Flu Jab.. Yes or No?

[louisouis]

As my son is currently 20 months old, he was given his first flu jabs in feb this year and sonce there is another flu pandemic coming and apparently a complete new flu strain, I am pondering whether I should send my son for another flu jab. There have been some really mixed reviews, some say that it is safer to have the jab and some others say that the child will have a weaker resistance. What do you think?

[Neha]

We are also thinking if we should give our 3 year old son the flu shot this year. Last year we gave him for the 1st time. Our Doctor recommended to give him but only in December or later. This year it appears the H1N1 flu is more prevalent now and the regular flu is expected to hit only later next year. Still deciding

[geomum]

If you understand how vaccines work you would not believe people who say a child will have weaker resistance :) Infact I find quite ridiculous.

[Shenzhennifer]

Then there is the question of which flu shot to get - H1N1, regular...or both? I`m still thinking about it. Now in Canada everyone is getting the H1N1 shot. In fact, they are just assuming that whoever gets the flu, they have H1N1 - they don`t even test for it now (this is Canada`s social system at its finest:).
I think I`ll probably do the H1N1 shot for my son when it comes to HK soon. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

[Sleuth]

I think we'll end up with both shots, having already done the "normal" flu shot.

[yonge]

We have gotten the family the flu shot last year and just got it for the family for this year. Once the H1N1 vaccine is available, we'll get it as well. Absolutely no reason not to, given that this is a pandemic and only those age 60+ above are showing mild residence to this particular strain.

We also got the pneumococcal shot for the baby and the senior citizen in our family - free or nearly free courtesy of the Center of Public Health. See here for list of participating doctors for the Childhood Influenza Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (CIVSS) and the Elderly Vaccination Subsid y Scheme (EVSS). https://apps.hcv.gov.hk/SDIR/en/index.aspx