Flu vaccine for primary school age children?

[Gem123J]

Not really aibu, just wondered how many parents consented to their child having the flu vaccine (nasal spray).

I’m only asking because my daughter (who is 4) had it last year, and the previous, but this time as it was being done in school I had a form to sign. Last year my daughter absolutely hated it, she was quite groggy afterwards so I didn’t want her just turning up to school one day and her having to have it without knowing. So I told her about it and asked if she wanted it and explained why they give it of course, but she was adamant she didn’t want it so of course I said no to her having it.

I didn’t worry too much because they don’t have it under the age of two, and with it being fairly new (wasn’t around when I was little), I thought it can’t be extremely bad for her not to have it. But I read a story about a family (in America) that had 3 sick children in hospital with the flu, but still not extremely sick, but sick enough to be in hospital! So I am a bit worried now!

Just wanted to know who out there does or does not allow their children to have the flu vaccine basically..

I’m certainly not anti-vaccine either, I wouldn’t give a child at any age the option to have the mmr or the meningitis one or not, because obviously it can be really bad if they get taken ill with them (I know some can with the flu too) but, these have been around for years so it’s kind of drummed in to us that it’s a necessity. The flu vaccine for children is fairly new so obviously many children beforehand either caught flu, or did not.

I also do what I can to boost her immune system naturally. She eats meat, veg, fruit, plenty of antioxidants. She doesn’t like frozen meals, like myself, so there is no processed food in this house at all. Out of her friends she was always the one who wasn’t constantly ill in winter, the others always had a snotty nose and cough! She’s been around someone with chicken pox (the mother didn’t know until after we’d been with her and the child) so was very contagious at that point, and nothing. Covid didn’t even raise her temp 0.01.

But she has had the flu vaccine previously, and I am concerned, that’s why I started this thread to see others opinions.

It’s good to see two sides to the story as I previously said. And it’s nice to see that there are some people who haven’t given me grief for giving a 4 year old a choice, medical or not. Obviously if it meant life or death then I’d definitely not give her a choice, some make it sound like I’m putting her life at certain risk.

@Gem123J I give my children choices about a number of things probably many other parents wouldn’t. I had a difficult upbringing and as a result it’s important to me that my children aren’t forced against their will to do things that aren’t absolutely necessary. I do not consider the flu spray either necessary or particularly effective, but I accept and respect others will disagree. I’m sorry for what you went through as a child 💐

Thank you for understanding my reason of giving consent, I am definitely pro-consent because I value my child’s opinion, if it was life or death obviously I wouldn’t give her the choice!

I think she would be much better at the GP with me there. She’s very much a ‘mummy’s girl’, she’s been in with me before to see me taking my bloods too, so with me there it might seem a bit more comforting to her, and she’s seen me with the nurse recently too so she’ll be like mummy!

Exactly the same reason I give my daughter a choice. You get it. It’s awful growing up and never having a choice about anything at all. I don’t want my daughter go through the same. If it was life or death of course there wouldn’t be a choice!

@Gem123J read my posts before you get your hopes up about taking her to the GP surgery. It might not be an option for you in your area.

Just did. I will give them a call in the morning. I’m hoping we should be ok because there was an incident of one of my daughter’s friend’s having it twice!!!

She wasn’t in school on the date it was administered so the Mum arranged for it to be done at the GP. Another date was arranged at the school and she was given it again!

I work on a childrens ward. Children of all ages are being admitted regularly with Flu.

Flu is really anwful and can make us so unwell. Many of our parents have been surprised at how unwell their children/teens have been with it. I think we are so used to people saying they have ‘flu’ with a heavy cold/virus we have lost sight of how awful real flu is. I’m quite thankful of my flu jab and my mask when in work at the moment!

Errrr… 4 year olds don’t get to choose whether they are having a vaccination, or any other medical procedure…?!

Neither do 5/6/7/8 year olds… and so on.

You're the parent. It’s your job to fairly assess whether it’s necessary/optimal and, if so, to explain to your child why it’s happening. Not debate the relative merits with them.

My son insisted that today is Christmas Day all the way home from nursery. And that we have a Christmas Tree. And that it was snowing… I don’t think I’ll let him make decisions about his health just yet.

This is an annual event for many years to come so you might as well take a firm position now and stick to it. You child can have the vaccine at GP if you prefer not to have it don’t in school.

(Also second PPs making the point that, while of course I don’t want my kids to be poorly, I very much more don’t want to be poorly myself, as that will impact them significantly as well)

Flu is the absolute worst. I’ve had the jab as well - we got a corporate voucher but I definitely would’ve paid. I had it in the late 90s, was ill for ages.

DS(7) had his last week. We've all missed enough time off school/work in the last few years!

The nasal flu vaccine is being offered to all primary school children and Yr7,8 & 9 this year in England via the school immunisation teams and catch up clinics. Gp’s are not funded to give the nasal flu unless the child has a medical condition.

It does protect your child but also elderly relatives and friends. A child can have mild symptoms, but not realise they have it and pass it on to the elderly without knowing; they then could have very serious issues.

In 2017 we had a very high amount of deaths, with a 50,000 excess; a large portion of which were due to flu and us having an ineffective vaccine. I think we learned from our mistakes and now are ensuring we get the right vaccine to combat the correct strains each year and it most certainly does make a difference.

Of course she should have had the vaccine! Do you let her decide whether or not she wants to brush her teeth as well? To decide whether or not to check for traffic when crossing the road? Some things shouldn't be children's decision, because they're too little to fully understand, and they need an adult to decide what is in their best interest. This is one of those times.

