Children and vaccines against flu: two common myths

As a pediatrician, I'm really passionate about the vaccine against the flu. The flu can be a nasty disease; Each year, thousands of people are hospitalized from influenza and its complications, and some of these people die. The vaccine against influenza can protect my patients and their families, and I enthusiastically recommend to each of them.

Yet many of them refuse, despite my best efforts. What is particularly frustrating is that many of them refuse because of misconceptions about the vaccine against the flu. There are all kinds of misinformation out there, but here are the two most common myths:

1. The vaccine against influenza can make you sick.  
That's what I hear more than anything. Now, like any medical treatment, it is true that the vaccine against influenza can have side effects. Very often, people will have some pain for a few days in those receiving the vaccine, and some people may feel a little sick for a few days, and some may have mild fever. These side effects are not serious and disappear on their own; More serious side effects are extremely rare.

The vaccine against influenza, however, will not give you the flu. The vaccine itself is made of the influenza components; Here's how it works by helping the body to produce antibodies that can fight against the flu if you are exposed. But these components are dead (in the case of the vaccine) or very low (in the case of the nasal spray version) and can not give you the flu. 

To be safe, we recommend the shot instead of the nasal spray for people with very low defenses and their caregivers. But it is really only those with very weakened defenses, such as those undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, who are affected by this recommendation - and is more conservative than anything else.

It is important that we remember the vaccine against influenza during the flu season - and that can take a couple of weeks to take effect. Therefore, it is possible to get vaccinated against the flu, but to take the vaccine against the flu before you have a chance to work. The vaccine against influenza does not give a 100% protection, and there are many other viruses that cause illness similar to the flu, so it is always possible to get sick, even if you get the vaccine against flu. But it is not the vaccine against the flu makes you sick!

2. Healthy people do not need the vaccine against the flu.  
I heard many times, too. "My son got sick." "We are a healthy family, we do not need that." "I'm not worried about the flu, we will be well." Well, besides the fact that luck does not last very long time, people in good health can be very sick with the flu, too, there is one other important point: it is not only you.  

You and your family can fine Weather flu, but you could easily spend other people around you - as a newborn by his friend, his grandmother, the boy at school to chemotherapy - that the flu is extremely dangerous. Vaccination not only protects you; protects all around you. By getting vaccinated against the flu, you can literally save lives.

If you have questions about the vaccine against influenza or the flu, talk to your doctor or rendez-www.flu.gov. Make your decision based on the facts - not myths.
By: Claire McCarthy,MD