The federal government has changed its recommendation on who should be vaccinated against the flu.

"The message is simple now," said David Weber, M.D. "If you’re more than six months of age, get the vaccine."

The recommendation for universal flu vaccination represents a break from past years, when the government focused on vaccinating people in certain "high-risk" groups and those in contact with people at high risk.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel said that last year’s H1N1 flu outbreak, which affected many young, healthy people not traditionally considered to be at high risk for complications from flu, affected the decision to recommend universal vaccination.
Officials say this year’s vaccine protects against H1N1 and two other strains of seasonal flu.

"In an average year, there are more than 200,000 hospitalizations and more than 35,000 deaths from flu," said Dr. Weber. "Many of those would be preventable by simply getting the flu shot. Flu shots are far and away the best way for preventing flu."

He added that, "It’s important every year. This year it may be more important because anybody who didn’t get H1N1 last year is susceptible to it, and since that was the first year H1N1 was around, many people, if not most people, are susceptible."