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The Center for Disease Control and the American Pediatrics Association have revised their recommendation for who should receive the flu vaccination this year. According to
"Prevention of Influenza: Recommendations for Influenza Immunization in Children" issued by the American Pediatrics Association for the 2008-2009 flu season the new recommendation states that "All children, both healthy and with high-risk conditions, ages 6 months through 18 years of age" should receive the flu vaccination. I don't know about your community, but where I live I've definitely seen a real push by our school administration to get this message out to parents about the importance of immunizing all children, not just those at high risk -- in fact, for the first time since living in my community the board of education set-up a flu vaccine clinic in our local middle school and issued a flyer as well as a prerecorded message from our school superintendent announcing the revised flu vaccination recommendation and the details of the local flu clinic. In addition, I've seen the following PSA run with some consistency on local channels.
My Past Attitude
In the past my husband and I have received the flu vaccination in an effort to not only protect ourselves but more importantly as a way to "safeguard" our kids without having to directly give them the vaccine. For me personally, while I do believe in childhood vaccinations, I've always looked at the flu vaccine as somewhat unnecessary for my kids due to their general good health. Furthermore, due to the lack of evidence on any potential long term side effects with respect to the vaccine I've thought I'd rather ire on the side of caution -- especially since my children are not considered high risk candidates. However, with that being said, during the cold/flu season I'm extra vigilant about hand washing, good eating habits and not sharing food or drink -- none of us like to see our children ill, especially with the flu.
Help, Where Do I Go From Here?!
These new guidelines have really rocked my thinking. I find myself battling my conscious and trying to weigh the benefits/risks of immunizing my children directly. While it goes against my grain I feel I should take these recommendations seriously, but also feel I continue to wrestle with the unknown of any long term dangers of this vaccine. I do not have all the answers and while everything I've read suggest that as long as your children do not have certain specified illnesses or an egg or poultry allergy, the flu vaccine is perfectly safe. While this might be true in the short-term, as I've said earlier, there is still so much we don't know about the effects of these types of vaccines in the long term.
I'm really writing today as a plea to hear from other parents on how they feel about the flu vaccine. I hoping some of you can give me some clarity of this topic and maybe even talk a little good sense into me. Am I overthinking this issue? -- I'd love to hear from some of you. Thanks!
