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Annual vaccination is the most important step for reducing your risk of seasonal influenza and its potentially serious complications. Add practical habits—such as staying home when sick, improving indoor air, and washing your hands—to help limit exposure and spread. No single measure guarantees you will avoid flu.
Get a flu vaccine each season
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies annual vaccination as the single best way to reduce the risk of seasonal flu and its potentially serious complications. CDC recommends vaccination for everyone aged 6 months and older, subject to current clinical guidance. Recommendations can vary by country, so follow your local health authority’s advice if you live outside the United States. See the CDC’s current seasonal flu prevention guidance for U.S. vaccine information.
Vaccination is not a guarantee against infection. If you still get flu after vaccination, it may make the illness less severe. The World Health Organization (WHO) says protection can take up to two weeks to develop, so getting vaccinated before flu begins circulating locally is useful when possible. Vaccination later in the season can still help.
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Use everyday habits to reduce exposure and spread
Flu spreads mainly through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. WHO also describes transmission through small airborne particles and contaminated hands. Because spread can happen in more than one way, combine practical precautions rather than relying on a single one.
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- Avoid close contact with people who are sick when you can.
- Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your elbow, then discard the tissue.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water. If those are unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Clean frequently touched surfaces as part of ordinary hygiene, alongside vaccination and the other measures here.
CDC’s healthy habits to prevent flu explains these steps in more detail.
Stay home when you are sick
If you have flu or another respiratory illness, staying home helps reduce the chance of passing it to others. CDC says you can return to normal activities when both conditions have been true for at least 24 hours: your symptoms are improving overall, and you have not had a fever without using fever-reducing medicine.
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After returning to normal activities, take additional precautions around others, particularly people at higher risk of severe illness. Follow any applicable workplace, school, or local public-health rules.
Improve the air in shared indoor spaces
Cleaner air can reduce exposure to respiratory viruses. When practical, bring in fresh outdoor air, use air purification, or meet outdoors instead of indoors. These options can complement vaccination and other precautions; a purifier does not guarantee protection.
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Choose an approach that fits the space: opening windows or gathering outside may be feasible in some situations, while air purification may be useful where ventilation options are limited. CDC describes these approaches in its guidance on cleaner air for respiratory virus prevention.
Use masks according to the situation
Mask advice depends on context. CDC’s influenza-specific interim guidance does not recommend community mask use by people without symptoms as a general way to prevent influenza exposure. It says someone with symptoms who cannot stay home may consider wearing a mask around others.
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Separate, broader CDC guidance treats masks as an additional option for respiratory-virus prevention in situations such as crowded spaces, periods of increased virus circulation, or time spent around people at higher risk. Fit matters: a well-fitting mask is more useful than one that gaps. For details, see CDC’s influenza mask guidance and its broader guidance on masks and respiratory viruses.
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WHO identifies pregnant people, children under 5, adults over 65, people with chronic conditions, immunocompromised people, and health-care workers with increased exposure as groups at higher risk of severe seasonal influenza. If you or someone you care for is in a higher-risk group and develops flu symptoms, contact a clinician promptly to ask about care and treatment. Seek prompt medical advice for severe symptoms as well. This article offers general prevention information, not an individual diagnosis or treatment plan.
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WHO’s flu prevention guidance provides an international overview; vaccine recommendations and clinical advice may differ by location.
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