BATON ROUGE — The updated flu vaccine for this season is a trivalent vaccine, meaning it contains protection for not just one, but three different types of influenza.

"There's an H1N1, an H3N2 and an influenza B virus that this vaccine will protect against. Compared to last year, the H3N2 component is different. So this protects against a different strain of that virus that we didn't have in last year's flu vaccine," said Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases.

"We recommend getting the vaccine before the end of October, since we tend to see cases of influenza increase
in November, December and January. And so you want to make sure that you're protected going into that time of increased influenza circulation," she said.

She says there are some people who may benefit from getting a flu shot earlier.

"So children under 9 years of age, especially if this is their first time getting the flu vaccine or they haven't had two prior doses of the flu vaccine, they actually will need two doses separated by four weeks. And so to get that full protection, it'll take them a bit longer."

Also, those who are pregnant and will be delivering early on in the flu season.

"Their babies will not be eligible to get the flu vaccine themselves until they're 6 months of age. So making sure that the pregnant person gets their flu vaccine during the pregnancy will provide some protection to that baby after
they're born," she said.