Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends annual flu vaccination for everyone age 6 months or older. Each year's seasonal flu vaccine protects against the three or four influenza viruses that are expected to be the most common during that year's flu season. The flu vaccine can reduce your risk of the flu and its severity and lower the risk of having serious illness from the flu and needing to stay in the hospital.

Flu vaccination is especially important in the 2020-21 flu season because the flu and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cause similar symptoms. Flu vaccination could reduce symptoms that might be confused with those caused by COVID-19. Preventing the flu and reducing the severity of flu illness and hospitalizations could also lessen the number of people needing to stay in the hospital.

The flu vaccine is available as an injection and as a nasal spray. The nasal spray is approved for use in healthy people ages 2 through 49 years old. The nasal spray isn't recommended for some groups, such as pregnant women, children between 2 and 4 years old with asthma or wheezing, and people who have compromised immune systems.

These measures also help prevent the flu and limit its spread:

• Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently. Use soap and water, or if they're unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Cover your coughs and sneezes. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow. Then wash your hands.
• Avoid touching your face. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Clean surfaces. Regularly clean often-touched surfaces to prevent spread of infection from a surface with the virus on it to your body.
• Avoid contact. Stay away from crowds if possible. Avoid anyone who is sick. If you're at high risk of complications from the flu — for example, you're younger than 5 or you're 65 or older, you're pregnant, or you have a chronic medical condition such as asthma — consider avoiding swine barns at seasonal fairs and elsewhere.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, both COVID-19 and the flu may be spreading at the same time. Your local health department and the CDC may suggest other precautions to reduce your risk of COVID-19 or the flu. For example, you may need to practice social distancing (physical distancing) and stay at least 6 feet (2 meters) from others outside your household. You may also need to wear a cloth face mask when around people outside your household.