Schedule Your Flu Shot Today

Flu shots are now available! MUSC Health Primary Care recommends that patients of all ages receive their influenza vaccine between now and December.

Schedule today, don't delay!

How to Schedule

  • To learn more about the flu, please visit the CDC’s flu resource center: About Flu | CDC
  • Established patients can call their practice to schedule an appointment or find a nearby vaccine location at Vaccines.gov

Frequently Asked Question About The Flu Shot

The flu shot is the best protection we have against the flu. The vaccine helps keep us healthy, stay on track with work and school, and reduce the number of hospitalizations and even deaths related to the flu. During a year when the flu vaccine is a good match against circulating strains, it reduces the overall rate of flu illness by 40 to 60%.

The flu makes you feel awful. It can weaken your body so that secondary infections like pneumonia and sinus infections may occur. Influenza can also cause chronic illnesses worse such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Unfortunately, we are most contagious at the beginning of a flu illness, sometimes before we have any symptoms. Getting the flu vaccine is one of the most important things you can do to reduce the possibility of unknowingly spreading the flu to another person.

Everyone! The flu shot is important to protect yourself and your friends, family, and coworkers. Certain people are more vulnerable to the complications of the flu such as children younger than five, adults over 65, pregnant women, and people with certain chronic health conditions (diabetes, asthma, COPD, heart failure) regardless of their age. Nearly everyone has regular contact with people who fall into one or more of these categories. We must do everything possible to help them stay healthy!

Yes, children can and should get the flu shot. The CDC recommends the flu vaccine for children over six months of age. An important study looking at the flu across four seasons concluded that getting the flu shot reduces the rate of flu-associated death in healthy kids and those with underlying high-risk conditions.

The flu shot is also recommended for pregnant women, and it decreases the rates of flu complications for both the mom and her baby. The mother's antibodies in response to the flu shot are transferred to the baby and continue to protect them even after birth!

The influenza virus is a tricky illness and is highly adapted to infecting humans. It mutates regularly, so we must make our best educated guess about which flu strains will be important based on which flu strains are highly active in other parts of the world before our peak season. Admittedly, in some years, that prediction is more accurate than others, and the flu vaccine may vary in its effectiveness from year to year. However, even when that prediction is less than perfect, the flu vaccine offers you and your loved ones the best protection from the virus.

The flu shot cannot give you the flu. It is an inactivated vaccine and simply not able to infect you. However, you can still get the flu even if you have had the shot. After getting the shot, it takes about two weeks before your body is fully primed to fight the flu.

It is possible that getting the flu shot may produce some mild symptoms such as muscle pain, headache, nausea, or low-grade fever. This is your body responding to the vaccine by priming your immune system. These symptoms should resolve in 24 to 48 hours and can usually be treated with Tylenol or ibuprofen.

Getting the vaccine makes it less likely that you will get the flu. Even if you are unlucky enough to get the flu, having the vaccine means that your symptoms will likely be less severe and go away sooner. You are less likely to spread it to another person. Finally, it is less likely that the flu will cause a serious illness and lead to hospitalization or death.