, getting the higher dose one if you're over 65. But if you don't, if the place you go to only has one of them, get whatever they have. Because the difference among the various shots isn't so important. The big difference is whether or not you got it in the first place."
Typically, flu cases start to rise in November and peak in February.
"Older adults, your immune system isn't quite as robust as it was when you were 25," Hilden adds.
This year's flue season may be a bit more difficult to predict due to the federal government shutdown and changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC's last influenza report for the U.S. was for the week ending September 20, when there was minimal activity.
It's also important for children to get the protection of a flu shot, according to experts. The U.S. saw the most flu-related child deaths in 15 years in 2024.
Since taking over as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kenney Jr. has dismantled most of the staffing at the CDC and other health organizations in the U.S. In June, Kennedy removed every member of a scientific committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines and pledged to replace them with his own picks.
Kennedy has been especially critical of vaccines. In September, the Trump administration directed the nation’s public health and environmental agencies to prioritize investigations into vaccine injuries, prescription drug use and autism’s causes in its latest “Make America Healthy Again” report.
The 20-page report, overseen by Kennedy, echoes many of the talking points Kennedy and those in his wide-ranging and politically diverse “MAHA” movement have united around. The document promises to put an end to childhood diseases and to make children healthier, but does not lay out regulatory changes to ensure an overhaul of Americans’ health.
Among the report’s recommendations is a call for more rigorous government investigations into vaccine injuries, a move that could stir more uproar as lawmakers raise alarm over how the health secretary’s anti-vaccine policies have thrown the nation’s public health agency into weeks of tumult.