WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO GET INFLUENZA VACCINATION?
The best time to get the vaccine is now, before the influenza season strikes. The vaccine will not “wear out” before the year is over – protection for these strains in the vaccine lasts for years, not months. It takes 14 days for the vaccine to be fully effective, so earlier is better.
Why is this?
Basically, the influenza vaccine will cause your body to form antibodies to influenza matching the strains in the vaccine. It will also trigger memory T cells that produce a long lasting response to the vaccine strains, often as long as twenty years.
Why the vaccine is needed every year, or is not as effective every year reflects on the virus itself. Influenza viruses undergo genetic “drift” as they pass from one host to another. This makes the strains at the end of the season different than the vaccine strains they were made from.
Getting a vaccine later in the season will not produce a “better” response to the vaccine. Get it at least two weeks before influenza comes to town, or you may be in a race with the vaccine to produce antibodies before you get ill.
Mark D. Winton, MD FACP
Infectious Diseases