Don't wait for a holiday surge. Now is a good time to get your flu and COVID-19 vaccines

A nurse prepares a syringe of a COVID-19 vaccine at an inoculation station in Jackson, Miss., in 2022.

Rogelio V. Solis / Rogelio V. Solis

If you missed the early fall push for flu and COVID-19 vaccines, it’s not too late.

Health officials say it’s important to get vaccinated ahead of the holidays, when respiratory bugs tend to spread with travel and indoor celebrations.

Those viruses haven’t caused much trouble so far this fall. But COVID-19 tends to jump in the winter months, a rise that usually starts around Thanksgiving and peaks in January.