If your baby is born during this month, he or she is less likely to get the flu.

Getting an annual flu shot is especially important for young children, who are at higher risk for influenza and serious infections requiring hospitalization.

It is recommended to get vaccinated in September or October to maximize immunity during peak flu season. Researchers set out to evaluate the optimal timing of influenza vaccination in young children.

Using health insurance claims data, they identified more than 800,000 children ages 2 to 5 who received a flu vaccine between August 1 and January 31, 2011-18. They then analyzed influenza diagnosis rates among these children by month of birth.

After taking into account a variety of potentially influencing factors such as age, gender, existing conditions, health care utilization and family sizeResults show October is the most common month for children to receive vaccinations.

Children born in October also had the lowest rates of influenza diagnosis. For example, among children born in August, the average influenza diagnosis rate during the study flu season was 3%, compared with 2.7% for children born in October and 2.9% for children born in December.

it’s about a observational study

The authors acknowledge that their findings are limited to insured children receiving medical care. They also cannot rule out the possibility that other unmeasured factors may have affected their results.