Time to Prepare for Flu Season With Some Key Vaccines

As the temps start to cool, people head indoors, which generally kicks off the annual flu season. And these days, flu season includes COVID and RSV. Here’s how you can protect yourself and your family.

It used to be that flu season meant that some strain of influenza made its way through the population, usually during the winter months as people spend more time indoors.

Today, flu season is getting more crowded thanks to two other respiratory viruses that have joined influenza in making its unwelcome rounds — COVID and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

The good news is that there are vaccinations for each of these respiratory viruses, and we offer them here at LaSante Health Center. Our team of multi-speciality providers emphasizes preventive care, and vaccines are a key piece of this puzzle.

So, let’s review how you can protect yourself and your family this flu season with these three key vaccinations.

Protecting against the flu

Each year, health organizations around the world gather data to predict which strain of influenza will be most powerful in any given flu season. This year is no different.

Thanks to this research, we have the 2026-27 flu vaccine, which is designed to protect people against the flu, as well as serious illness.

Flu numbers remain very high in the United States. For example, during the 2024-25 season, about 51 million Americans got the flu. More worrying is the fact that there were 710,000 flu-related hospitalizations and 45,000 deaths during this season.

So, if you think that the flu isn’t a threat, think again. This is why we recommend that everyone aged 6 months and older be vaccinated with this year’s flu shot.

COVID — still going strong

After its emergence more than 6 years ago, COVID-19 has morphed into a regular respiratory virus that makes its rounds every flu season. Last flu season, there were up to 13 million COVID illnesses that led to between 15,000 and 43,000 deaths in the US.

Just like the flu shot, medical researchers study the behavior of COVID and choose the appropriate vaccine each flu season.

The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends everyone over the age of 19, including pregnant women, get a COVID vaccine. If you’re 65 or older, you should get a follow-up COVID vaccine six months after the initial 2026-27 shot.

When it comes to kids, we recommend COVID vaccines between ages 6 months and 23 months. For older kids, we determine vaccination on a case-by-case basis.

Keeping safe from RSV

Lastly, let’s look at vaccinations for RSV, which is particularly dangerous for very young infants and the elderly. Given that, we recommend a one-time vaccine for adults over the age of 75, as well as anyone who may be more at risk between the ages of 50 and 75.

For infants, there are two types of RSV vaccination protocols — one that the pregnant mother receives and passes on to the child and one that’s given to an infant to promote antibodies.

The good news is that we can figure out which vaccines are appropriate for you — and administer them — in just one quick visit.

To protect yourself this flu season against respiratory viruses, please call our Brooklyn, New York, clinic or use our online booking tool to set up an appointment. You can also visit our clinic during our hours of operation.

Our team proudly serves the Flatbush and East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Little Haiti, Little Caribbean, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens communities.