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I'm breathing a sigh of relief. My children and I just got our flu shots this week. Once my husband gets his, I'll be completely at peace. Every year, I stress out about making an appointment at the pediatrician's office for the kids to receive their flu shots. I'll call at the beginning of September to see when and if they have started making appointments for flu shots. If they ask me to call back because flu shots are not in yet, I'll keep calling them back each day until I'm able to make an appointment. That relieves my stress a little but I feel totally relieved once the kids have gotten their flu shots. At the same time, I'm calling my family practitioner to see when appointments are available. I called everyday last week to see if they received their shipment of flu shots and when they kept telling me to call back, I decided to go another route. I'm a dependent on my husband's health insurance and if I went to a participating CVS Pharmacy Minute Clinic (I'm sure you have one in your area) my flu shot was free of charge. Actually, doctor's offices don't charge co-pays for flu shots so that didn't matter, it was just convenient and I didn't have to make an appointment!
You're probably thinking I'm really intense about getting the flu shot. I take it seriously and believe you should receive a flu shot. I started getting flu shots in 2004 when I was pregnant with my third child when there was that huge flu scare. Remember there were healthy children dying of the flu? I waited in line with my family for 2.5 hours at our nearby hospital in northern Virginia to get my flu shot. I was given priority (as were my family and two kids) because I was pregnant. Every since then, I am very diligent about making sure our family gets their flu shots!
We all remember the huge H1N1 scare last year, right? I had several friends whose entire family got H1N1 and it was awful. One woman I know had a son in the hospital for H1N1 and he was there for two weeks!!! I remember being so anxious about getting the H1N1 shot for my kids. I knew there were still some questions surrounding the vaccine, but I decided I'd rather have my children (and myself and husband) vaccinated with the H1N1 vaccine than not. The risks were far greater if you didn't get vaccinated. Remember how limited H1N1 vaccines were and they were only given to high risk patients, seniors, etc? I wasn't going to rest until my children got the vaccine when the public was allowed to. Lo and behold, the local news ran a story one morning that the huge church across the street from my neighborhood was offering the H1N1 vaccine to the public for ONE day until they ran out. I called my husband at work and had him pull the kids OUT of school while I went to the church with my two year old in tow and waited in line for the H1N1 shot. The line was all the way around the block and as I saw people leaving after having their kids receive the vaccine, I asked them how long they had to wait. The average answer was 3 - 4 hours!!!
As luck would have it (or my desperate prayers), we only had to wait about 45 minutes to get my kids the H1N1 vaccine. Thank goodness!!! Each of them, except my two year old got the mist. Of course my husband and I were not allowed to get the vaccine because we were healthy adults. As luck would have it again, because my neighbor happens to be our family doctor and she gave my husband and I the H1N1 vaccine as a favor even though they had a limited supply. I think she felt sorry for me when she saw how stressed I was.
Yes, I know I'm intense about it but the flu is serious! With the health of four children to worry about, I can't help being this concerned about it. I am adamant about getting the flu shot. Of course if you have an egg allergy or other issues that don't make the flu shot safe for you then obviously stay away. But generally the flu shot is a lifesaver.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that everyone six months and older get a flu vaccine. The CDC says that this year's flu vaccine is protecting against the three different flu viruses: an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the H1N1 virus that you know caused all the illnesses last year! I asked the doctor giving me my flu shot whether I was getting it too early. She says it used to be the case where if you received the flu shot too early, it could wear off before flu season ended. But, the flu vaccine now has been formulated to last the entire flu season so it doesn't matter how early you get it. According to the CDC, flu activity in the U.S. peaks in January and February, but can occur as late as May. The following link: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/index.htm offers good information on the 2010-2011 flu season.
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