My mother used to roll me over early in the morning and poke a needle in my arm. "Good morning, honey, you've just been vaccinated against the flu." Welcome to life as a nurse's kid.
It's no wonder I've been lining up each year to get my daughter her flu shot since her first shot at 7 months. Yes, 7 months - her summer birthday set her up to hit the minimum approved age for the vaccine in the heart of flu season, and I wasn't taking any chances. So I was one mom who was happy to hear the CDC extend the recommended age for vaccinating kids against the flu this year.
For us, it's just in time. Recommended before for kids 6 months to 2 years and only to kids older if they're at a heightened risk, this would have been the first year I would have had to pay for her shot out of my own pocket. Then the word from the CDC - get a shot for every kid, age 6 months to 18 years. Which means my insurance company should pony up. It also means I'm pressing harder on other parents to follow suit.
What makes the flu vaccine so important? The flu is rampant. It's easily transmitted from person to person, and it puts 20,000 American children in the hospital every year. And every year, 36,000 Americans die from the flu. From the flu? Yes, from the disease I hear people tell me year in and year out is "no big deal. It's just a like a bad cold."
Wrong!
Sorry, I think something that kills people is sort of a big deal. Something that sends 20,000 kids to the hospital every year sounds like more than a bad cold. The flu is symptomized by high fevers, nausea, diarrhea, muscle aches, extreme fatigue, sore throat, stuffy nose - none of this is fun stuff.
Second claim I hear from moms (and dads) who don't get their kid vaccinated? "You can get the flu by getting the shot - so what's the point?"
Wrong again.
The flu shot contains an inactivate (dead) virus. As your body builds up antibodies to the virus, you can experience low grade fever and muscle aches. Now compare that to the list above of what the flu can do to your body. Do they really compare?
The flu shot doesn't always work - some people still get the flu. But anyone who's just sent their kid to school or just put a child in daycare knows how fast the bugs spread from kid to kid and then from your kid to you. So let one flu germ loose on a school and every kid is going to have it, and so is every parent of every kid.
So it's up to you - do you want to run the risk of being one of 200,000 Americans sent to the hospital every year because they got the flu? One of 36,000 who die? The parent of one of the 20,000 kids sent to the hospital? Or do you want to suck it up, call the pediatrician and get your kid a flu shot?
Image: Health News-Stat
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