Flu vaccine in April?

[2boyzmama]

My little guy just had his 6 month well baby appt. The dr listed the vaccines typically given at this age and he said "now that he's 6 months, flu is started." What? It's April! Do they still give out flu shots in April?

I declined them all, and the dr was okay with it (in fact he said "if I remember correctly we talked about this last time and you're delaying those for now") But that caught me off guard!

[AFWife]

FWIW, the Walgreens down the street is still pushing their Swine Flu and Flu vax...

He was probably just talking about the schedule in general

[listipton]

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/sch...chedule-pr.pdf

Yep, Flu shots are now part of the CDC schedule, not just in the fall.

[JBaxter]

They have TONS of H1N1 left over so they are pushing it on everyone

[ammiga]

Originally Posted by JBaxter

They have TONS of H1N1 left over so they are pushing it on everyone

Haha, yep! Some of our local pharmacies are giving it away for free. I guess that's less expensive than paying to have it properly disposed of

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

They are giving it away like crazy around here. Cant listen to the radio without hearing "Come to X to get your free flu shots"

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by listipton

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/sch...chedule-pr.pdf

Yep, Flu shots are now part of the CDC schedule, not just in the fall.

Okay...but let's think about this logically (I know, I know, that's impossible when it comes to something as illogical as the vax schedule).

If I give him a flu shot right now, it's the strains that were circulating this LAST season. So then when fall comes along, he isn't protected from the new circulating strains. So what...he gets another flu shot? And this is okay? So if I were to give him a flu shot and an H1N1 right now, oh and another one a month from now because he's under 9...come fall he'll need ANOTHER seasonal flu shot (which supposedly is going to include the H1N1 strain). So he'll 4 flu shots now (2 seasonal flu and 2 H1N1) then in the fall he'll get another 2 shots (2 seasonal flu which include H1N1).

And that follows logic how exactly?

I could/should just wait until fall! (I'm not giving him any anyway, I'm just arguing logic)

[tanyalynn]

But there's a non-zero amount of influenza in the summer, and flu vaccines are perfectly safe. We should all feel comfortable with our kids getting a flu vaccine every single year of their lives.

[jeanine123]

And just in case we don't, Fox was running a story yesterday about a new H1N1 death.

[Pirogi]

Originally Posted by JBaxter

They have TONS of H1N1 left over so they are pushing it on everyone

Including active duty military, where the government is subsidizing the pharmaceutical companies by buying their product and then requiring all members get the shot. And also including all children and workers in the government child care system, whether the Child Development Centers (daycares) or the contracted Family Child Care program (in-home care). These folks don't have to use the military medical clinic, but most of them do.