Ayashe

A few notes on Flu Mist. If your son is exposed to any immunocompromised individuals he should not get Flu Mist as it is a weakened yet live virus. Many clinics do not offer Flu Mist as there are a number of concerns regarding the room that is used for dispensing it (negative pressure yada yada), not to mention staff concerns.

My best recommendation for children and vaccines is to give the child an ice pack before the procedure. Have the child apply the ice pack on the way to the clinic/drugstore/wherever he/she is receiving the vaccine. It #1 gives the child something in the situation that he/she can control. #2 It numbs the area resulting in a near painless injection.

Prevention is helpful, nutrition, rest and hygiene. Unfortunately all of those preventative techniques go out the window when a 2-year-old-virus-breathing-kid coughs on you. You can avoid touching this and that and use proper hand-hygiene but it isn't going to do a lick of good if someone coughs in your proximity.

As far as concerns about chemicals in the vaccines themselves, most clinics use only preservative-free vaccines anyways. Just ask at your clinic/vaccination site prior to your injection if this is your concern. The injectable flu vaccine is an inactivated virus, you cannot get the flu from an inactivated virus. If you happened to get ill after getting the vaccine I am willing to wager it has more to do with the breeding ground for infection that is known as the waiting area. Be sensible and wash your hands after going to the doctors office, even better do it once you get into the exam room. Yes, it is somewhat a gamble what strains are going to be the major strains of the year. The $25 shot is a lot cheaper than a week off of work which is currently recommended (if not required at most offices now due to the H1N1) for febrile flu-like illnesses.

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I am only a little spoon in a huge world of soup.