Does My Child Need a Flu Shot

Question:

My family has not had a flu shot in the past and we have all been fine. Why should we get one now?

Answer:

We hear this comment regularly when we offer the vaccine to our patients. Let me offer an
explanation. As physicians, we see illnesses all of the time and most are minor, self-limited or respond
to a little medical intervention. For this, we are grateful. There are however, a small percent of
children who get more seriously ill, who end up in the hospital and/or who get a serious pneumonia.
Gratefully, we almost never see the really small number who do even worse. But they are out there;
they happen and not necessarily to sicker children. These are the things we hope to prevent. Yes, it
takes a lot of immunizing children to possibly reduce even the small numbers, but we do not want any
of our patients in that situation if we can prevent it. It is like wearing a seat belt in a car. Hopefully, you
will never be in a car accident. At some point, you might be in a minor accident and you saved yourself
some minor injury by wearing your seat belt. But you might someday be in a real wreck and you will
praise yourself for keeping yourself and your kids buckled in. We hope to prevent the medical ‘wreck’
with a simple immunization. Immunizing our kids protects them and those around them. It helps stop
the spread of the illness. So please, give the flu shot a second thought!