Flu Vaccine and Vaccines for Adolescents - Some Facts

From the time that the child is a few days old, until the age of one, parents make repeated visits to the paediatrician’s clinic for the mandatory ‘shots’. Early childhood and adolescence are also marked by such visits, though they are fewer in number. While some vaccinations are by and large painless, after the pinprick of the needle, some do cause fever, discomfort and pain for a few days after. This often leads parents to wonder, if it is worthwhile for the child to go through this.

- Dr. Krishna Mahathi

Are vaccines necessary?

I remain a proponent of vaccination irrespective of the controversies that keep coming up. I think anybody who has seen a child with a tetanus infection will be. India continues to have killer infectious diseases and though I admit that there is a need for the health ministry to delve into the storage and administration of vaccines with a little more vigilance, I cannot agree with withholding any of the mandatory vaccines. The Indian Academy of Paediatrics makes recommendations only after a review of current published literature on various parameters that include need for the vaccine, its efficacy and safety. I do acknowledge that there are contentious issues involved – we cannot inject a plethora of microorganisms and chemicals into the bodies of our young children without considering the strain on their immune systems. Therefore, while parents need not think twice about the vaccines that are mandatory, optional ones can be considered after viewing the pros and cons. One such vaccine is the flu vaccine.

The flu vaccine

Flu is a seasonal occurrence and yet pandemics occur because a virus emerges and starts spreading easily because we have no pre-existing immunity. This is one characteristic of the flu virus, which mutates rapidly into new forms. So we have H1N1, H3N2 and so on. Sometimes two flu viruses can attack the same body and their proteins get mixed up and re-assorted to form new forms. That is why we can never predict what the next pandemic will bring forth - a benign selection or a lethal one. Once a fully contagious virus emerges, its global spread is inevitable. Countries might, through measures such as border closures and travel restrictions, delay arrival of the virus, but they cannot stop it.