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'No Flu Shots for My Kids'
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 On average, 100 children die from seasonal flu each year, noted Dr. Carol J. Baker, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In 2003-04, a "particularly bad" flu season, 153 children died, and half of them were healthy, she added. Plus, there's real concern about the consequences of H1N1, which has already claimed nearly 50 children, said Baker, who also chairs the Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition.
"If that was your kid, and you could have prevented it, how would you feel?" she asked.
There are public health implications as well.
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"Children represent the greatest transmitters of influenza, and so preventing them from becoming infected not only would provide benefit to the individual child but also has the greatest potential to have benefit for the population as a whole," said Dr. Michael T. Brady, physician-in-chief of infectious diseases at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Infectious Diseases.
Mothers are generally the ones that make medical-care decisions for their families, Baker added, so it's important to get them the facts.
"There's a lot of bad information out there, and it makes people worry," she said.
More information
The Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition provides 10 Reasons to Get Vaccinated.
The National Vaccine Information Center offers flu prevention tips.
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Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 10/9/2009
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SOURCES: Margaret Park, R.D., mother, Manassas Park, Va.; Lawrence B. Palevsky, M.D., FAAP, ABHM, pediatrician, Northport (N.Y.) Wellness Center, and president and co-founder, Holistic Pediatric Association, Media, Pa.; Carol J. Baker, M.D., FAAP, FIDSA, professor, pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and chair, Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition, New York City; Michael T. Brady, M.D., FAAP, physician-in-chief, infectious diseases, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, and chair, pediatrics, Ohio State University College of Medicine, and member, Committee on Infectious Diseases, American Academy of Pediatrics; Jo-Lynne, mother, Philadelphia area; National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, news release, Sept. 10, 2009; Oct. 2, 2009, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; Sept. 24, 2009, news release, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor, Mich.
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