Protect yourself and others
Even healthy people can get very sick from influenza. Most healthy people who get influenza are quite sick for a short time, but generally recover well.
However, as influenza is easily spread by coughing, sneezing, or touching contaminated surfaces and then touching your mouth or nose, you can spread germs to others. This includes those who are at serious risk of complications if they get influenza such as young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with chronic medical conditions. If they get influenza, complications may include high fever, pneumonia, worsening of other illnesses and in some cases death.
By getting vaccinated each year, you help to protect these vulnerable people from getting sick with influenza, as well as those who are unable to be vaccinated themselves (e.g. children under 6 months are too young to get an influenza vaccine).
If you don’t catch influenza, you can’t pass it on to others.
Note: In addition to getting an influenza vaccine, there are also other things you can do to prevent the spread of germs to protect yourself and others from viruses.