As a pharmacist at Fitzgerald Pharmacy, I get asked this question often as flu season rolls around.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a committee within The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), admits there is no determinable optimal time to get a flu shot, other than to say, the flu shot should be administered before influenza begins circulating in the community.
We do know it takes two weeks for the body to generate antibodies to the vaccine. Over the past 36 years peak flu season has come as early as October.
The CDC does give one recommended deadline, which is to have patients vaccinated by the end of October.
With inconclusive evidence that the shot’s effects may wane by the late flu season, I advocate for patients to get the vaccination when it becomes available in September. I add my voice to that of the CDC’s to encourage everyone to be vaccinated by the end of October.
Daniel Engelkens, PharmD BCPS Clinical Pharmacist at Fitzgerald Pharmacy