Protecting Employees This Fall and Winter

Guest Blog by: ​By Marla Dalton, CAE, Executive Director and CEO of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases

Author, NFID Executive Director and CEO Marla Dalton, at the recent NFID flu vaccine clinic.

​Help protect yourself and your employees from serious diseases including flu, COVID-19, RSV, and pneumonia

Like eating healthy and exercising regularly, getting vaccinated is an important part of staying healthy and preventing serious complications from preventable diseases. This is especially true during the fall and winter when respiratory diseases become more common as people spend time indoors for school, work, and holiday gatherings. In the US, illnesses like influenza (flu), COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and pneumonia affect many people each year and also impact employers and businesses. Flu alone costs an estimated $11.2 billion in direct and indirect costs in the US annually.

Despite how serious these diseases can be, a recent survey by the Bethesda-based National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), found that less than 1 in 5 US adults expressed concern about themselves or someone in their family getting a respiratory infection this fall and winter. For the current season, nearly half (45%) indicated that they do not plan to or are unsure if they will get vaccinated against flu, and the majority (61%) do not plan to or are unsure if they will get an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

This is a concerning trend, since getting vaccinated can help you stay healthy, avoid missing work or school, and help prevent you from spreading a potentially serious disease to friends, family, or co-workers who may be at greater risk. Those at higher risk include pregnant women, young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems or chronic health conditions like diabetes, asthma, or heart disease. Vaccines can help make symptoms milder, reduce the amount of sick time, and help prevent the need for medical care or hospitalization.

NFID has developed a checklist to help make sure that you and your employees are up to date on recommended respiratory vaccines:

Flu (Everyone age 6 months and older)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone age 6 months and older get a flu vaccine every year. Flu is not just a common cold. While the numbers vary, each year in the US, millions of people get sick, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized, and tens of thousands die from flu-related complications.

COVID-19 (Everyone age 6 months and older)
CDC recommends that everyone age 6 months and older get an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine this season to help protect against new variants that are circulating. COVID-19 and flu vaccines can be given at the same time. Like flu vaccines, COVID-19 vaccines are safe and strongly recommended for pregnant women, older adults, and those with chronic health conditions. If you recently had COVID-19, you can delay getting an updated vaccine by about 3 months, but you should get vaccinated then.

RSV (Older adults, pregnant women/infants)
Although symptoms may be mild, RSV is the most common cause of pneumonia in young children and can cause hospitalization and death in older adults as well. RSV vaccination is currently recommended as a one-time dose for all adults age 75 years and older, adults age 60-74 years who have certain risk factors, and pregnant women to help protect their infants. For infants born to mothers who did not get an RSV vaccine while pregnant, a monoclonal antibody is recommended.

Pneumococcal disease (Young children, older adults, those with certain medical conditions)
​Pneumococcal vaccines (sometimes called pneumonia vaccines) are recommended for all children younger than age 5 years, adults age 50 years and older, and people with certain chronic health conditions, including heart disease, lung disease (asthma or COPD), kidney or liver disease, diabetes, sickle cell disease, or other conditions and treatments that weaken the immune system

Vaccines can help prevent the spread of disease and keep symptoms milder for those who do get sick. Employers play a key role in protecting their workforce and the community by encouraging vaccination as part of a healthy workplace culture.
Learn more at www.nfid.org.


Founded in 1973, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to educating and engaging the public, communities, and healthcare professionals about infectious diseases across the lifespan.