This year the Center for Disease Control is recommending flu shots for everyone over the age of 6 months, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. This year's flu shot contains not only the regular flu strains predicted to make the rounds but also the H1N1 virus that had many Americans panicking last year.
The CDC may fall short of its goal. Its efforts to get all healthy younger Americans vaccinated against H1N1 last year, predicting a deadly pandemic, ended with a very mild "swine flu" outbreak that left most people who contracted it only slightly ill. H1N1 was not harmless and in fact made some people with pre-existing conditions very ill, but in the end, it was a milder strain of influenza than the standard seasonal flu normally seen. But the hysteria engendered by the CDC left many doubtful.
Stephen Foster, a University of Tennessee pharmacy professor, was quoted in the Post Dispatch as saying, "The manufacturers have always made a supply larger than the demand, and they've always had to throw vaccine away. Our job is to increase demand."
For healthy young Americans (children and families included), the flu is generally a mild illness from which they recover in about 7 to 10 days. Proper sneezing and coughing techniques, which include covering the nose and mouth with a tissue and proper disposal of the tissue, and thorough handwashing are both listed by the CDC as ways to prevent the spread of flu virus.
Other ways to limit the spread of influenza include avoiding touching one's eyes, nose, and mouth; limiting contact with sick people and wearing a mask when necessary; and staying home when ill until the fever is gone without the use of medication for at least 24 hours. (CDC).
It is not necessary to subject your children to the flu shot to protect them from the flu, unless your children have pre-existing health conditions and/or you believe that extra step would be beneficial. While the St. Louis Post Dispatch mocks the benefits of handwashing and proper flu hygiene, the National Health Service of the United Kingdom actually lists both as the two most important ways to stop the flu from spreading. Mr. Foster is on the record as saying his job is to increase demand: Admitting handwashing does the trick would put him out of a job.
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