If you haven’t gotten a flu shot yet, it’s not too late to get one. Adair County Community Health Coordinator Stephanie Claussen recommends everyone ages 6 months and older be vaccinated each year. She says the shots usually do a pretty good job of keeping you safe from the flu, but they’re not foolproof. “It’s hard to predict for sure how the flu season will go. No one predicted that we would have that variant flu strain last year that was not covered in the vaccine. It’s hard to predict if that would happen again. It’s always possible.”

The Center for Disease Control recommends receiving the flu shot as soon as it arrives in your area. As a rule of thumb, they say it’s good to be vaccinated by Thanksgiving and even better to be vaccinated by Halloween.