If you’re 65 or older and walk into a pharmacy asking for “the flu shot,” there’s one more question worth asking before rolling up your sleeve. For the 2026-2027 flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention preferentially recommends three types of flu vaccine for adults 65 and older over standard-dose, unadjuvanted flu vaccines. The reason isn’t that a regular age-appropriate flu shot suddenly stops working at 65, but that evidence reviewed by CDC’s vaccine advisers indicates the three preferred options may provide better protection for older adults, whose immune response to vaccination can be weaker with age. That’s important because older Americans typically bear a disproportionate share of severe influenza complications, hospitalizations, and deaths.
That risk isn’t merely theoretical: during the high-severity 2024-2025 flu season, CDC estimates adults 65 and older accounted for 57% of flu-related hospitalizations and 71% of flu-related deaths. Knowing which flu shot for seniors is preferred can help you ask a more useful question when you visit your doctor or pharmacy this fall.
