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ShareThe Flu Shot & Kids
A flu vaccine is the best way to prevent your child from getting seriously sick this winter -- so why do so many parents blow it off?
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If you're thinking about skipping flu vaccination for your family this year, your child has probably never had influenza -- which can leave her coughing, feverish, and completely wiped out for a whole week. "Unfortunately, many parents consider the flu to be nothing more than a slightly nastier version of a cold. It's actually a very serious, potentially fatal illness," says Parents advisor Neal Halsey, MD, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore. Complications of the flu include pneumonia, antibiotic-resistant staph infections, and ear and sinus infections. Amazingly, only 18 percent of children ages 6 months to 2 years are vaccinated -- despite the fact that an estimated 20,000 babies and toddlers with influenza need to be hospitalized each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kids who have a chronic medical condition like asthma or diabetes are also at particular risk; they are five times more likely to be hospitalized than healthier children.
After an especially bad flu season in 2003-2004 that claimed the lives of 153 children in 40 states, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics began recommending that all kids ages 6 months to 5 years be vaccinated. But even grade-schoolers aren't off the hook: Up to 30 percent of school-age kids get the flu each year and spread the virus to others. If there's an infant in your family, it's important that all family members and caregivers be immunized.
My suggestion to all is not to just believe your doctor - research it BEFORE you make a decision. YOU are in charge of your health. Not all doctors are competent - they rely on drug companies to tell them what you should be taking. Do you trust the drug companies... the billion dollar a month drug companies, to truly care if your child gets sick or not?
What you put into your body directly determines how it functions. This includes drugs, vaccines, etc., but more importantly it includes food! Did you know that doctors get one class of nutrition in their entire medical career? ONE!!! This is the first year of study too. My doctor didn't even know that tomatoes directly support the prostrate - this is important for little boys and men. She blew it off as unimportant. Doctors tend to treat the symptoms so you'll have to come back for more. This is how big business works. Find a health care practitioner that isn't controlled by the pharmeceutical companies. Oh, by the way - the FDA isn't watching out for you - the drug companies pay them a lot of money to approve their drugs.
These are my beliefs, based on my own research. Please research things yourself. Don't trust someone else to treat your child without being informed.