Should You Get a Flu Shot?

3 Reasons Why Seniors Should Definitely Get The Flu Vaccine

Catching the flu isn’t fun for anybody. For most people, it’s an unpleasant couple of weeks that they recover from and then move on with their lives. A miserable couple of weeks is bad enough, but for seniors the flu can be much more serious.

Sometimes the flu can kill. Even more often it can cause serious enough health problems for the sufferer to be hospitalized. That can happen to the young and healthy, but more often it happens to seniors. 90% of flu-related deaths were people over 65 years old, as were half of all related hospitalizations.

Frankly, we should be able to stop the post right here. That sounds like a pretty compelling argument for all seniors to get the flu vaccine to me.

For the few of you out there who see that information and aren’t convinced, there are other strong reasons to get to your closest pharmacy and get a flu vaccine this fall.

Your Immune System’s Weak

This is one of the inconvenient realities of aging. You catch illnesses more easily as you age and have a worse experience of them than you did when you were young.

When you are ill, that weakens your immune system even more. Seniors suffering from the flu are more prone to extra complications and catching other illnesses that compound the issue.

You can put in the effort to be as healthy as possible (and you should), but you have to expect that you’ll still have an easier time catching inconvenient sicknesses than those 10 and 20 years younger than you.

You Could Pass It To Those You Love

The reason every flu season brings a spattering of articles, ads, and advice admonishing people to get vaccinated is that it’s not just about you. The more people who catch the flu, the more people there are out there spreading it.

When more people get vaccinated, especially those people who are most susceptible (we’re looking at you, seniors), it doesn’t spread as quickly or as easily.

Did you know that just a third of people between the ages of 18 and 64 got the flu vaccine last year? You can bet they’re also hearing all the advice to get vaccinated, but they know the stakes aren’t as high for them, so aren’t as likely to make the effort.

Are any of your loved ones in that age range? If you’re around kids, grandkids, nephews, nieces, cousins, etc. that didn’t get the vaccine this season, your choice not to get it yourself puts them all at higher risk.

It’s Free on Medicare

Maybe you agree with everything that’s been written here, but can’t get the cost concern out of your head. Life is plenty expensive without going out of your way to pay for one more thing.

If you’re on Medicare, you should have no problem getting the vaccine for free. Confirm with the hospital or pharmacy you go to first that they won’t charge anything beyond what Medicare pays for (if they do, you can find somewhere that doesn’t).

If you can give up just a few minutes (and no money), you can get through this winter with less risk and concern. The peace of mind is worth a quick trip.

Kristen Hicks

Kristen Hicks is an Austin-based copywriter and lifelong student with an ongoing curiousity to learn and explore new things. She turns that interest to researching and exploring subjects helpful to seniors and their families for SeniorAdvisor.com.