Stay up to date: What to know about flu, COVID vaccines

This paid piece is sponsored by Avera Health.

The germs are starting to spread, so now is the perfect time to get your vaccinations to prevent sickness this winter.

The CDC recommends flu and COVID shots for people this fall, and Avera providers follow these recommendations as well. Flu and COVID can lead to hospitalization and even death in serious cases, but the vaccines prevent millions of sicknesses every year.

Here’s what to know about flu:

• Everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine with few exceptions.
• Vaccination is particularly important for people who are at higher risk of serious complications from flu. This includes women who are pregnant and people with asthma, diabetes or other chronic issues.

Here’s what to know about COVID:

• Everyone 6 months and older should get a 2024–25 COVID-19 vaccine.
• The COVID-19 vaccine helps protect you from severe disease, hospitalization and death.
• It is especially important to get your vaccine if you are 65 and older, are at high risk for severe COVID-19 or have never received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. David Basel, vice president of clinical quality for Avera Medical Group, answer some common questions about vaccines.

How do vaccines work?

When you get exposed to a viral or bacterial infection, it’s a race; the virus or bacteria is trying to reproduce and create additional copies. What the body is trying to do is use its immune cells to recognize that as foreign and a threat, and then to ramp up production of other immune cells that create antibodies to fight off that infection. What a vaccine does is to give you a head start in that race against the virus or bacteria.

Are vaccines safe?

We get a lot of questions about vaccine safety. There are risks in the form of an allergic response to anything that we give, but the risks of something like an allergic response are so much less concerning than the risk of getting the actual illness. It is so protective and does so much to protect folks, especially those that are vulnerable.

What else helps immunity?

You can do many things to prevent illness around you, including getting enough sleep, following a healthy diet, washing your hands frequently and staying home when you’re sick.

If you do get sick, Avera after-hours locations are available to provide guidance, or you can message your regular provider for guidance through AveraChart. Sign in to a Sioux Falls urgent location to save your spot and plan your arrival time.