How safe is this year’s flu shot?

I don’t consider myself an alarmist, but I am a nervous nana. I worry about my children and my grandchild and when I hear stories like the following one, I worry more.

Ron and Tammy are friends of mine (I’m changing their names to protect their privacy). They both are well educated and have good jobs. They are great parents and do their best to keep their children healthy and safe. Last week they took their children to get flu shots. The next day one of them (the youngest) began having seizures. When they didn’t stop and seemed to get worse they rushed him to a children’s hospital.

Thankfully the seizures have stopped and by the time you read this Ron and Tammy will probably be back home. The only thing different about last week was the flu shot. So far (to my knowledge) the doctor’s are not willing to admit that the shot caused the seizures but the medical staff did say that most weekends they might get two or three children with seizures. Last week they got 12. My friend’s child was the “unexplained child with seizure number 13.”

After I heard about Ron and Tammy’s son I decided to see what I could come up with online. What I learned was that they have already had the flu season in Australia and the incident of children having seizures was higher than normal (if you ask me even one child having a seizure as a reaction isn’t normal).

Here’s the headline from a news source in Australia:

Flu shots suspended after kids hospitalised

Updated Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:40pm AEST

The Western Australian Government has suspended all flu vaccinations for children under five while it investigates a spike in admissions to Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth.

Is there a connection between what happened in Austrailia and what happened to my friend’s son? I don’t know.

Is this year’s flu shot more dangerous than last years? I don’t know.

All I am doing is sharing a true story with you so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not to have the shot.

And to make sure that I’m fair, on the other side of the coin are lots of folks who say being nervous about the flu shot is a bunch of hooey.

From U.S. News and Health comes this headline,

Many Americans Plan to Skip Flu Shot This Year

Surveys suggest more than 40 percent of adults will forego vaccine, while a third of moms won’t vaccinate kids

The article goes on to say that the flu is more dangerous than the shot. ”

“Flu is serious. Every year millions of people get sick; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized and thousands of people die from influenza,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a Thursday morning press conference. In keeping with CDC guidelines, “everyone over the age of 6 months should get a flu shot ,” he said.

For those of you who are wondering if I’m going to have the shot…guess what my answer is?

That’s right, I just don’t know.

Do you think it’s safe? Are you taking it? I’d love to hear from you!

Related posts:

  1. Keeping our Grandchildren Safe from Harm
  2. Is Your Grandchild Safe?
  3. Is it Safe To Let Your Children Ride With Their Grandparents?
  4. 30 Things I’ve Learned from Being Married 30 Years

Similar Posts

7 Comments

  3. We all four had our flu shots. The two grandsons we are raising did great. Mike and I did too, but now after three weeks we have the flu and the cough is what is so horrible. Nothing stops it. One neighbor says her sister has had her cough for four weeks. Yikes.

  4. I and all of my children and grands have already gotten our flu shots. Thankfully, with no reaction. Short term….. anyway! We have members of our family who are at great risk if they were to get the flu. I agree, All such choices need to be carefully weighed.

  5. I live in the Netherlands and as far as I know – children do
    not get flu shots here.

    People over 60 – and those considered to be in a “risk category”-
    such as diabetics and heart patients, receive an invitation from their GP to come by and get a flu slot.

    But I know of many people who don ‘t go ; they claim that the flu shot makes them sick, and prefer to wait and see.
    Some never end up getting the flu !

    I was sorry to read that your friends had such a scare with their son and his seizures. Hope he is feeling better now.

  7. I did some research last year on vaccines and I didn’t like what I read. There is so much stuff in there that our bodies don’t need that I didn’t get a flu shot last year. I usually do but decided against it. I did just fine. There is too much going into my body that is questionable. I don’t think little children should get flu shots. Never had one til maybe high school. Medical people just push it too much that we need it. I’d say do research on a good medical site. I wish I could remember where I got it last year. That’s my thoughts
    on it.

Comments are closed.