Why are all children being immunised against flu?

[MiniChedda]

I am curious about this, my y1 DC is due to get it at school next week.

DD had flu but it was no worse than a sickness bug.

Wouldn't it be better to give the meningitis vaccine instead as it's so much more serious?

H1N1 = a straing of flu. Swine flu falls into this group.

Resus = resuscitation. Where you get taken if you are very, very ill and at risk of not making it.

Please get your children vaccinated, if my son catches flu he will die, he can't have the vaccination but flu would kill him. That's the blunt version of why kids should be vaccinated in my world.

justgivemeamo- no, wait until the snot is resolved

^^ Damn, I have had to get early appt as it is - as she was very ill earlier this year with chest.

I am worried about waiting....

H1N1 is a strain of 'flu, formally referred to as 'swine 'flu'. Resus is the bit of A&E where the really sick people go for resuscitation. It's an unpleasant place to be rushed to, as you know it means they think you are sick and could die if they don't act quickly. Resus is given more attention by the senior docs and best nurses for this reason. You don't go there with a cut finger.

It won't work if there's too much snot in the way, sorry.

Better to delay a wee bit, so it works.

Incidentally in the US the cdc have recommended that the AstraZeneca vaccine not be used in the is this year as the efficacy last year was 3%. The U.K. is happy to invest tens of millions though.

Whoa, hold on a minute...

FluMist Quadrivalent is currently the only licensed flu vaccine that does not require a shot, making it a favored choice by parents of young children.

In the past year, among children aged 2 to 17, FluMist was only 3 percent effective, meaning it offered "no protective benefit," the CDC said. That compared with conventional flu shots, which were 63 percent effective against any flu virus among children in this age group.
www.reuters.com/article/us-astrazeneca-vaccine-idUSKCN0Z90IX

In other words, only the nasal spray vaccine was found not to be as effective as hoped.

So get your doctors to give a jab, people.

I am a generally fit and healthy woman in her twenties...I look after myself and do regular exercise (have done several long distance runs including half marathon and often go swimming). I'm asthmatic though, last year I missed my flu jab for the first time ever, caught flu and it developed into pneumonia which left me hospitalised and fighting for my life. It's not something to be taken lightly

My cousin died of influenza in the pandemic of 1968. She was in her 20s and left a small child, who had given her the virus. I knew a 17 year old girl, 7 months pregnant, who caught swine flu and died within hours. The baby also died as well. Flu is nothing to be messed with. If you or your child is offered the vaccine, take it. Believe me, it is far better than the alternative.

H1N1 is swine flu and resus is short for resuscitation room, if you're in resus it's because you either already need resuscitation or they expect you to need resuscitation imminently.

My DC are all booked for their flu spray and DH and I are booked for the jabs. Even if they've gotten strain wrong there is still a good chance that even if you were to catch flu, you'd get a milder case thanks to having the 'wrong' jab so either way it's a good idea to get it done.

Also, and I might be wrong, but isn't another reason they're now vaccinating children to do with recent strains being more serious in younger people? I'm sure I remember reading that H1N1 was worse in children and young adults than it was in other age groups of otherwise healthy people.

No one can say how effective this year's vaccine is yet! We haven't had peak 'flu season! That's a retrospective analysis.

That's like asking whether we're having a snowy winter.

Ds1 (14) is just getting over flu. He was so ill. Scarily high temps, delirious, sweating, rigours and at one point when he first came down with it he scared the life out of me because I couldn't wake him. He barely ate anything for the first week, not much for the second and was literally incapable of doing anything other than sleep. I was even lifting his head for him to sip water at one point.

I knew he must be seriously ill when he hadn't touched his laptop or phone for over 24 hours, then his temp spiked and he was hit with full on flu.

He's missed just under two weeks of school and having gone back today, is still very pale, weak and not himself at all, but he's studying for GCSEs and can't afford to miss any more, so as he's no longer infectious (according to the GP) he has had to go back.

The problem is, some of his teachers seemed to be inclined to assume us saying he had flu was like so many other people when they actually have a heavy cold - only it wasn't. So they continued to set him homework and expected it done before he went back to school. He couldn't even look at his phone for a week, let alone sit up and do homework. Yesterday, the day before he went back, was the first day he could actually focus enough to get some school-work done.

He was unable to have the vaccine when they trialled it in his school last year because he'd just had a chest infection and was still wheezing (he has mild asthma).

Needless to say, I have just sent back the authorisation form for dd (age 7) to have her spray.

Dd is booked in next week her her nasal spray...AND her preschool Mmr jabs

I will never not vaccinate

In March of this year my healthy 10yo dd suddenly became unwell with a high temp, I wasn't too concerned and kept her at home dosed up with calpol, after 24 hours she became more unwell with a severe sore throat and cough and after 48 hours I had to call an ambulance twice in 10 hours as was concerned about her breathing.

