October 2025

The flu shot isn’t always top of mind for everyone. Some people think they’re not at high risk, while others doubt the effectiveness of the vaccine. There’s also a common (but incorrect) myth that the flu shot can give you the flu.

But this logic couldn’t be further from the truth. The flu can cause serious complications, hospitalization, and even death. Depending on the severity of the flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between 120,000 and 710,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized with the flu each year, and between 6,300 and 52,000 die.

The reality is that the flu vaccine offers significant health benefits to everyone, regardless of your risk level. And no, you can’t catch the flu from the flu shot. Here’s why getting vaccinated is so important — and how it helps protect you and those around you.

Who’s at risk?

While anyone can experience serious complications from the flu, certain groups face an even higher risk of hospitalization or death.

High-risk groups

• Adults 65 and older (who account for over 50% of flu-related hospitalizations and nearly 70% of flu-related deaths, according to the CDC).
• Pregnant women.
• Children under the age of two.
• People with asthma, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or HIV/AIDS.
• People with a BMI of 4o+.
• Residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes.
• People with a weakened immune system (e.g., people with HIV, AIDS, lymphoma, or leukemia; people receiving chemotherapy or radiation; people taking corticosteroids or other immunosuppressing medications).
• People recovering from a stroke or living with neurological conditions.

Even if you’re not in one of these groups, it’s important to remember that the flu can pose serious risks to anyone.

How the flu shot helps

Indeed, the flu shot is not 100% effective. The effectiveness of the flu shot varies from year to year and depends on how well the vaccine matches the strains of flu circulating during the season. Researchers work to predict this in advance, so they have time to make the flu shots.

Sometimes, the match between the vaccine and the flu virus variants for the season is nearly perfect. In other years, there may be a strain in circulation that wasn’t in the vaccine.

The CDC estimates that when there’s a good match between circulating flu viruses and the vaccine, the shot will reduce your chance of getting sick enough to visit a healthcare provider by 40% to 60%. But that’s not the only benefit. Even if you do get the flu after being vaccinated, your illness is likely to be milder, and you’re far less likely to face serious complications like hospitalization.

Benefits for adults

The CDC cites many flu shot benefits for adults, including:

• Older adults who got the flu vaccine were 40% less likely to be hospitalized than those who skipped the shot.
• Vaccinated adults are 82% less likely to be admitted to the ICU due to flu complications.
• Among adults hospitalized with the flu, vaccinated individuals are 25% less likely to require ICU admission and 31% less likely to die.
• Getting the flu vaccine is associated with lower rates of some cardiac events among people with heart disease.

Benefits for pregnant women and infants

Getting the flu shot during pregnancy provides significant benefits for both the mother and her baby:

• The flu vaccine reduces the risk of flu-related hospitalization for pregnant women by 40%, according to the CDC.
• The flu vaccine also helps protect the baby before they’re old enough to be vaccinated (at 6 months old), as antibodies are passed from mother to baby during pregnancy.

Benefits for children

The flu shot offers life-saving benefits for children:

• It reduces the risk of severe, life-threatening complications in children by 75%.
• It lowers the rate of flu-related hospitalizations (for children ages 6 months to 17 years) by 41% and flu-related ER visits by roughly 50%.

Herd immunity: Protecting those around you

Even if you don’t fall into a high-risk group, chances are someone you know does — whether it’s a family member, friend, or colleague. The flu can be contagious before symptoms appear, meaning you could spread it without even realizing you’re sick.

By getting vaccinated, you’re not only protecting yourself from a potentially miserable week (or more) of illness but also reducing the likelihood of spreading the virus to others. For those who are more vulnerable, such as older adults, young children, or people with weakened immune systems, this could make all the difference.