Flu nasal spray or not for Children.

[AG29]

Don’t want to then this into a debate. DC’s school are doing them early next week. Seems a bit late to be doing them but anyway. A lot of their peers are not having it which is of course the parents choice.

I am hearing conflicting things. Do your children have it or not? I don’t have much time now to do thorough research on it.

I have opted in at the moment but unsure..

Mine have always had it. This year they were unwell afterwards. It may have been coincidence but even if it was a side-effect of the vaccine, they will still have it next year. It's better to be off-colour for a couple of days than laid out with flu for a couple of weeks.

Please have it. DD currently in hospital with flu. It’s awful

@Mascarponeandwine Boots do it from 11

From the Boots website

Price
The private Winter Flu Jab Service costs £12.99.

The NHS service is free if you're eligible to receive it.

You can book an appointment either in store or online. Appointments for children aged 11 to 15 can only be booked in selected stores.

My youngest 2 now have to have the injections due to medical reasons but before that they always got the spray. No reason not to give it and only benefits.

I wouldn’t have normally had it myself neither would dh. But we’ve both had it this year as we have Dd (now 4 months) and ds 2. My theory was that we need to protect Dd as much as we can. Ds has had the nasal spray.

Oh they’ve changed it for this year!! I always thought it was odd to exclude teenagers. Thank you. Will see if there’s a store near us.

Some superdrug stores do children too.

Our whole family has had it this year, flu is really bad, people die from it. 6 have died this year so far in the UK.

Activity is fairly high this year (see graph)

Sorry by “it” I mean the vaccine (in its various forms)

I have a compromised immune system so I get the flu jab every year. I've also had the pneumonia jab. Once DS is old enough he will absolutely have the spray/jab. Why on earth wouldn't you?

A friends mums friend died last month at the age of 65 a week after getting sick with flu. Her family are pole-axed. I get the flu jab each year, as does DS as it not only protects us but also helps to protect other people.

DD has always had the spray with no problems, but she did have the common side effects this year. Fast forward four weeks and she has the flu. She will continue to have the spray in the coming years.

6 have died this year so far in the UK

Is this stat correct? It's December. 6 is as astonishingly tiny number (as awful and tragic as it is for those involved).

Almost all of the children at my infant school had it done - a few weeks back now. Very few opted out - maybe 2 or 3 per class of that.

I'd do it. Flu can be nasty and there's already a whole host of unpleasant bugs going round this winter without adding flu into the mix.

I always have one - at risk due to being immunosuppressed.
Teenage dd gets her vaccine every year too - her choose after getting flu in year 10 when she needed to be revising. She was then paranoid about getting it again at real gcse and a level times, so we pay for hers.

If you had had the flu or seen it in action you wouldn't hesitate. I still shudder at the time I had it - never known anything like it.

One of my sons (13) has asthma so gets the nasal spray.

It really is a no brainer.

Aragog can under 18s get the injection at any pharmacy?

There hasn’t been a single proper safety study done on ANY vaccine in the current schedule. By that I mean a double blind placebo study. Sure there are many studies testing the new vaccine against the previous or a new vaccine against a placebo containing the adjuvants etc. But none against a true inert placebo. Working your way back through the vaccines this has NEVER been done. Unless you consider when the DTP was looked at which was associated with increased mortality in Guinea-Bissau.

Where are the studies comparing the health of FULLY unvaccinated children to those receiving the full schedule. Because there are plenty of them. And I’m not taking about the one that compared children who had the MMR to children who had everything but the MMR.

Do the study and shut us all up

My DD (10) has not had this vaccine for the past 3 years now. She does not react well to it. We did give it a fair chance, she had it 4 years in a row before we stopped as she did not react well to it. (We are in Scotland so it was rolled out earlier here than in England if people are thinking its not been around that long).

She required between 1-2 weeks off school each time, ‘flu’ like symptoms, high fever (40+ for most of it highest was 42.8 and I was getting worried as I couldn’t get it any lower than 40.7 for a full week) fevers all very difficult to bring down, vomiting, loss of appetite and just generally very unwell to the point of sleeping all day and struggling to get out of bed. The first year it happened we thought it was a coincidence, same the second year. By year three we seriously thought about her not having it again but made the decision to try it the following year and if she did get really ill again then we wold just decline it after that. Year 4 was the worst of all for her and I felt really guilty because we kind of knew it would make her feel unwell but agreed to it anyway.

I am all for vaccines. She is up to date with everything else. She has always had fevers and felt unwell after all her vaccines but nothing like the way she does with the flu nasal spray. So for us that particular vaccine is a no. She will still get everything else she is due as they are important. Just not the annual flu one. That said I do understand that most people are fine afterwards, maybe a bit of a sniffle a few days later, maybe a mild fever but nothing major.

Handsoff - dd has had one since being 15 at Weldricks chemist locally.

Thanks - just seen upthread that selected Boots stores offer it at selected stores to 11-15 year olds.

formerbabe

Yes this is correct as of the end of November. Flu typically does not begin in anger until January. You can see the full data on the PHE website.

That’s not to say there aren’t many more people left with serious life long side effects from flu.

Why would you not? I have had the flu twice now and was hospitalised each time with pneumonia and pleurisy. Have never felt so ill in my life. Until I actually had the flu I didn’t realise what it truly was like-those saying they had mild flu are talking nonsense as there is no such thing-you has a heavy cold.

I now vaccinate myself and would never stop DC-youngest had his this week in school, older two I will pay for.

There are those who are ill (e.g chemo patients) who can't have vaccinations. They rely on the rest of us being vaccinated to protect them.

Not having vaccines because they may not be vegan/vegetarian is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever read.

those saying they had mild flu are talking nonsense as there is no such thing

This is not true.
Colds and flu are different viruses. With both you can get mild and heavy forms of the virus.

People can, and do, have flu and not really know they've got it - unless they are having swabs or tests for other reasons.
Likewise people with what they think is flu have been tested and it has been a nasty cold bug.

The whole cold v flu thing comes up time and time again, and it simply isn't the case. They are just different viruses.

I didn't give it to my dc and I didn't get it myself (was free through work). I'm 36, never had flu before and never had the vaccine, so until I'm older or something changes I won't be having it.