How Effective Are the 2025-2026 Flu Shots?

Key takeaways:

There are nine flu vaccines available for the 2025-2026 flu season. The flu vaccine is typically about 40% to 60% effective against needing to see a healthcare professional for flu treatment.
Some flu vaccines may be a better option for certain people, including older adults and those with life-threatening egg allergies.
It’s ideal to get your flu vaccine before the end of October. But getting vaccinated later than that is still beneficial.

With flu season beginning to pick up in October, you’ve probably been seeing signs or advertisements telling you to get your annual flu shot. But with several flu vaccine options to choose from, it can be confusing to know which one to pick. Does it really make a difference which one you get? And just how effective is the 2025 flu shot?

What you need to know about the 2025-2026 flu vaccines

No one knows for sure just how bad the upcoming flu season will be or exactly how well this year’s flu vaccine will work. But there’s different things that experts take into consideration when making predictions about the upcoming flu season.

Last year’s flu season in the U.S.

The 2024-2025 flu season was considered “high” in severity across all age groups. This was more severe than the previous year. It’s estimated that up to 82 million people in the U.S. got the flu last year. And as many as 130,000 people died from it. Experts aren’t sure if the 2025-2026 season will be more or less severe than last year.

Flu severity in the Southern hemisphere

Flu transmission rates in other countries are about the same this flu season as they were during the previous season.

The World Health Organization (WHO) meets twice a year — in February and September — to review flu activity around the world and recommend which strains to include in the flu vaccine. Flu transmission in the Southern Hemisphere countries — such as Australia — can help predict what the U.S. flu season might be like.

Australia’s 2025 flu season was more severe than their 2024 season. That could mean the U.S. 2025-2026 flu season may be more severe than last year’s flu season, too.

Typical flu vaccine effectiveness

Even though the flu vaccine doesn’t protect against all strains of the flu, it’s still recommended for essentially everyone over the age of 6 months. The flu vaccine is typically about 40% to 60% effective against needing to see a healthcare professional for flu treatment.

It’s hard to predict if the current flu vaccines will be a good match for the strains going around. But it’s still one of the best ways to help prevent getting sick or severely ill with the flu.

Quiz: Test your flu shot knowledge

What flu shots are available for the 2025-2026 season?

There are nine vaccines that have been FDA approved for the 2025-2026 flu season. This year, all FDA-approved flu vaccines are trivalent — meaning they protect against three different strains of influenza (the virus that causes the flu). Here’s a rundown of the available flu vaccines for the year.

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Vaccine name	Age range	How it’s given	Potential allergens
Afluria (FDA package insert)	6 months or older	Intramuscular	Thimerosal (multiple-dose vials only), egg protein, neomycin, polymyxin
Fluad (FDA package insert)	65 years or older	Intramuscular	Egg protein, kanamycin, neomycin, polysorbate 80
Fluarix (FDA package insert)	6 months or older	Intramuscular	Egg protein, gentamicin, polysorbate 80
Flublok (FDA package insert)	9 years or older	Intramuscular	Polysorbate 20
Flucelvax (FDA package insert)	6 months or older	Intramuscular	Thimerosal (multiple-dose vials only), polysorbate 80
FluLaval (FDA package insert)	6 months or older	Intramuscular	Egg protein, polysorbate 80
FluMist (FDA package insert)	2-49 years	Nasal spray	Egg protein, gentamicin, pork gelatin, monosodium glutamate (MSG), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)
Fluzone (FDA package insert)	6 months or older	Intramuscular	Thimerosal (multiple-dose vials only), egg protein
Fluzone High-Dose (FDA package insert)	65 years or older	Intramuscular	Egg protein

It’s important to note that pharmacies and other flu vaccine locations may only carry a few brands of flu vaccine at a time — not all nine that are FDA approved. If you are interested in or know you need a certain flu vaccine, it’s best to call ahead and see if your preferred vaccine is available.

Why is the flu vaccine important?

The flu vaccine does more than just lower your risk of getting the flu. It also has the following benefits:

It lowers the risk of you needing to go to a healthcare professional for flu treatment.
It helps lessen the severity of symptoms if you do get sick with the flu.
It reduces the risk of flu-related complications, hospitalizations, and death.
If you’re pregnant, it helps protect your fetus during pregnancy and for a few months after birth.
It helps prevent you from spreading the flu to those around you. This is especially important if you’re around people with weakened immune systems or people who can’t receive the flu vaccine.

How effective are flu shots this year?

