FEATURE STORY
Your Essential Vaccine Guide
Here’s what you need to stay safe this winter—and beyond
WE KNOW. You’re busy. You hate needles. You’re betting you can tough it out this winter. After all, you had a COVID shot a few years ago, and who’s really worried about the flu?
But what if you could not only dramatically reduce your risk of winding up in the hospital but also slash your risk of heart disease, dementia and chronic pain? Now would you be willing to roll up your sleeve?
“As we get older, we tend to start experiencing various chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure or heart and lung disease. In addition, the immune system begins to slow down, and it can struggle to protect you from infections,” says Sharon Brangman, M.D., coprincipal investigator for the American Geriatrics Society Older Adults Vaccine Initiative. And as we’re learning, many infections can have long-term consequences that we simply can’t predict.
Here’s a look at the vaccines you need now. You can even get many of them in just one visit.
COVID-19 2024–2025
Age You Need it: 50 and above
How Often: For now, one dose every autumn
Why? “The virus has changed a lot over the years. The antibodies we have don’t work as well against the strains of the virus that are circulating now,” says Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, M.D., an internist and the American Medical Association’s liaison to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Extra Considerations: A combined COVID-19 and flu vaccine may be available in 2025. Preliminary results show the combo may offer greater immunity.
Bonus Benefits: Receiving the COVID vaccine reduces the risk of developing long COVID—debilitating symptoms like brain fog and fatigue that linger continuously for three months or more after an infection—by up to 52 percent.
Flu
Age You Need it: 50 and above
How Often: One dose every fall, ideally in September or October
Why? Seventy to 85 percent of flu-related deaths are in people over 65, yet just 7 out of 10 adults 65 and up got a flu shot last year. “Sometimes the vaccine can keep you from getting the flu altogether, while other times it can provide partial protection so you get a milder form of the disease,” says Brangman.
Extra Considerations: There are several types of flu vaccines available. “We recommend adults over 65 get the high-dose flu shot, which helps create a stronger immune response,” says Brangman.
Bonus Benefits: Getting the flu vaccine is associated with a 30 percent lower risk of heart attack and death from cardiovascular disease. One possible reason? Flu infection triggers inflammation that may worsen atherosclerosis.
RSV
Age You Need it: 75 and above; 60 and up if you have a chronic heart, lung or immune system issue. If you are in your 50s and have heart or lung disease or diabetes, talk to your doctor.
How Often: One dose, one time
Why? “We really underestimated the morbidity that can come from RSV, particularly in older adults. It can cause severe pneumonia,” says Morgan Katz, M.D., an infectious disease expert with Johns Hopkins Medicine. Clinical trials found the vaccine was 83 percent effective in reducing the risk of severe disease.
Extra Considerations: Right now, you only need a single dose. There are three different vaccines approved, and you can get whichever one is available where you are.
Bonus Benefits: Have grandkids? Infants and young children are susceptible to RSV but cannot receive the vaccine. Vaccinating yourself can help protect them too.
Shingles
Age You Need it: 50 and above
How Often: Two-dose series, one time, each shot given two to six months apart
Why? If you’ve had chicken pox (as 99 percent of people born in or before 1980 have), the virus lives on in your body, where it can emerge as painful blisters and a rash, as well as lead to significant nerve pain, says Katz. The good news is that this vaccine is more than 90 percent effective at preventing the disease.
Extra Considerations: The vaccine, called Shingrix, can be given with other vaccines. You can also get it if you’ve had shingles before (just wait until any active infection is over).
Bonus Benefits: A 2024 study found that the shingles vaccine “is associated with a significantly lower risk of dementia” for at least six years after vaccination.
Pneumococcal
Age You Need it: 65 and above; 50 to 64 for those with underlying medical conditions
How Often: Once
Why? The FDA has just approved a new vaccine that covers 84 percent of the strains that cause invasive pneumococcal disease, such as pneumonia, meningitis and bloodstream infections. “This is such a killer of people,” says Fryhofer. One in six older adults who get pneumococcal meningitis, for instance, die from the disease.
Extra Considerations: Current recommendations advise getting a single dose of the PCV21 vaccine (Capvaxive).
Bonus Benefits: Medicare Part B will cover the cost of the pneumococcal vaccine.
Tdap/Td Booster
Age You Need it: First dose in childhood; boosters throughout adulthood
How Often: Once every 10 years
Why? Td protects against tetanus and diphtheria, while Tdap protects against those diseases plus pertussis (whooping cough). You may have received the Tdap vaccination as a child, but if you did not, you should now. In addition, it’s advised that you get a Td booster every 10 years, which is easy to overlook. A nasty cut may also require a booster.
Extra Considerations: If you have young kids in your life, consider getting the Tdap booster instead of Td. “Many babies are too young for the vaccine, and they depend on everyone around them to be vaccinated,” Fryhofer says.
Bonus Benefits: People who got the Tdap or Td vaccine were 30 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s compared with those who were unvaccinated, according to 2023 research published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.