Weekly News From the Nurse 22 November 2024

Just a reminder that your students influenza vaccination record is due by 1 December 2024. There is a lot of vaccine hesitancy based on inaccurate information. Here are some facts for the influenza vaccine to help you make up your mind.

• All children 6 months and older are encouraged to receive an annual flu vaccine (consult your provider for special cases)
• The flu vaccine is safe for pregnancy women
• If you are 65 years or older the CDC recommends a high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine
• You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine, flu shots are made with either a killed (inactivated) flu virus and are therefore not infectious, or with proteins from a flu virus instead of a flu vaccine virus
• Some people may get mild and short-lasting symptoms, such as a low-grade fever or muscle-aches, but this is a sign that your body is responding to the vaccine. It is not the flu.
• You should get a flu vaccine before viruses begin spreading in the community because it takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against the flu
• A person’s immune protection from vaccination declines over time and flu viruses are constantly changing, so the composition of the viruses in the vaccine are reviewed annually and updated based on which viruses are circulating and making people sick, so annual vaccination is needed to get the best protection from flu.