Parents and Caregivers: It's Time for Your Flu Vaccine

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all people aged six months and older receive the flu vaccine. All parents and caregivers are urged to receive a flu vaccine each year to protect their baby, their older children and themselves.

Influenza, also called the flu, is a contagious viral infection of the nose and throat. Influenza is a serious illness that leads to approximately 20,000 hospitalizations, most in children younger than five years of age and an average of 100 deaths in children—nearly half of whom were previously healthy. Anyone can get the flu but infection rates are highest among children. Influenza is not the same as the “stomach flu,” which is a viral infection of the stomach and intestines that will typically goes away on its own within a few days.

The flu is unpredictable. Anyone, even healthy children and adults, can get very sick. That is why vaccination remains the most important step in protecting your baby against the flu and its complications. The flu vaccine is safe, does not cause the flu, and helps to limit people's chance of getting the flu and spreading it to others. It is key that all caregivers be vaccinated against the flu each year. The flu vaccine is also recommended for all pregnant women in any trimester as well as women who are breastfeeding or who plan to become pregnant during the influenza season. Besides protecting themselves, pregnant women pass their protection from the flu onto their newborns who cannot receive the flu vaccine until they are six months old.

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