Influenza Vaccine
Updated August 21, 2011
Quick Link to Topics:
Vaccine supply and Flu Clinic Visits
FluMist vs. Injected Flu Vaccine
Scheduling a flu clinic visit:
Flu clinics will be on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The first flu clinic is scheduled for September 10. We will also have clinics on the following school holidays: September 30 (Rosh Hashanah), October 10 (Columbus Day), and November 11 (Veterans Day). We will be adding some mornings, afternoons and early evenings as the season progresses. Watch this site for updates. Call now to schedule. For more information about receiving the flu vaccine at regular office visits, click here.
For the 2011-12 flu season, like last year, the flu vaccine contains both typical seasonal strains and the novel H1N1 (swine) flu strain that caused the 2009-10 pandemic. There is only one flu vaccine this season, so patients need not worry about obtaining two different types of flu vaccination.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend seasonal influenza vaccination for all children 6 months to 18 years of age. Per the CDC, all children in this age group are considered high risk.
Vaccine Supply and Flu Clinic Visits:
We expect to have plenty of flu vaccine for all patients who want the vaccine this year. We do not anticipate shortages akin to those that occurred two years ago as manufacturers scrambled to produce and distribute the novel H1N1 vaccine.
We are currently booking flu clinic visits. Please contact our office to schedule a visit for your child. For more information about scheduling a flu clinic visit read the paragraph above or click here.
Your child may be vaccinated at a flu clinic visit or at a regularly scheduled well child care visit. When possible, we may be able to provide flu vaccine at sick visits as well, but please understand if supply limitations do not make this possible.
Please understand that we cannot vaccinate parents or other household members. We reserve our vaccine supply for Needham Pediatrics patients only.
FluMist vs. Injected Flu Vaccine:
Flu vaccine is provided in two forms -- an injectable vaccine and a nasal mist (FluMist) that is squirted in the nose. Many children prefer FluMist because no needle is involved. Studies have shown that the two forms of the vaccine are equally effective. In fact, in children, the FluMist vaccine may be slightly more effective than the injected vaccine.
FluMist is a live attenuated virus vaccine, meaning that patients are actually infected with a modified strain of the flu virus when they receive the vaccine. The vaccine has been carefully produced and carefully studied, with results showing that the vast majority of patients get no flu symptoms from the vaccine. However, patients with compromised immune systems or other risk factors that might put them at risk for actual flu infection from FluMist vaccine should not get FluMist. Here is a list of risk factors that generally contraindicate (do not permit) use of FluMist:
- Age < 24 months
- Asthma
- Immunocompromise
- Cystic fibrosis, chronic lung disease of prematurity, or other serious lung diseases
- Diabetes mellitus
If your child does not have any of these risk factors, s/he could receive FluMist instead of injected flu vaccine. If you have questions about the choice, you may ask at your flu clinic visit, or ask your doctor at your next visit to Needham Pediatrics.
Is my child a high-risk patient?
Yes.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend that all people younger than 18 years be considered high risk and thus be equally eligible for vaccination.
According to the CDC definitions, all Needham Pediatrics patients are high-risk.
Physicians and scientists recognize that certain underlying risk factors -- such as age younger than 2 years, immunocompromise, cystic fibrosis, neurological disease, and asthma -- tend to increase a patient's risk of developing complications from influenza. Many of these patients can receive only the injectable form of the flu vaccine. When vaccine is in short supply, we will make every effort to make sure that patients with these unique risk factors have access to injectable vaccine.