Photo Credit: Sarah Kloepping/The Post Crescent via Associated Press
On Monday, September 28th, a new study surfaced that one and three parents will not let their child get their flu vaccine this season despite annual deaths, according to the National Poll on Children’s Health.
As the flu season rolls in, many pediatricians stress the fact that children should be getting their annual influenza shots, especially amid a pandemic. Because the influenza infection has a different effect on everyone, from extreme sickness to even death, it is best to make plans with providers to get vaccinated. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “Flu vaccines cause antibodies to develop in the body about two weeks after vaccination. These antibodies provide protection against infection with the viruses that are used to make the vaccine.” Also, they can reduce the number of hospital and doctor visitations, which is crucial because it is hard to differentiate the flu from the coronavirus due to similar symptoms.
Although there are strict protocols within the opening of primary schools and businesses in New York, children are encountering diseases more than ever. Every year, there are hundreds and thousands of death cases within adolescents because they contracted respiratory infections. According to Sandee LaMotte, “Illness from influenza is much more serious than that of a cold, the CDC warns, saying that many children need to be hospitalized. Between 7,000 and 26,000 children under 5 in the United States are hospitalized from flu-related illness each year.” Many official health sources have shared these enormous numbers to get the public to understand the severity of this illness, but there are still cases that have not been reported. According to the CDC, “CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year. There are several reasons for this. First, states are not required to report individual flu illnesses or deaths among people older than 18 years of age to CDC. Second, influenza is infrequently listed…respiratory samples.”
Many parents who are not planning to let their child receive the vaccine share similar concerns about safety in doctor offices during the coronavirus pandemic and misconceptions of the influenza virus itself. According to Sandee LaMotte, “about 14% of parents said they were keeping their child away from a doctor’s office due to fears of catching Covid-19”and according to the NCBI, “Religious reasons tend to account for the majority of total vaccine refusal… at least partially vaccinate their children.” Despite these prevailing concerns, many parents like Marie Guirand find the vaccine to be crucial to her children’s health.
“As a mother of four and worker in the health field, I see first-hand how not taking necessary precautions to fight infections can harm someone. I make sure all my children, no matter the age, get their vaccines every year. It would kill me to see something happen to them,” says Guirand.
With the health system being overwhelmed with the introduction of the flu season back into our lives in conjunction with the coronavirus, the number of tests for COVID-19 could be shortened as more people get contracted with the disease, including children. According to CNN’s Medical Producer, Sandee LaMotte, she quoted in her article titled “1 in 3 parents won’t get flu shots for their child during COVID-19,” study finds, “There were 74,553 new cases of Covid-19 in children between September 3 and 17 — a 15% increase in just over two weeks — for a total of 587,948 cases of coronavirus in children in the United States, the AAP data showed.”
Health officials and pediatricians hope to continue stressing the importance of both illnesses and prevention options by contacting a local provider to clear all misconceptions and safety measures in doctor offices.