Experts never know ahead of time how effective flu vaccines will be. But on average, the flu vaccine is about 40% to 60% effective against needing to see a healthcare professional for flu treatment. Last year, it was about 56% effective.

When flu vaccines are being produced, the strains they protect against are standardized by the FDA. Each 2025-2026 vaccine protects against:

Two type A flu viruses (H1N1 and H3N2)
One type B virus (Victoria lineage)

This means that no matter what vaccine you choose, you’re being protected against the same strains. But when it comes to picking the right flu vaccine for you, you have to take other factors into account.

The best flu shot for people 65 and older

As we get older, our immune systems have a harder time responding to illnesses and vaccines. To help provide better protection, there are a few recommended options for older adults this year:

Fluzone High-Dose — also known as the “high-dose flu shot”
Fluad
Flublok

If one of these three vaccines isn’t available, you should still get vaccinated with another flu vaccine that’s FDA approved for your age range. All flu vaccines are effective against the flu. It’s better to be vaccinated than to try to wait or shop around for a particular flu vaccine to become available.

The best flu shot if you have egg allergies

Many flu vaccines are made using chicken eggs — called egg-based vaccines. While most people with egg allergies are still able to receive egg-based flu vaccines, there are rare instances where they can cause life-threatening allergic reactions.

If this is the case for you or if you’re concerned, Flucelvax and Flublok are two egg-free flu vaccine options. But remember, Flublok is only FDA approved for people ages 9 and older. If you’re getting your young child vaccinated and they have a severe egg allergy, you’ll want to ask a pharmacist or other healthcare professional if they have Flucelvax available.

The best flu vaccine if you’re scared of needles

While most people use the terms “flu vaccine” and “flu shot” interchangeably, not all flu vaccines use a needle to deliver the ingredients.

FluMist is a nasal spray vaccine. However, it’s not the right choice for some people. This vaccine is only FDA approved for people ages 2 and 49. FluMist is also a live attenuated vaccine, meaning it contains weakened versions of the flu viruses instead of inactivated (dead) viruses. If you’re pregnant or have certain health problems — such as a weakened immune system — you shouldn’t receive it.

When should you get your flu shot?

It’s ideal to get vaccinated against the flu during September or October.

Flu vaccine effectiveness can have a lot to do with when you get it. It’s recommended to get your flu vaccine about 2 weeks before flu season begins in your area — preferably by the end of October. However, if you get the flu vaccine too early — July or August, for instance — you may not be protected for the entire flu season.

While September or October are the ideal times to get your flu vaccine, it’s still recommended to get it later than that if you were unable to do so earlier. If you’re unsure when flu season begins in your area, talk to your local pharmacist or other healthcare professional.

Frequently asked questions

Flu vaccine immunity — meaning immune system protection — doesn’t last long. After about 5 to 6 months, your immunity starts to fade. This falling level of protection (from a lessening amount of antibodies), combined with ever-mutating flu viruses, means it’s important to be vaccinated for the flu every year.

No, flu vaccines don’t cause the flu. However, some people experience flu-like symptoms, such as muscle aches or a low fever, in the days that follow their vaccine. These are side effects of the flu vaccine, and it’s a sign your immune system is learning how to fight the flu virus. These are expected and don’t mean you’re getting sick with the flu. They should go away within a few days.

Yes, the flu shot can prevent the flu. But the effectiveness varies each year, depending on what flu strains are going around. However, the flu vaccine offers benefits beyond just flu prevention. If you get the flu even though you were vaccinated, you’re much less likely to have severe symptoms or experience flu-related complications. And if you’re pregnant, getting your annual flu vaccine protects your fetus both during your pregnancy and for the first few months after birth.

The bottom line

There are nine options for flu vaccines for the 2025-2026 flu season. No matter which one you choose, flu vaccine effectiveness should be the same — 40% to 60% effective on average. Some flu vaccines may be a better choice for certain groups of people, such as older adults and people with life-threatening egg allergies. If you’re still questioning which 2025 flu shot is right for you, make it a point to talk to your pharmacist or other healthcare professional and get vaccinated this fall.

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Written by:

Christina Aungst, PharmD

Christina Aungst, PharmD, is a pharmacy editor for GoodRx. She began writing for GoodRx Health in 2019, transitioning from freelance writer to editor in 2021.

Reviewed by:

Joshua Murdock, PharmD, BCBBS

Joshua Murdock, PharmD, BCBBS, is a licensed pharmacist in Arizona, Colorado, and Rhode Island. He has worked in the pharmacy industry for more than 10 years and currently serves as a pharmacy editor for GoodRx.

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