How long do flu vaccines stay effective?

They’re given annually so I presume they are effective for one flu season.

According to the info I’m given when I get my Flu shot, they are effective for 6 months. For that reason, I usually get mine around the 15th of October so it’s basic effectiveness will last through April. Where I live the Flu normally becomes active during the month of October & the worst of it departs around the end of March; so, I feel safe with Oct-April window, So far this has worked well for me!!!

According to the CDC the flu season is from October to May (8 months). It would be a good idea to get a mid-winter booster flu shot to maintain strong immunity.

However, I’ve never had more than one flu shot per year and the last time that I caught the flu was December 31, 1979.

Good health!

Well. The whole point of a vaccine, is that your body develops anti-bodies. You should be forever safe, from that specific “flu.”

The virus mutates so regularly, and frequently, that you will never be permanently “safe.”

A few months.

@Caravanfan So would you say there is an optimal month to get the vaccine in each year?

Yeah that’s a good question. I usually get mine in late October.

This year’s flu season seems to have hit this week. I had 4 grandkids get sick this week, one after the other. Poor kids.

I seriously have my doubts that it’s only effective for a few months or a year for the viruses in the vaccine. The problem is, each year it can be different strains of flu floating around, and so you need the new vaccine to protect you from the specific strains in that year.

@Caravanfan Have you actually seen information that says the antibodies for a specific flu virus wane that fast? I’m not challenging you, I’m asking because I’m interested. I tried to find that information a while back, and couldn’t find that information. It’s always worded in terms of the vaccine being good for one flu season.

I just don’t understand why flu would be so different from all the other vaccines that protect against specific viruses for years.

Again, I realize flu is not stable like polio or measles, the flu virus has a tendency to mutate and there are many strains.

The Flu shot doesn’t protect us for years because each strain of the virus is different thereby needing different ingredients. Not knowing in advance what will be coming up next season, it is practically impossible to second guess what is needed in the shot.

It’s probably propaganda, but the informational pages given to me each year when I get mine indicates that the shot lasts for 6 months & by the time it becomes ineffective, it should be the end of the Flu season so you don’t need a follow up shot. Here they start giving them at the beginning of August. We seldom see a case of the Flu until early October & even then it’s a rare case & not an epidemic. From Oct-Dec we mainly have rare cases with an occasional death from someone who chose to forego the shot or the elderly or occasionally a young child. Jan-March are the roughest months for the increase in cases of the Flu. Then by April it eases back off to a few rare cases. That’s why I choose mid-Oct to get mine. That way I’m basically gambling for 2 weeks on either side that I won’t get it.

Admittedly I’m NOT an expert…I just know what has kept me healthy during Flu season for the last 30 years!!!

@JLeslie Not sure why they don’t last as long as regular vaccines. I just know they don’t.

Tell me if I’m wrong, please, but doesn’t having the flu and getting the flu shot have the same result, to stimulate the body into producing anti bodies to kill the virus when it enters the system? To my knowledge, when you get the flu,or a particular strain of cold (or measles, etc,) you are immune for life. You have those antibodies for life. Why wouldn’t you have them for life if you got the flu shot?

It just doesn’t work that way. As I said before I don’t know why

Well! Go find out!