mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I saw my Doctor during the second week of September of this year. He said I could get a Flu Shot that day. I told him that I generally get my Flu Shot in late October. He said OK, but no later. I ended up getting it in early October. I wondered if one could get another Flu Shot for double protection. He said, as an adult, it would not. But, children with a weak immune system have received two shots. Surprisingly, there are adults that have died in recent weeks of the Flu in Southern California. One lady was 57 years old, who had other medical issues. Last year, there were at least 14 children who died in the County with the Flu. Flu kills. Take care of yourselves. The worst is yet to come, when the weather will be colder, elsewhere, with more snow and ice.

BruceS

Your physician is correct. It will not increase your protection.

smf85 Loc: Freeport, IL

Once the immune response has been established your protected. Basically a vaccine contains two elements - a sample of the virus that been inactivated and an irritant to provoke an immune response. Between the two elements antibodies to the sample are generated and the person is protected. With a normal immune system only one dose is required. Insufficient or compromised immune systems require a additional dose to provoke that response. So not only won’t there be any benefit, a second/higher dose in a normal immune system is more likely to generate the full response complete with all the symptoms and some of the dangers of the flu.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The only reason for a second shot is if they were wrong about what strain of the flu to prepare for - you got the shot early, and then a different strain is the one going around. Then IF they can get a different vaccine churned out another shot later might be called for.

This year's vaccine protests from 4 strains but in Sep they announced that they were having to change the vaccine for the Southern Hemisphere. Two of the 4 strains were changed.

Sometimes they use different vaccines for different strains in different areas of the world so if you are going to travel you might want to check to see if your shots are still good for where you are going.

Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE FLU AMONG SENIORS AND BENEFITS OF FLU VACCINE:

1. Influenza (the flu) – highly contagious virus that causes fever, cough, headaches, a sore throat, runny nose, body aches, fatigue, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.

2. Influenza strains change from year to year[1]
a) Flu vaccines are made months before flu season
b) Vaccines are prepared based on “educated guesses” about which strains will predominate months later

3. People 65 years and older are at high risk for serious flu complications.[2]
a) People’s immune systems become weaker with age placing people 65 and older at high risk of serious flu complications compared with the young, healthy adults.
b) People 65 and older account for between 50 and 70% of the flu-related hospitalizations.[2]
c) The CDC estimates that each year, approximately 90% of flu-related deaths in the US occur in people 65 years of age and older.[3]
d) Every 12 minutes on average someone age 65 or older die from the flu.[3]

4. If you have chronic health conditions, flu can make them worse even if they are well managed.[2]
a) Heart disease, diabetes, and COPD are among the most common long-term illnesses that can elevate your risk for a life-threatening, flu-related complications.[3]
1) During the 2015-2016 flu season, 41% of adults hospitalized with flu also had heart disease.
• In patients with heart failure, flu vaccination has been shown to provide a 50% reduction in risk of dying during the flu season.[3]
2) If you have diabetes, having the flu make it difficult to control blood sugar levels
• Diabetes patients who receive a flu vaccine have been shown to reduce their risk of hospitalization: 19% for heart attack, 30% for stroke, and 15% for pneumonia and flu.[3]
3) COPD and asthma cause airways to swell and become blocked with mucous. Flu can also increase swelling of airways and lungs, leading to respiratory illnesses.
• Flu vaccination has been shown to reduce hospitalization rates among people with COPD/Asthma by 52%.[3]
b) Eighty percent of seniors are living with 2 or more health conditions which can make them more susceptible to complications from the flu. These chronic conditions include: obesity, stroke, cancer, kidney disease, and inflammatory arthritis.[3]

5. About the Flu Vaccine
a) While flu vaccine can vary in how it well it works, vaccination is the best way to reduce your risk of flu and its potentially serious consequences.[2]
b) While some people who get vaccinated may still get sick, flu vaccination has been shown in several studies to reduce severity of illness in those people.
c) People 65 years and older can get any flu shot approved for use in that age group with no preference for any one vaccine over the others. There are regular-dose flu shots that are approved for use in people 65 and older and there are also two vaccines designed specifically for people over 65 and older.[2]
1) A high dose flu vaccine (FluzoneTM High-Dose) contains 4 times the amount of antigen as a regular flu shot. The additional antigen creates a stronger immune response (more antibody) in the person getting vaccinated.
2) An adjuvanted vaccine (FLUADTM) is a standard dose flu vaccine with an adjuvant added. An adjuvant is an ingredient added to a vaccine to help create a stronger immune response to vaccination.
d) The side effects of flu shots are mild when compared to potentially serious consequences of flu infection.[2]
1) The most common side effects include soreness, tenderness, redness and/or swelling where the shot was given.
2) Sometimes you might have headache, muscle aches, fever, and nausea or feel tired. The high dose and adjuvanted flu vaccines may results in more of the mild side effects that can occur with standard-dose seasonal shots.

