National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Get Recommended Screening Tests and Immunizations
Recommendations for preventive services depend on your age, sex, health status, and family history. Find out which screening tests and immunizations are recommended for you.
What's Important to Know?
It’s important to keep up with your screening tests and immunizations to prevent certain kinds of illness. Recommendations for preventive services depend on your age, sex, health status, and family history. Every person is different.
All preventive services have possible benefits (pros) and harms (cons). Depending on your values and preferences about these benefits and harms, you may wish to receive additional, fewer, or different services than those that are recommended. Talk with your health care team about their recommendations for screening tests and immunizations that are right for you.
“Screening” means looking for a condition before there are any signs or symptoms of that condition. If you already have a symptom of the condition, you should talk with your provider about it, even if you were recently screened and no problem was found.
Regardless of age, gender, health status and family history, you should be screened for alcohol abuse, depression, high blood pressure, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), military sexual trauma, obesity, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and tobacco use.
You should also follow the appropriate cancer screening guidelines. Keeping up with immunizations is also important to stay healthy. You should receive a flu shot every year and a tetanus shot at least every 10 years but some Veterans may need it sooner (indicated for wound management if greater than 5 years has passed since your last shot and those Veterans that are pregnant should receive Tdap vaccine during every pregnancy from 27-36 weeks of gestation). See Preventive Care Recommendation Charts for more information on Staying Healthy for men and for women.
If you have not received a COVID-19 vaccine already, you can best protect yourself by doing so now. Or, if you are not up to date on your COVID-19 vaccination, see this link to help you Stay Up to Date with Your COVID-19 Vaccines | CDC. COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing serious illness from COVID-19. They will also protect you from newer virus variants that may spread more easily and affect you more severely. COVID-19 vaccines may be given at the same time as other vaccines, including influenza vaccines. Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself, your family, and your community.
Want to Know More?
If you want to learn more about getting recommended screening tests and immunizations, talk with your VA health care team. They can also help if you have questions about making a healthy living change.
Resources
- Visit Prevention.va.gov to find the recently updated recommended screening tests for men and women under the resource section.
- Get Recommended Screening Tests and Immunizations - Veterans Health Library.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) MyHealthfinder allows you to see what screening tests and vaccines you or a loved one need to stay healthy.
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The Adult Immunization Schedule by Age | Vaccines & Immunizations | CDC based on age, medical conditions, and other indications, as well as special situations.
