This year, get your flu shots early

Getting ready to send the children back to school? “Put their flu shots on your list,” says Dr. Jeff Kalina, associate medical director of emergency medicine at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. Infectious disease experts set changes to each year’s version of the flu jab, based on the most common strains of flu found in the environment at the end of each flu season, so “even if you and the children had a shot last year,” says Dr. Kalina, “you need one again.”

Why now?

Why worry about the vaccine, when the possibility of flu seems so far away? Flu season typically lasts from November through March, but it can take weeks after you get vaccinated for your immune system to protect you against the flu.

Inquire at your local GP's surgery to see if they offer flu jabs during the season. The vaccine supply may not be on hand before October, but it doesn’t hurt to call early to book an appointment or get on a phone list so you will be notified when the supply comes in.

Should children have flu shots?

Babies under six months old have immune systems too underdeveloped to benefit from a flu vaccine, but the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that the following get shots each year:

Children between the ages of six months and five yearsChildren with chronic medical conditions such as asthma

Though they aren’t at risk for the same complications, ask your doctor if you should vaccinate an older child, simply to avoid a week out of school if they get ill.

If it’s the first time your child is getting the vaccine, and they’re younger than nine years old, they need two shots, given six to ten weeks apart, or four weeks apart for a new flu vaccine that is given as a nasal spray.

Who else can benefit?

Adults, of course, benefit from a flu jab, too, and it’s especially recommended for:

Anyone over age 50Any woman who will be pregnant during flu season (don’t worry, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says it’s safe to get the vaccine even if you’re already pregnant)Anyone with a chronic illnessAnyone who cares for people who are ill or older

For more up-to-date information on the flu jab, check out the CDC’s influenza Web site: www.cdc.gov/flu.

It can take weeks after you get vaccinated for your immune system to protect you

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Fran Kritz

Fran Kritz is a freelance writer in a suburb of Washington, DC, who always books early flu jab appointments for herself and her family.

2007-09-01