How to get ready for flu season
Get ready for flu season in early fall by asking your clinician or pharmacist which vaccines are recommended for your age and health, stocking a small sick day kit, and planning who could bring you groceries if you are ill. Wash hands often and stay home when you are sick. Call a clinician early if you are in a higher risk group, and get urgent care for trouble breathing.
Why it matters: A little planning in the fall keeps a bad week from turning into a missed month.
Steps
- In early fall, ask your clinician or pharmacist which seasonal vaccines are recommended for your age and health.
- Stock a sick day kit: a thermometer, tissues, fluids, easy food and your usual medicines.
- Agree with a friend or neighbor that you will bring each other groceries if one of you is sick.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, and cough into your elbow.
- Stay home when you have a fever, and rest.
- Call a clinician early if you are pregnant, over 65 or have a long term condition.
Stop and call a professional if
- you have trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion, bluish lips, or cannot keep fluids down: get urgent care or call 911
- symptoms improve and then return with fever and a worse cough: call your clinician
Questions to ask the professional
- Which vaccines are recommended for me this season?
- What should I take for symptoms given my other medicines?
Common mistakes
- Waiting until you are ill to buy a thermometer.
- Going to work with a fever.
- Taking a medicine without checking with a pharmacist that it is safe with your others.
Outside the US or in another state: Vaccine recommendations and timing are set nationally and vary by country.
Teach this to someone
A one page sheet for showing a friend, a teenager or a parent: what to say, what to show, and one question to check it landed.
Teach: How to get ready for flu season
What to say
Get ready for flu season in early fall by asking your clinician or pharmacist which vaccines are recommended for your age and health, stocking a small sick day kit, and planning who could bring you groceries if you are ill. Wash hands often and stay home when you are sick. Call a clinician early if you are in a higher risk group, and get urgent care for trouble breathing.
What to show
- In early fall, ask your clinician or pharmacist which seasonal vaccines are recommended for your age and health.
- Stock a sick day kit: a thermometer, tissues, fluids, easy food and your usual medicines.
- Agree with a friend or neighbor that you will bring each other groceries if one of you is sick.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, and cough into your elbow.
- Stay home when you have a fever, and rest.
- Call a clinician early if you are pregnant, over 65 or have a long term condition.
Where it stops
Stop and call a professional if you have trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion, bluish lips, or cannot keep fluids down: get urgent care or call 911.
Check question
Who can tell you which seasonal vaccines suit you?
Answer: Your clinician or pharmacist. Recommendations depend on your age and health.
Your checklist
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Quick quiz
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Related skills
Sources
- US national seasonal vaccine recommendations for adults, 2026. Reviewed September 28, 2026.
Written in our own words from the sources above. It is general information, not advice for your situation; where a professional, your doctor or your lease says something different, follow them.
Last reviewed . First published .