6. If you have flu symptoms – even if you had a flu shot – call your doctor, nurse, or clinic. Doctors can prescribe medicine, called antiviral drugs, to treat flu and lessen the chance of serious illness. These medicines work better the sooner they are started. Call if you have any of the following symptoms:
a) Fever or feeling feverish/chills
b) Cough
c) Sore throat
d) Runny or stuffy nose
e) Muscle or body aches
f) Fatigue (tiredness)
g) Sometimes diarrhea and vomiting

References:
1) Harvard Health Letter, Harvard Medical School, Vol. 44, No. 1, Sept. 2019.
2) www.cdc.gov/flu
3) https://ww.seniorflushot.com/flu-shot-importance

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Which brings up the question. Seniors are being given shots with 2x and 4x the dosage. Does it matter?

Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin

I think the following answers your question but don't skip the last paragraph as to the caveat (Take Home in paragraph my own commentary):

How does Fluzone High-Dose differ from other flu vaccines?
Answer From James M. Steckelberg, M.D.

Fluzone High-Dose is an injected flu vaccine formulated for people age 65 years and older. Like other flu vaccines, Fluzone High-Dose is made up of the three flu strains most likely to cause the flu during the upcoming season. The high-dose vaccine, however, contains four times as much flu virus antigen — the part of the vaccine that stimulates the immune system — as regular Fluzone and other standard flu vaccines.

Why is it needed?
In response to a regular flu shot, older people produce 50 to 75 percent fewer antibodies, which protect against the vaccine antigens, than do younger adults.

Evidence that a high-dose flu vaccine can compensate for this difference originally comes from studies that found higher post-vaccine antibody levels in older adults who received high-dose flu vaccines than in those who received standard flu vaccines.

In addition, one study found almost 25 percent fewer cases of proven influenza in adults age 65 and older who took the high-dose vaccine compared with those who took the standard-dose vaccine.

Are there side effects?
In the largest of three clinical studies comparing high-dose and standard-dose flu vaccines, those who received the high-dose vaccine were more likely to develop side effects, such as a fever and soreness at the injection site, during the week after vaccination.

More research needed--
The risks of flu complications are highest for people age 65 years and older, so protecting this group is particularly important. The Food and Drug Administration accelerated its approval of Fluzone High-Dose on the condition that studies will continue to evaluate the new vaccine's effect on seasonal flu outcomes, such as cases of flu and flu complications, in older adults. If, over the next few years, Fluzone High-Dose turns out to be superior to the regular flu vaccine by these measures, the high-dose vaccine may become the vaccine of choice for older adults.

(Take Home: The next few years will tell if indeed, the high-dose flu vaccine is consistently more effective than the regular-dose flu vaccine in preventing the flu and its complications, in older adults.)

With
James M. Steckelberg, M.D.

Link to above article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/flu/expert-answers/fluzone/faq-20058032


Here's an excerpt from an CDC article that pertains to people age 65 and older:

What other flu vaccines are available for people in this age group?

In addition to Fluzone High-Dose, one other influenza vaccine is licensed specifically for people 65 years and older. The adjuvanted influenza vaccine external icon contains an adjuvant, an ingredient intended to help improve immune response. The adjuvanted vaccine was more effective than unadjuvanted standard-dose inactivated vaccine in a single-season observational study conducted among people 65 years and older.

People in this age group may also receive standard-dose, unadjuvanted influenza vaccines or the recombinant influenza vaccine. There is no preferential recommendation made for any flu vaccine formulation for this age group.

Why is there a need for flu vaccines designed specifically for people 65 years of age and older?

CDC studies conducted during previous flu seasons estimateexternal icon that that between about 70 percent and 85 percent of seasonal flu-related deaths have occurred in people 65 years and older and between 54 percent and 70 percent of seasonal flu-related hospitalizations have occurred among people in that age group. However, older adults with weaker immune systems also may have a lower protective immune response after flu vaccination compared to younger, healthier people. This can result in lower vaccine effectiveness (i.e., a measure of how well the flu vaccine protects against flu illness), in these people. Newer flu vaccines made specifically for people 65 years of age attempt to improve the immune response and protection provided by flu vaccination in this age group.

Page last reviewed: September 6, 2019 -- Link to the complete article: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/qa_fluzone.htm