It’s “probably best” for people to wait to later in the flu season to get a flu shot, according to Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Lipsitch, who was quoted in an October 14, 2019 Stat article exploring questions around flu vaccines, added that flu shot clinic organizers should also keep the advice in mind. “It’s no harder to hold three flu clinics in October and November than it is to hold them in September and August,” he said.
Part of the reason Lipsitch recommends waiting is that evidence indicates the protection the flu vaccine provides wanes over time.
“I think the best estimate at the moment with the tools we have — which are pretty good but not perfect — is that there is substantial waning,” he said.
Read the Stat article: An updated guide to the changing science of flu shots