Vaccines are not just for children. Adults need protection too, and the shots you need change as you get older and as your health changes. Staying current is one of the simplest, most effective ways to prevent serious illness. This guide walks through the common adult immunizations, when they are usually recommended, and how a primary care doctor helps you keep track over time. At Elon Health Primary Care in Davenport, FL, Dr. Sandeep Pandya reviews your history so nothing falls through the cracks.
Why Adults Still Need Vaccines
Protection from some childhood shots fades over the years, and new vaccines become important as you age. Your immune system also weakens a little as you get older, which makes infections like the flu and pneumonia more dangerous. Getting the right immunizations at the right time lowers your chance of a hospital stay and helps protect the people around you, including grandchildren and older relatives.
The recommendations below follow the CDC adult immunization schedule current in 2026, as set by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Two of them changed recently, so if you were told something different a few years ago, the guidance moved rather than your doctor being wrong. This page is a starting point for a conversation, not a personal plan. Your own schedule depends on your age, past shots, health conditions, pregnancy, job, and travel, and the CDC schedule is updated at least annually.
Flu (Influenza): Every Year
A yearly flu shot is recommended for nearly all adults, ideally in the early fall before flu season picks up in Polk County. The virus changes from season to season, so last year's shot does not carry over. Adults 65 and older may be offered a higher-dose or adjuvanted version designed to produce a stronger response.
If you have heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, or a weakened immune system, the flu can hit harder, which makes the yearly shot especially worthwhile.
Tdap and Td: A Booster Every Ten Years
Tdap protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough (pertussis). Most adults need a Td or Tdap booster every ten years, and at least one of those should be the Tdap version to cover whooping cough. A booster is also given after certain deep or dirty wounds if it has been more than five years.
- Every pregnancy: a Tdap dose is recommended to protect the newborn from whooping cough.
- Around infants: adults who will be near a new baby should be current on Tdap.
- After a wound: your doctor may update the booster sooner than the usual ten years.
Shingles (Recombinant Zoster): Age 50 and Up
Shingles is a painful rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, which stays dormant in the body for decades. The recombinant shingles vaccine is recommended for healthy adults age 50 and older, given as two doses spaced a few months apart. It is also advised for some younger adults with weakened immune systems. Vaccination greatly lowers the risk of shingles and of the lasting nerve pain that can follow it.
Pneumococcal: Protecting the Lungs
Pneumococcal vaccines guard against a common cause of pneumonia, as well as bloodstream and brain infections. This recommendation changed in October 2024: ACIP lowered the age-based recommendation from 65 to 50, so a single dose of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is now recommended for all adults aged 50 and older who have not had one. Younger adults are advised to get it sooner if they smoke or have conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, or a weakened immune system.
There are several pneumococcal products and the right one depends on your age and what you have received before, which is a good example of why a doctor who holds your record can simplify the decision. If you turned 50 before this change and were told to wait until 65, it is worth asking at your next visit.
RSV: New, and Frequently Missed
Respiratory syncytial virus is a common respiratory infection that is mild in healthy younger adults and genuinely dangerous in older adults and in people with chronic heart or lung disease. Vaccination is recent enough that many eligible adults have never been offered it.
- All adults 75 and older: a single dose of RSV vaccine is recommended.
- Adults 50 to 74 at increased risk: a single dose is recommended. ACIP extended this down to age 50 in 2025. Increased risk includes chronic lung disease such as asthma or COPD, chronic heart disease, diabetes, severe obesity, kidney or liver disease, a weakened immune system, and living in a nursing home.
- It is not an annual shot like the flu vaccine. Current guidance is a single dose rather than a yearly one.
COVID-19
An updated COVID-19 vaccine formulation is issued each year. Since October 2025 the CDC schedule has treated COVID-19 vaccination as an individual, shared decision between you and your doctor rather than a blanket recommendation for every adult, with the clearest benefit in older adults and people with chronic conditions. Because the formulation, the timing, and the recommendation itself have all been revised recently, this is one to confirm at a visit rather than assume from last year. Our guide to telling flu, COVID and RSV apart covers what each one actually feels like.
Hepatitis A and B
Hepatitis B protects the liver from a virus spread through blood and body fluids, and the CDC now recommends the series for all adults through age 59, plus older adults with risk factors. Hepatitis A is advised for travel to certain areas, for chronic liver disease, and for other specific risks. Both are given as a short series of shots, and a combined vaccine can cover both at once.
- Chronic liver conditions or diabetes may raise the case for hepatitis B.
- International travel often calls for hepatitis A, sometimes on short notice.
- Healthcare and lab work can be a reason to confirm hepatitis B protection.
COVID-19 vaccination is now framed by the CDC schedule (since October 2025) as an individual decision made with your doctor, with older adults and those with certain conditions getting the most benefit. Timing and product recommendations are updated periodically, so it helps to check in at a regular visit. Depending on your health, age, and travel plans, your doctor may also discuss RSV vaccination for older adults, the HPV series for younger adults, or others such as MMR and varicella if your records are incomplete.
Timing It for Central Florida
Respiratory season runs differently here than in most of the country, and it affects when to come in.
- Flu vaccine: aim for late September through October. The CDC advises being vaccinated by the end of October, which gives protection roughly two weeks later and carries it through the winter peak. Getting it much earlier can mean protection fading before the season ends.
- Later is still worth it. Florida flu activity often runs well into spring, so a shot in December or January is still worthwhile rather than a lost cause.
- Polk County has a large seasonal population. Winter visitors and heavy year-round tourism through the Four Corners and Champions Gate area mean more respiratory viruses circulating locally than the calendar alone would suggest.
- Combine the visit. An autumn well adult visit is an efficient time to get flu and COVID-19 vaccination, check whether RSV, pneumococcal, or shingles are due, and get blood work done in the same trip.
- Heat is not protection. Air conditioning keeps people indoors together in summer here, which is why respiratory illness never quite disappears locally.
How Your Primary Care Doctor Tracks Your Records
One of the quiet advantages of having a primary care home is that someone keeps the full picture. At each visit, your doctor can review which shots you have had, which are due, and which can wait. Because Elon Health Primary Care keeps your chart in one place, it is easier to avoid both missed doses and unnecessary repeats.
- A running list of the vaccines you have received and the dates.
- Reminders for boosters and age-based shots as they come due.
- A plan tailored to your conditions, pregnancy, job, and travel.
If you are ever unsure whether you are current, bring any old vaccine cards or records you have, and we can fill in the gaps together.
Establish Care in Davenport
Keeping your immunizations current is easier when one doctor knows your history and follows it year to year. Dr. Sandeep Pandya is welcoming new patients from Davenport, Champions Gate, Haines City, Kissimmee, and across Polk County. To review your vaccine record and build a plan that fits you, request an appointment or call 352-508-5254. If you ever have a medical emergency such as trouble breathing or signs of a stroke, call 911 right away.
Clinical Guidance Behind This Page
The ages, intervals, and recommendations above follow the CDC adult immunization schedule and ACIP recommendations current as of August 2026, including the October 2024 change lowering pneumococcal vaccination to age 50 and the 2025 extension of RSV vaccination to adults 50 to 74 at increased risk. The CDC schedule is revised at least annually; confirm what applies to you at a visit. Reviewed by Dr. Sandeep Pandya, board-trained family medicine physician and Medical Director, Elon Health Primary Care.