Flu shot for baby necessary??

J

jaetee

Registered User
I was wondering how many moms have their babies vaccinated for the flu, especially if baby is under one years old. My pediatrician recommended it, but most of my friends (albeit not in HK) dont get this shot for their babies.

Are you / did you/ will you get your baby vaccinated for the flu?
 
I did when my children were infants, and am this year as well (age 1.5 and 3.5). Children under 23 months are hospitalized more often with influenza, so in my area they are offered free vaccine as considered high risk.
 
Thanks for the reply. What about other moms in HK - will you or did you have your baby get the flu shot?
 
My baby is 8 months old and i am considering NOT to have a flu shot. In fact, when you read the way flu vaccine is constituted (different strains each year), your really wonder whether this will help you, in HK, to have a vaccine against Moscow strain or whatherever other city it has been chosen from. No flushot vaccines are fully timerosal free on top of that. Finally, all of my friends whose babies had flu shot - all had a "small" flu afterwards. I am still thinking, but probably will miss it. Yes, your baby may get flu.... however also if he/she was vaccinated. Difficult choice.
 
We will vaccinate our son with the flu shot, because I'd rather not take any risks and have him very ill with flu.

I think it's important, living as we do in HK, to vaccinate for flu because we live in a crowded city- wherever you go you are constantly surrounded by and in very close proximity to a lot of people and so the chances of getting ill with flu are much higher.
I think also as babies get older they socialise more with other people and babies and thus are exposed to more germs, illnesses etc. And thus are more likely to get ill with the flu.

The HK govt. reccomends that all children under the age of 3 are vaccinated for flu.
 
If our babies arent in organized playgroups, but do take public transportation and play with some kids, should we go ahead and vaccinate even though there is often a fever or mini-flu symptoms afterwards? My LO gets a fever for 1 - 3 days after each vaccination.

So from your experiences in HK, do most moms vaccinate their babies against the flu from 6 months onwards?

Thanks.
 
My son is 18mths and he has never had the flu shot. It's not that I don't want to, but it's just that every month or so, he needs a vaccination for other things. He's just recently had the Prevenar and next month, he is due the 18mth jab. Babies seem to be having so much vaccination these days that I can't keep up. He still needs to have his chicken pox jab!
Because I do the school run everyday, my son has been exposed to large playground of children since he was 4mths old and attends music classes and organised playgroups and touch wood, he hasn't had any serious illness or the flu. His had the odd cold, but nothing serious.
It's really up to you what you want to do and the more I think about it, I'm more likely NOT to pursue the flu jab.
 
One of my children had flu at 10 months and it was terrifying. I never thought a child could get so dramatically ill, so quickly. The rapid weight loss was scary. So once our baby turns 6 months, we will definitely be getting the vaccine. In the meantime, we have had the rest of the household, including our helper vaccinated, to minimise the chances of one of us getting flu and infecting the whole family.
 
I think that I would rather take the risk of a slight fever from any reaction to the vaccination, than risk my son getting flu. A fever from a vaccination is easily brought down and short lived.

Flu, I think is underestimated as an illness. People get a cough and a cold and go round saying they have flu. Flu, as in influenza, can be very serious in young children and the elderly...which is why the govt. reccomends they are vaccinated.

It is a matter of personal choice...but I think it's important to vaccinate for flu in HK. Contaigous disease spread very fast here because of crowded public places, public transport etc. which is why children born in HK are vaccinated for TB at birth...whereas they might not be in the UK, Australia etc.

A lot of children in HK get the flu shot at school every year.
 
The risk of a slight fever and malaise for a day or 2 is nothing compared to true influenza, that is the whole point of the vaccine, benefit vs. risk. If it was riskier to get the side effect of the vaccine than the real disease, no one would get it, no one would recommended it, and I am sure the company wouldn't be able to sell it to anyone, much less manufacure it, or pass any required studies.

influenza is a killed vaccine and can be given the same day as any other killed vaccine, there is no wait time between 1 killed vaccine and another (such as prevnar, meningococcal, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis, Hib). You could give the same day, 1 day later, 1 week later, 1 month later, it does not matter.
 
