Let’s talk flu vaccine. As a mom I understand the worries that you might have. Is this safe? Is this necessary? Am I doing the right thing? It’s not only OK to ask these questions, but necessary. Now, the key to asking the questions is… Who is answering them?
Get medical professionals to answer flu vaccine questions
As a pediatric nurse practitioner 👩⚕️I must put my foot down. A medical professional or a trusted, reputable, science based resource MUST be the one answering your questions about the flu vaccine. Please do not ask on a mom group, a celebrity blog, or a random website🤦🏽♀️. Check your source. I don’t make money from vaccine companies when giving my advice, but celebrities do make money from talk shows and magazines. That’s a fact 🤷🏾♀️. Always consider the incentives your information source might have. 🤑
Here is an example of a great article about common flu myths from a trusted Children’s Hospital.
I worry about the safety of my children and those around us. If my healthy son gets the flu will he be ok? 🤧 The fact is, since he is vaccinated, he likely will be just fine. 💉 Studies show that vaccinated children are less likely to die from the flu than those that are unvaccinated. You can find one of the studies supporting this here from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Just be aware it has lots of science speak🤣🤣🤣! Will Susie down the street be ok when she gets the flu? She just had a heart transplant and her immune system is subpar (what we in the healthcare world call “immunocompromised”). She might not be ok.
Flu vaccine helps you and others
Think about Susie. Patients like Susie who have a suppressed immune system need to be vaccinated to be protected. 🤧 Sometimes, however, patients like Susie can’t get the flu vaccine due to their disease or severe allergies. So, instead, they rely on healthy people getting the vaccine and decreasing the chances that the flu virus is passed around. 👾 Healthy people should be vaccinated to protect themselves and so they don’t give the flu to those who are immunocompromised. 🤧 Not all people can get all vaccines due to allergies and medical issues.
If you don’t get vaccinated, you are more likely to get the illness and spread it to others. Help protect those who can’t get the flu vaccine for medical reasons. What if Susie were your child. You would protect her right? It takes a village to raise kids. Be the village❤️. Vaccinate your child.
Please, for the safety of your family and families around you, don’t listen to celebrities, mom groups, or untrusted sources that are NOT backed by science. Listen to the facts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that children are less likely to DIE from the flu if they are vaccinated. This is a very important statement.
Is the flu vaccine safe?
The flu vaccine is found to be very safe. 💉 Sometimes the flu vaccine can cause pain at the site or localized redness around where you were given the shot. As your body develops antibodies, you may feel achy, have a headache or nausea 🤢, but the flu shot does NOT actually cause the flu! These milder symptoms should not last long. 😷
The flu vaccine helps protect those who are unable to be vaccinated. 🤧 Help a mama out. Protect Susie. Protect your family. We are all in this together. Read the facts. The flu vaccine is going to reduce YOUR child’s risk. Let’s vaccinate.
Don’t let non-medical professionals teach you about vaccines. If your child had the flu you wouldn’t take them to the mechanic, right? Then don’t take them to a Facebook group made up of people who are not medical professionals. 💊 Take them to your local pediatrician’s office and have a conversation. Shoot, have a few conversations!
Or chat with us at Nurse-1-1.com. We are medical professionals, and we can help you figure out what’s best. 👩⚕️👨⚕️
–Kim Liner, RN, MSN, CPNP
Nurse-1-1 Health Center is written by nurses in a straight to the point type of way to provide basic health information. We get a lot of people like you searching online for answers to health concerns or looking for a hotline to ask a nurse a few questions. Questions like, should I be concerned about giving my child the MMR vaccine to prevent measles? What are the best ways to prevent UTIs? When to get that sports injury checked out by a medical provider? Well we can help. We put some info here for you to find while searching through all that other dry, scary medical information online. Stop that. Read our posts, or chat with us. This is not medical advice or a replacement for medical care, but see what we have to say with our free health information, and hopefully it will stop you from scaring yourself any more than you already have. We can help.