Vaccination can be a powerful way to ward off or lessen the impact of potentially serious viral and bacterial illnesses. But are you getting all the vaccines you need? It can be hard to know. This planner from Everyday Health can help by identifying specific vaccines that match your needs as an adult. Use the personalized results you’ll receive at the end of the online questionnaire as a jumping-off point for a conversation with your primary care provider or other healthcare professional, and remember that you will require more guidance if you have a complex health condition.

Find Out Which Vaccines May Be Recommended for You

Vaccines Most Commonly Recommended for Adults

Influenza (Flu) This vaccine is recommended every year, ideally in September or October, to protect against the seasonal influenza virus.

Why Vaccines Are Important

A study published in 2024 in the medical journal The Lancet estimated that vaccines have saved 154 million lives globally since 1974 — six lives every minute. Of those lives saved, 95 percent were children younger than age 5.

“Vaccines are important for two big reasons,” says Sandra Albrecht, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. “One, they protect individuals from becoming very sick or dying if infected with a dangerous pathogen, like a virus, and two, they reduce disease transmission in the community by limiting the opportunity for exposure to an infectious disease.”

When healthy people get vaccinated it helps protect people who aren’t able to get as much protection from vaccines for various reasons. For instance, “There are some people who cannot get vaccines due to a medication they’re taking or a health condition that affects their immune system,” explains Stacy B. Buchanan, DNP, RN, assistant professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta. Other people, including newborn babies and the elderly, may have immune systems that don’t work well even if they are vaccinated.

“But when everyone else gets their vaccines — on time and according to the recommended schedule — vulnerable people are protected due to the lower level of circulating disease in the community,” Dr. Buchanan says. “What I have just described is called herd immunity.”

Dr. Albrecht adds, “For individuals, even if they are healthy, vaccines are important because they reduce the likelihood of becoming sick for a long period of time, which has big impacts on life in one’s household, for productivity at work, and for just feeling well in general.”

Vaccines use weakened or killed versions of pathogens that teach the immune system how to recognize and respond to the threat quickly should there be a future exposure. “This reduces the likelihood of the person becoming very ill,” Albrecht says. “And if the person does not get sick or is sick for a shorter period of time, this also reduces the likelihood of transmitting the illness to other people.”

As for vaccine safety, “Each vaccine product carries some risk of side effects, with the most common being fever, pain, swelling at the injection site, and mild fatigue,” Buchanan says. “No vaccine is 100 percent safe. But serious adverse reactions are rare.”

She notes that vaccines go through rigorous testing prior to being made available for the public and are continually monitored in the United States through a program called the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) to identify and respond to any unexpected issues.

How Does the EH Vaccine Planner Work?

This planner generates a set of personalized vaccine recommendations based on your answers to a number of questions, including your age; any medical conditions or special risk factors you may have; and your immunization history both in the recent past (including seasonal vaccines administered each year) and earlier (such as lifetime vaccines people typically get in childhood).

The advice you’ll receive is based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

Robert M. Jacobson, MD, worked closely with Everyday Health to develop this planner and ensure its accuracy. He is a professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and medical director of the Population Health Science Program at the Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.

Special Vaccine Requirements

People in some occupations or settings, or who participate in certain actions or behaviors, may be at higher risk and have special vaccination requirements not included in the planner. If any of these apply to you, consult your healthcare provider for more information.

Occupations and settings:

Healthcare personnel, volunteers, and trainees
Laboratory workers and microbiologists
People experiencing homelessness
Prison guards, workers, and prisoners
Staff and residents of group homes, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, or residential day care facilities for developmentally disabled persons

Actions and behaviors:

Men who have sex with men
Injection or non-injection drug use
International travelers

Some people may also require additional vaccines during local disease outbreaks.

Everyday Health Vaccine Planner

Find Out Which Vaccines May Be Recommended for You

Vaccines Most Commonly Recommended for Adults

Why Vaccines Are Important

How Does the EH Vaccine Planner Work?

Special Vaccine Requirements