Placebo was found just as "effective" as flu vaccine in 2-year-olds

In studies, there was no difference found among children aged less than 2 years who were given the flu vaccine and those given a placebo. Thimerosal is still a serious problem contributing to neurological developmental disorders ranging from ADD/ADHD to Autism. Many doses of Thimerosal-containg influenza vaccine are issued each year--often to pregnant women. This causes an overdose in the fetus and sometimes causes spontaneous abortions. Autism occurs at a 4 to 1 male/female ratio because it binds to the testosterone. Currently their are porphyrine tests to determine if an infant has received a mercury overdose (caused by vaccination) and their are experimental treatments that have been very successful. Please see the section on "Vaccines" in the document www.medicalveritas.com/FAQ.pdf. Additional information concerning adverse vaccine reactions is available at www.MedicalVeritas.com
 
when my child was 10mths old, we gave her the vaccine. she still got colds every 6 weeks which usually last for 1 week. then the next winter came & we didn't give her the vaccine, she was also getting runny nose every 6 weeks. i always wonder whether it would have made any difference. the first time she had a fever above 38C was at 29mths old (this May), she had a fever for 3 days & i brought her to her ped. he said she had a bacterial infection & was on antibiotic for 10days, which wasn't that bad consider she only looked sick for the first 3 days when she had the fever. the 2nd time she had a fever was last mth, when she had croup, which was followed by another bacterial infection. i'd never find out if those fevers could've been avoidable by the flu shot. i did, however asked her homeopath today about her views on the flu shot. (she is opened minded to western medicines & she believes that western medicine plays an important part in keeping us healthy) she said she didn't vaccinate her 2yr old boy because she believes that building an immune system by themselves are better than getting the antibodies thru a shot, cos the immune system will be stronger that way. she said my daughter being so sociable (been going to playgroup since 1 yr old, & now in nursery, she's now 2 yr 10mths) she probably have caught all the flus that are in this years' vaccine anyway.
 
Joannek, It makes complete sense that your child would have gotten those colds and bacterial infections even if you had the flu shot. The influenza vaccine protects ONLY against the strains of influenza that are put into the vaccine that year. An educated guess is made as to the strains that are likely to be prevelant in a region and that is what is used. Usually they are right, but sometimes they are wrong, so you could prtentailly get influenza of a different strain than what you were vaccinated with.
Influenza is a virus, there is absolutly no way it will protect against ANY bacterial infection. That makes no sense. Croup and influenza are 2 entirely different things. There are no vaccines for the common cold, it mutates so quickly it is very hard to develop a vaccine, also common colds are not very serious diseases, no one dies from that, so unlikely to be supported anyways.. Influenza also mutates but not as quickly, that is why the vaccine changes from year to year.

I have to disagree with 2 things you were told by your homeopath, firstly I would think it unlikely that your child already had all the flu's in this years vaccine because influenza makes you very ill, particularily for children under 2 years old and people with chronic diseases, the elderly, they are hospitalized more often than the general population and more likely to suffer serious complications.It sounds like your child has been sick, but not with anything like influenza.

Secondly, building immunity to disease naturally by having the disease or by have a vaccine. Both can give you immunity, the benefit of vaccine is that the side effects are much less severe than the disease. so the risk of disease is higher than the risk of vaccine. This is very well supported by decades of research. This is the whole the whole point of vaccine. It really comes down to your individual point of view, if you feel the risk of disease is higher than the risk of vaccine then do it, if you feel the risk of disease is lower than the risk of vaccine then don't do it.
 
Both my kids had their flu shots when they were under 1 year old. With the big one in school, I feel it's necessary for me to protect the little one from whatever her brother may bring back from kindergarten. Both kids had no reaction to the shots.
 
There is a very good 'remedy'/medicine which does help suppress flu: it is called Sambucol and is made from black elderberry extract. It has been tested extensively both by Western doctors and alternative medecine practitioners and it is proven to help suppress flu. There is much information on the internet about it if you are unsure. In my experience it has lessened my toddler's flu and also helps with colds.
It is expensive and is available in 360 (Please note I have no connection with any doctors or 360). Of all the various medicines I have tried, eg. junior nurofen, paracetamol, piriton, Sambucol is the most effective.
 
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