36 hours from her first high temp she was on a ventilator.

She spent 2 days in PICU being ventilated and a further 3 days on the childrens ward recuperating. A further two weeks at home recovering and tbh the mental scars for me at least will be with me for life.

She was tested for everything and the only thing they could find wrong with her was influenza

I know my dds case is rare but I want parents to know this does happen, flu could have potentially killed my dd and what I went through in that week was hell. I would not wish it on anyone.

Please, please vaccinate your kids.

She has now thank God fully recovered and the only lasting legacy is that she will now have the flu vac every year!!

Dd couldn't have the vaccine due to allergies, she is asthmatic and got flu and was in hospital for a fortnight.

Agree it's bloody awful. I got it last year and was extremely ill for several weeks and took a couple of months to recover. I was also rushed into resus and it was fucking scary - and I'm a fit and well non-smoker.

As others have said, flu is extremely dangerous, especially for immunocompromised people at any age. It changes strain so fast that it's hard for the specialists to keep up but the research done into it is immense and the vaccination will protect you from lots of strains of flu that are predicted for the year.

It can't be flawless but their research gets better and better - drug companies make a fortune out of flu vaccines so they've got a lot of reason to keep researching and improving.

I've had flu twice years and it was fucking awful. I've never felt so ill in my life, was genuinely frightened I might die, and when my housemates all had it, would have been scared enough for them to call an ambulance were I not living with medically-qualified people. Absolutely hideous. I'm not eligible for a free vaccine but it's worth the £12 at Boots to limit my risk of getting it again.

Basically, vaccinate.

If it available get the vaccine, the vaccines cover the most common forms of flu or those which are predicted to be spread. My DN unfortunately got flu, a strain not usually thought to be one of the more dangerous ones and ended up critically ill and fighting for her life, she spent 3 weeks in ICU, had to be moved to more specialist ICU for lung bypass. Thankfully she is a fighter and made it but it was close. So I never believe anyone now when they say they had flu last week. Flu is a killer.

I've had flu. Once. In 2005. I remember basically thinking I've never been so ill in my life. It was horrendous. Hallucinating migraines body so so painful. I would not wish flu on anyone. Took me ages to recover fully

I nearly died of flu - proper flu, not just a bad cold, in a year when the virus wasn't considered "nasty". I was a very healthy 21 year old.

Even after I got over the worst, I developed pneumonia. I lost two stone in three weeks.

It took me months to recover. I had to give up my graduate internship. I was tired all the time.

Until then, I thought that "flu" was the way someone described a bad cold. I have bad colds and - even when they are awful - they are not the same. It gives me the rage now when colleagues take a day off work with "flu like symptoms" and then come skipping in the next day.

Granted you may not have it as bad as I did but there is no guessing. If I had known, I would have much rather taken a vaccine than lost months of my life. I would vaccinate a child in a heartbeat.

(also, a small part of me hoped that if I paid for the flu vaccine, sod's law would take over and I would immediately get pregnant, thereby qualifying for a free shot, but be already out the money )

OP it isn't no worse than seasick, try seven weeks in ICU, 5 was on a ventilator and family told I wouldn't make it through the night. We all have the flu jab, it kills look at 1918 Spanish Flu 50million died.

Last years nasal spray was more effective in the uk than the us but researchers don't know why
vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/uk-nasal-flu-recommendation

Tamiflu is amazing. I don't know why it isn't used more.

I didn't realise that all children can get flu vaccines. Will book mine in

When I was at uni a girl died of the flu. She was just 19 and otherwise fit and healthy.

DH gets the vaccine every year because he has asthma.

Flu is a nasty piece of work. DS had it early this year. He missed over 3 weeks of nursery and spent most of that time in my bed. He was drained, raging temperature, didn't eat, lost a load of weight, it was awful.

Children are excellent spreaders of germs. They go home and spread said germs to parents, grandparents, siblings etc.

Immunising the spreaders can help prevent spreading the virus (immunise those most likely to catch it and spread it to protect the rest of the herd if you will). Think about it. I work from home. DS goes to a school with 150 other kids, plus staff. Who is more likely to come into contact with flu virus, catch it and spread it? Me or DS?

Young children often have asthma (more so than older ones) which can be exacerbated by flu.

The vaccine is a "inactivated" or watered down version effectively, meaning it does not give you flu. Your body identifies it as germs and creates antibodies to fight the nasties.

Downside is that flu is a virus, it mutates, creating flu's with different genetic codes, so new vaccines need to be created to have the above effect, eg if you have a vaccine for flu type x but you catch flu type y, vaccine x will not prevent you from getting that flu (y). Scientists monitor and try to assess which viruses will be doing the rounds and create vaccines accordingly.

After the episode earlier this year where both DS and DH had it, we are going to get the jabs.