Contracting the flu involves struggling with week-long body aches and high fever, which can worsen when left untreated, especially if you consider its extremely contagious nature. It’s challenging to deal with the illness as an adult, but children can suffer even more fatal complications when they get the flu.
That’s why taking yearly flu shots is a life-saving and preventive measure that protects people, including your kids, from catching the flu. Unfortunately, misinformed parents tend to avoid flu vaccinations like the plague due to the increasing myths surrounding them.
These stories can prevent concerned parents from giving their kids the proper flu shots they need to fight off seasonal illnesses and influenza; that’s why it’s important to update your knowledge to discern facts from fiction regarding vaccinations.
With that in mind, the list below should bust common misconceptions that are keeping concerned parents like you from taking regular flu shots.
Myth #1: Flu Shots Make You Sicker
People can indeed get sick after getting a flu shot, but not many know it’s part of the process. Feeling sore with a slide fever are common side effects, but the discomfort should ease between one to two days.
If people do come down with the flu despite getting a flu shot, it’s likely due to contracting the disease earlier since the vaccine only fully activates after a week or two from the last shot. The vaccination itself cannot give you the flu despite being made from components of the flu, but it’s designed to produce antibodies that help guard you against the flu once you’re exposed.
Myth #2: Healthy People Don’t Need Flu Vaccinations
Having a strong immune system does not guarantee you can fight the flu! While children and adults with chronic illnesses are the most at risk of sustaining detrimental damages from the flu, everyone older than six months of age should be vaccinated because the flu doesn’t exempt anyone.
Myth #3: Flu Shots can Protect You From the Flu Indefinitely
Flu shots build your immunity against several forms of influenza, but it does not mean you cannot contract the flu. You could still get it but have enough antibodies to fight the illness and significantly reduce severe symptoms from rearing its head.
It’s also crucial to get yearly flu shots since the influenza virus is an ingenious organism that mutates every year, which means it learns to find “loopholes” from the vaccine. Yearly flu shots ensure you remain ahead of the outbreak and build the right immunity to fight new strains.
The Bottom Line: The Importance of Protecting Yourself from the Flu through Flu Vaccinations
Adults and children are susceptible to flu season, but not all are willing to take the right steps to boost their immune systems against various forms of influenza. It’s easy to dismiss the flu as a typical bad cold, but coming down with the flu brings more serious repercussions to one’s health.
Flu vaccinations are your best shot for safeguarding your children from influenza and ease the burden that comes with the flu.
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