Flu vaccine for children

Recently I have noticed a lot of people discussing the flu vaccine for children, this is probably because now would be the time to get it. I’ve seen and heard mixed opinions on this but most of them seem to be negative ones. So i thought I’d write a post about why I chose to give my child the flu vaccine.

The flu vaccine is offered to children, the elderly and pregnant women as they’re the most vulnerable. For children it is offered as a yearly nasal spray meaning no nasty jabs and it is over with within just a few seconds. Having the flu vaccine does not 100% guarantee that you will not get the flu but I’ve had the flu and it’s awful. Flu with children can also lead to further potentially serious complications, including bronchitis and pneumonia which I don’t want for my 2 year old so if there is any safe way to at least try and prevent that from happening, then I’m all for it.

The way the flu vaccine works is that the vaccine itself is a live vaccine but only a very very very small (I can’t stress how small!) amount of the virus is put into our system, which is what encourages our bodies to develop antibodies to fight the virus. Those antibodies then remain in our bodies so that it can fight off that virus again. So as a result of the live vaccine, sometimes side effects may occur. The side effects tend to be runny nose, temperature or mild cold like symptoms but the flu vaccine doesn’t ‘give’ you the flu like some people say it does. Or sometimes after having the flu vaccine you might have no side effects at all. Like Kory did.

I’ve even seen people go as far as to say they won’t give their child the flu vaccine because they worry about our government and wonder why/what their children are being vaccinated with. Well unlike countries like America, our treatment is free so you can’t argue that the government is doing this for money. I’m not a doctor and I don’t claim to be a medical expert but I personally think the flu vaccine is offered to us because it’s beneficial for everyone. It’s beneficial for the population, the NHS and ourselves.

How many times have you tried to get an appointment at your doctors but have been unable to?

How many times have you tried to get an appointment at your doctors for your child but have been unable to? Resulting in you having to take them to see an out of hours doctor, having to ring 111 or them getting more sick?

How many times have you had to make an appointment to see the doctor just so that you can get a prescription that you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to get over the counter? They don’t just hand out prescriptions left, right and centre.

I in all honesty think they are offering the flu vaccine to us as a way to prevent so many of us being ill with the flu this time of year. I am grateful that there are these vaccinations out there that are made available to my child. The NHS is being stretched so far and I think this has been introduced as a way to try and help with that. I don’t think there is anything sinister behind it.

I must stress that this is just my opinion!

Finally, I just want to say that if you choose not to vaccinate your child, that is completely choice and entirely your decision to make. I’m not trying to tell anyone what they should be doing, I’m simply telling you why I chose to give my child the flu vaccine.