@Gem123J You sound like a great, lovely mum. It’s taken me a long time to unashamedly make choices and parent the way I know is best for my family, and to no longer care that others think they know better. It’s unconventional but my boys have a childhood full of freedom, choices and love. As an aside, I was advised by medical experts to put my youngest DC in 52 week residential care and on antipsychotics when he was younger (7) due to his extreme challenging behaviour. I didn’t, I just loved him and gave him time to recover from school trauma, and 4 years later he’s doing brilliantly, smashed all expectations and only very rarely lashes out in a minor way now. I guess what I’m trying to say is I think sometimes we as parents feel we should do things differently from the vast majority and that’s ok and not something we should be judged for-we judge ourselves enough already. Sorry for the ramble 😊

I worried about this too. Last year I had to physically restrain him in the GP surgery to give the practice nurse a chance of getting it near his nostril.
This year at school I think being around his peers helped as he proudly told me they’d all had magic raindrops in their noses!

@theuntameableshrew

Glad to hear your son is doing brilliantly 😊

I agree, we all don’t parent the same way and I’m so glad for an opinion from a like-minded person. Some, possibly most, won’t understand it, but our child’s physical, mental and emotional health is so important to us, and that does mean maybe going against ‘social-norms’ on vaccines.

We are the only ones who know how well we protect them at home so who is to say my daughter isn’t as protected from the flu as another child who has had the vaccine? There are always other ways to protect. Again, not that I’m anti-vaccine (and I know I don’t have to explain this to you personally, just others!), I just feel like I kind of need to stick up for myself why I went along with my daughter’s choice and why I haven’t forced her to have the vaccine.

Flu is expected to be particularly brutal this year - Australia gets it first and we look to them to make estimates on expected strains and severity. And it was really bad for them.

I've had it once and as a healthy 20 something at the time, I was in bed vomiting for a week and hallucinating. People who so often go on about having flu are fooling themselves. When you truly have it you realise why it casually kills people every year, especially the old, young, and immunonologicaly vulnerable

Maybe the spray is unpleasant, but not as much as even 1 day of homebound flu, let alone at a hospitalised level. You'd both be stuck home/hospital for days or weeks. And as all her peers will be having it, it will be the norm at school. As the others have said, at 4yo its not her choice. Parents have to make the health decisions until they are capable themselves

Disagree in some circumstances. My son (age 9) was told by his consultant paediatric surgeon (big London hospital and expert in specific field) that he (DS) was absolutely and completely in charge of everything that would happen to him going forward, and no one was going to try and convince him to have surgery or treatment he didn’t want. He also apologised for not being able to fix DCs physical problems as he had hoped, admitted he didn’t know why the previous surgery hadn’t worked as expected and told DS he was one of his favourite people in the world. He treated my son with the respect, compassion and care he deserved and needed, and showed him that an adult, even an incredibly wise and skilled one, respected his feelings and autonomy. He was an amazing role model in how to care for and communicate with a child in difficult circumstances.

Nope, both kids have had it every year but last year school nursing team really upset my youngest. Part of the reason I have a needle phobia is that I collapsed at school after a vaccine as the school nurses then didn't listen to me when I said I felt unwell and I collapsed and ended up in A&E. Its great to get large numbers vaccinated at once but doesn't work if a child is at all nervous as they just don't have the time for that and they ignored my request last year to not vaccinate my son if he refused or was upset, they told him he had to have it. So this year my only option is to refuse consent as its more important he trust me for the big medical decisions, like getting his next covid jab as he has only had one so far.

i have one adult child and two teens, they’ve never had a flu vaccine.

To an extent yes, but as a parent you also pick your battles. Flu is only serious for a small minority of people. I don't want my son upset again by insisting he have the flu vaccine despite his fear of it given that it barely benefits him at all, and then traumatised and refusing a potentially life saving treatment or vaccine further down the line.

Good to hear your son was shown so much compassion and respect from a respected individual. Just the role model we all need.

@samqueens

totally agree with you. Trust is much more important. If my daughter is given a choice in the first place, and there comes a time she must have a certain vaccine because the illness it protects is certainly lethal, my daughter will trust in me when I say it’s very important for her to have that certain vaccine.

I’m not explaining myself very well but it makes sense in my head!

Again to those who don’t agree with giving a 4 year old a choice, if it was life or death and her not having the vaccine would mean certain risk, then I wouldn’t be giving her a choice.

I will ask the GP if she is able to have the vaccine by needle (I understand they might refuse because it’s not my choice), and then I’ll again ask my daughter what are her thoughts, because yes she’s 4, but she understands full well about implications and health etc. Because I’m very open and informative with my daughter and don’t treat her like a clueless child (not that I’m saying anyone does). But I know my child, she knows me, she’s very inquisitive and will ask the most grown up questions that I just can’t believe it crossed her mind sometimes! And I’m proud of her, want the best for her, and if it was absolutely necessary for her life to have a vaccine I would tell her that she must. If it’s not absolutely necessary, then I will inform her and she can make her own decision, if I disagree with her, I will tell her why but I certainly won’t force her, unless it was absolutely necessary.

Tagged the wrong person for the post above! Was meant to be @Jenn3112 not @samqueens!

@Leemoe

What do you do more specifically in Pharmaceuticals? I work in Biotech and have the opposite opinion.

And to answer OPs original question, in my county in the SE uptake of flu vaccine in primaries is just under 50%. The Director for Education is surprised at the number given the number of missed days it causes annually.