Different strains of the influenza virus circulate every flu season, making both kids and adults sick. Sadly, influenza complications can also develop, leading to hospitalization and even death among the most compromised of individuals. Thankfully, flu shots help protect kids.
Let’s talk about some of the benefits of vaccinating your children and where you can go for comprehensive pediatric care in Purchase, NY.
Flu Shots Are Readily Available
Flu shots are lab-created medications that inject small amounts of live or killed microorganisms into a patient’s system. The vaccines stimulate an immune response, helping the child or adult remain healthy through the flu season or develop mild versions only of the illness.
Flu shots are available through the pediatrician’s office, local pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals, too. Most people, ages six months or older, are healthy enough to receive flu shots and to benefit from their protection. Plus, kids over the age of two years may be able to receive their flu vaccine via nasal spray rather than the traditional injection.
Flu Shots Protect Against Several Strains of Influenza Virus
When your child receives a flu vaccine (or two doses if the youngster is between the ages of six months and eight years), he or she is protected against the most prevalent strains of influenza. Each year, epidemiologists and other disease experts determine which flu viruses likely will circulate throughout the United States. Then, flu shots are manufactured and administered to people healthy enough to receive them. Cancer patients and other immunosuppressed children and adults may not be eligible.
Flu Shots Help Keep Kids Out of the Hospital
Influenza can cause more than the usual fever, body aches, fatigue, and congestion. Serious complications may develop from the flu in very young children and those who are medically compromised with asthma, diabetes, or other chronic conditions. Pneumonia is just one of them. Febrile (fever) seizures are another.
With the flu shot, your child’s immunity against this potentially dangerous illness will grow in the weeks after injection. Peak immunity develops after just two weeks, and frankly, most kids have only mild reactions to the shot–a mild fever and some site soreness.
When Many People Receive Vaccines, Community Immunity is Strong
Community immunity also is called herd immunity. Herd immunity develops in a locale when most individuals living there have received their flu shots.
When the percentage of vaccinated individuals is high, the likelihood of infectious spread declines. This benefits everyone but particularly the most medically fragile individuals, such as babies, the elderly, and those with serious health problems, such as heart disease, cancer, and more.
Get Your Child’s Flu Shot at Westchester Park Pediatrics
Your youngster can get a flu shot at our Purchase, NY, office during a well-child visit or call us to set up a vaccine appointment. We will be happy to give your child this important preventive medicine so you and your family navigate the flu season successfully.
To find out more, call us today at (914) 761-1717 or request a visit online. We look forward to seeing you soon.
