You hear it around this time every year: Get your flu shot to reduce your chances of getting the flu. But there are lesser known — and very compelling — reasons to get the flu shot and other vaccines. We asked our Medical Director, Dr. Stephen Evans, to outline some of the benefits he shares with his own patients.
The Flu Shot
In addition to preventing or reducing the severity of the flu, getting the flu vaccine can reduce your risk of hospitalization. For example:
- The Centers for Disease Control estimates the flu vaccines prevented 180,000 flu-related hospitalizations in the United States during 2024-25.
- A British Infection Association review found that flu vaccination reduced the risk of flu-related hospitalization among older adults by about 40% during five flu seasons.
- In general, flu shots protect most effectively as patients become more frail (such as being physically dependent or having memory impairment) and those who are regularly around them, especially in the household, have also received an annual flu shot. So getting flu shots for everyone in a multi-generational family setting is likely to protect everyone, but particularly the oldest members of the household.
The Shingles Vaccine
Here’s an interesting twist – multiple studies are showing that the shingles vaccine is a powerful tool in preventing dementia. For example:
- A Brown University study found that older adults who received a shingles vaccine after a skilled-nursing stay had a 24% lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia over the next four years.
- According to a Stanford University study that analyzed the health records of older adults in Wales, those who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years.
The RSV Vaccine
You may have heard that getting the RSV vaccine helps protect against spreading the virus to vulnerable infants, but it also protects older adults from hospitalization. For example:
- A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that one shot of an RSV vaccine protects adults ages 60+ from RSV-related hospitalization by 58% during two RSV seasons.
The COVID Vaccine
This is perhaps the most talked about vaccine in recent history. But did you know that research suggests that it protects against not only COVID-19, but cardiovascular events and even cancer? For example:
- A US Department of Veterans Affairs study found that adults over age 75 who had the COVID vaccine had a 50.7% reduction major adverse cardiovascular events associated with COVID-19. These include cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke, and hospitalization for heart failure.
- Researchers at the University of Florida found that lung and skin cancer patients who received a COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy lived significantly longer than those who did not.
A Doctor’s Advice
There is a lot of information (and unfortunately, misinformation) online about vaccines, so it can be hard to sort through it all. Dr. Evans tells his patients and their families that everyone is struggling to interpret information from the internet, but it makes the most sense to take the vaccines that have shown clear benefits for more than one problem, such as:
- Getting the shingles vaccine for prevention of shingles and reduction of incidence of dementia
- Getting the flu shot for its ability to protect people from not only the flu, but from pneumonia, emergency room visits, and overnight hospitalizations
Please talk with your provider about which vaccines are right for you — and those who are living with or in frequent contact with you.
