2024–2025 Flu Season

Background

The composition of flu vaccines has been updated. Flu vaccines for the U.S. 2024–2025 season will contain the following:

Egg-based vaccines

• an A/Victoria/4897/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Thailand/8/2022 (H3N2)-like virus; and (Updated)
• a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.

Cell- or recombinant-based vaccines

• an A/Wisconsin/67/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Massachusetts/18/2022 (H3N2)-like virus; and (Updated)
• a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.

Trivalent flu vaccines are formulated to protect against three main groups of circulating seasonal influenza Type A and B viruses, an A(HIN1) virus, an A(H3N2) virus, and a B/Victoria lineage virus.

Projected U.S. Flu Vaccine Supply for the 2024-2025 Season

• Vaccine manufacturers have projected that they will supply the United States with as many as 148 million doses of flu vaccine for 2024-2025. These projections may change as the season progresses.
• For the 2024-2025 season, manufacturers will produce influenza vaccine doses that do not contain thimerosal and some vaccines that do. Only multi-dose vial formulations of influenza vaccines will contain thimerosal.
• Most of the projected flu vaccine supply this season will be thimerosal-free or thimerosal-reduced (i.e., preservative-free).
• The latest information on total distribution of flu vaccine doses for the 2024-2025 season is available.

Getting Your Flu Vaccine for Free or at Low Cost

Most health care insurance plans cover the annual flu shot as preventive care. Flu vaccination is often available at no or low cost to people who do not have insurance.

Vaccination information for children

If your child is insured:

• If your child is insured, most health care insurance plans cover flu vaccination at no cost to you. Check that your provider takes your child's insurance.
• Flu vaccine is also available at no cost* to you through CDC's Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program. A child must qualify for this program.

VCF Program

The VFC program serves children through 18 years of age who meet at least one of the following criteria:

• American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN)
• Medicaid-eligible
• Uninsured
• Underinsured

If your child is not insured:

• If your child is not insured, ask your child's doctor if they are a VFC provider or you can contact your state or local health department to find a VFC provider.

Vaccination for adults

• If you have insurance, your flu vaccine will be at no cost to you. Check that your provider takes your insurance.
• If the insurance does not cover flu vaccine or it has a fixed dollar limit or cap for vaccines, there may be options for no-cost or low-cost flu vaccination.
• If you don't have insurance, there may be options for no-cost or low-cost flu vaccination.

Where can you go for no-cost or low-cost vaccines:

• Your health provider
• Pharmacies
• Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) supported health centers
• Employers, schools, and community organizations

You can also find flu vaccine at Vaccines.gov.

*You may be charged an office visit fee and/or admin fee

Trivalent versus Quadrivalent Vaccines

Trivalent flu vaccines are formulated to protect against three flu viruses (an A(H1N1) virus, an A(H3N2) virus, and a B/Victoria virus). Trivalent flu vaccines are approved for use in many countries. Both trivalent and quadrivalent flu vaccines are expected to offer similar protection against the flu viruses they protect against. B/Yamagata flu viruses have not circulated in the population since March 2020, so protection from trivalent and quadrivalent flu vaccines is expected to be similar. All flu vaccines for the 2024-2025 season are anticipated to be trivalent in the United States.

Coinfection: Getting More than One Respiratory Illness at the Same Time

It is possible to get sick with more than one respiratory virus at the same time. This includes being sick with flu and COVID-19. It is also possible to be sick with multiple flu viruses, like influenza A and B, at the same time.

FluMist for Self- or Caregiver-Administration

On September 20, 2024, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the nasal spray flu vaccine, FluMist, for self or caregiver administration. FluMist is sprayed into the nose and is approved for the prevention of influenza disease in individuals 2 through 49 years of age. FluMist is currently available for administration by a health care provider in a health care setting (including a pharmacy) only. The option for self or caregiver administration is not expected to be available until next flu season (2025-2026). When self or caregiver administration becomes available, it will be possible for people to administer the vaccine to themselves (if they are 18 through 49 years old) or for it to be administered by a caregiver who is age 18 years or older (if the recipient is 2 through 17 years old). FluMist contains weakened live influenza viruses. FluMist has the same vaccine virus components as other flu vaccines and will protect against an H1N1 virus, and an H3N2 virus, and an influenza B virus.