Flu vaccines for school age kids

[Skdkhvyvrhej]

Son has just started school and being offered flu jabs for first time at school.

Can I just say this is not an antivax discussion. My children are fully vaccinated in all other areas including chickenpox.

I am questioning whether to consent to the flu jabs or not. Having remembered about research I read many moons ago about childhood exposure being very important to adulthood illness rates. Ie. They could tell which age groups would be most or less ill based on the strains that circulated in their younger years.

So have been doing some research and found this paper… https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755436518300732

What I am struggling to unpick is that this is based on a population level… I cannot say whether my children will get very ill from flu; nor can I say whether the vaccines will be a good match in all these years - and if not does that increase their risk; both now and in the future.

It’s slightly boggling my mind and feels like a gamble either way. Has anyone looked at this and what did you decide?

I've always consented to the flu vaccine for my 9 year old and will continue to do so. 1. So she doesn't get it. 2. So she doesn't pass it on to elderly relatives.

As others have said, it's a nasal spray.
Far too much vaccine hesitancy these days, it's scary.

It’s nit a jag it’s a 2 second nasal spray. Did your DC not attend nursery? Mine got theirs at nursery since 3. My nephew was off on his school day got it last year and my sister kept forgetting to take him to the drop in (because we are all so busy!) 10 days he was in hospital with it across Christmas and new year, it was awful.
I also got flu at 21, got hospitalised for 3 days. 6 weeks later I still couldn’t walk the length of myself, horrific. I pay for the jab every year. Not worth the risk.

Annoyingly my workplace is offering the jabs but not til Nov, which I feel like is too late in the year to be properly beneficial.

Unfortunately this is an understandable but regrettable attitude now from many parents.
The flu vaccine for children is a really good idea and has been going for many years.

However the COVID vaccine for children was completely unnecessary and many parents today finally see this and regret their decision to have their children receive the COVID jab. And as a result have swung too far the other way in rejecting the flu vaccine and other vaccines.

We get covid & flu vaccines including my young dc. It lessens symptoms if exposed.

Yes definitely been an interesting rabbit hole. Glad I looked at it, although still not 100% what the answer is.

Everyone’s been exposed to flu. There’s just no way we haven’t been. What’s interesting as you say is that some people it really doesn’t effect much and obviously I want that for my children.

I would rather they been ill in bed for a week at a young age (even if that is over Christmas) rather than wiped out at 21 and unable to walk for 6 months.

But who’s to know whether the former would prevent the latter. Ideally you wouldn’t want either!

My son has asthma so it’s a no brainer for me. I would have liked to have got the covid vaccine for all my children, but we got dicked around so much before it was offered to them. I don’t understand the attitude we took here - other countries kept it optional for years, but England didn’t. The vaccine is considered beneficial even if the wider societal benefits are removed. It also reduces the risk of long covid, which for some reason isn’t assessed in the benefits. It also reduces transmission. My son remembers a little of what I was like before I got long covid. My daughter turns seven soon, she doesn’t and I hope I’m able to get out of bed and spend some time with her on her birthday. Sorry for the tangent. Facts are important.