Although most people understand the importance of a yearly flu shot for people over the age of 65, many parents overlook the need for a flu shot for their children.
This is unfortunate, because most experts believe that flu epidemics begin and spread to adults from younger children.
This doesn’t mean that all children should get flu shots, but if your child is in one of the high risk groups mentioned below, or if he has contact with someone in a high risk group, then you should consider getting him a flu shot each year. Keep in mind that the flu shot is now being formally recommended for all children 6months to 18 years of age.
Influenza Facts
Influenza is a viral illness and typical flu symptoms include fever, cough, chills, sore throat, headache and muscle aches, which usually begin about 1-4 days after being exposed to someone with the flu. Symptoms are usually mild to moderate in most people, but can be more severe in the elderly or very young children, causing thousands of deaths each year (mostly elderly people).
You can get the flu if:
- you are around someone with the flu that coughs or sneezes and the germs enter your body through your mouth or nose
- you touch something, such as a door knob or sink faucet, that has been touched and contaminated by someone with the flu, and you then touch your own mouth or nose
Unlike many other viruses, there actually are treatments for influenza, but they must be started very early in the course of the illness and usually within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. These treatments include the medications zanamivir (Relenza), and oseltamivir (Tamiflu), although there has been resistance to these medicines recently so that they don’t work as well.
Influenza Vaccine Facts
The influenza shot is an inactivated or killed vaccine and is usually changed each year to keep up with the most common strains of the influenza virus that are circulating and most likely to cause infections.
The influenza vaccine is available for children over the age of six months. To produce a good response, the first year that they get it, children under nine years of age need two doses of the vaccine given at least one month apart. Children over nine years and younger children who have previously had a flu shot only need a single injection each year.
Flu shot reactions or side effects are usually mild, and may include soreness, redness or swelling where the shot was given, fever, and/or aches, and usually only last for 1-2 days. Children under 3 years should receive a 0.25ml dose of inactivated flu vaccine. Children over 3 years and adults should receive a dose of 0.5ml.
More serious side effects can rarely include a life-threatening allergic reaction.
For more information, including the latest news on this year’s flu season, please visit our guide to Kids and the Flu.
Who Should Get a Flu Shot
There shouldn’t be any formal shortages this year and there aren’t any restrictions on getting flu shots this year, so anyone who wants a flu shot can get one.
Remember that a flu shot is now recommended for all children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years.
High risk groups who should especially get a flu shot this flu season include:
- children aged 6–59 months
- pregnant women
- persons aged 50 years and older,
- children and adults with most chronic health conditions, including asthma, diabetes, and immune system problems
- residents of long-term care facilities
- household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of children aged <6 months or in other high risk groups above
- health-care personnel who provide direct patient care
Keep in mind that the ‘household contacts’ part places a lot of extra kids into a high risk group who should get a flu vaccine. For example, if you have a 3 year old and a 10 year old, they should both get a flu vaccine, because the 10 year old is a household contact of the 3 year old. Or if one child in your family has asthma, then everyone should get a flu vaccine. The child with asthma is in a high risk group and everyone else is a household contact of someone in a high risk group.
And remember that even if your child is not in a high risk group, he can still get a flu vaccine if you want to simply reduce his risk of getting the flu this year.
Other Vaccination Recommendations
- Healthy persons who are 2-49 years of age and not pregnant, including health-care workers (except those who care for severely immunocompromised patients in special care units) and persons caring for children aged less than 6 months can be vaccinated with intranasally administered live, attenuated influenza vaccine (Flumist).
- People should not get a flu vaccine if they have a severe allergy to chicken eggs, have had a severe reaction to an influenza vaccination in the past, have developed Guillain-Barre syndrome within 6 weeks of getting an influenza vaccine previously, if they are less than 6 months old, or if they have a moderate or severe illness with a fever.
One thing to keep in mind is that although thimerosal has been removed from all routinely recommended childhood vaccines, the flu vaccine does still contain thimerosal. This is not necessarily a reason to not get your child immunized though, especially if he is in a high risk group. And a limited amount of influenza vaccine that are thimerosal free or have a reduced thimerosal content will be available for the 2009-2010 influenza season. According to the CDC, ‘the benefit of influenza vaccine with reduced or standard thimerosal content outweighs the theoretical risk, if any, from thimerosal.’
Updated for the 2009-2010 Flu Season.
