Troubling New Anti-Flu Vaccine Poll Has Doctors Worried About Children's Health
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- During the last flu season, 179 children died after getting the virus. And now, a new poll has doctors worried.
You're probably more focused on how to properly cook the turkey and who should have to sit next to Uncle Jerry during Thanksgiving dinner. But doctors say this time of year, you should be thinking about a way to protect yourself and your family from a serious sickness: a flu shot.
"I never had one," one woman said.
"Yes, I totally believe in it," said another.
But not everyone does.
A new study by the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital shows more than one in three parents -- 34 percent -- say they plan to altogether skip flu shots for their kids this season.
"That's pretty foolish of them," one man said. "Not only are their kids going to suffer, they may spread it to everyone else."
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Even within generations of families, the debate is raging.
"I do not agree and think we need to take our vaccines," a woman said. "They were made from the purpose of getting the food and keeping us from getting sick."
"We're going to discuss this later!" she told her anti-flu vaccine relative.
Doctor Kelley Bradley-Dodds is a pediatrician at Einstein Medical Center and says that a lower immunization rate is due to the fact that the vaccine must be taken every year, coupled with some misconceptions about the shot itself.
"Does the flu vaccine cause the flu? No," Dr. Bradley-Dodds said.
And she recommends both adults and children who have been postponing the vaccine get it as soon as they can.
"The better off everyone is, the less it can spread through a population," Dr. Bradley-Dodds added.
Doctors point out that no flu shot will guarantee your protection from the virus, but even if you get the virus after being vaccinated, you are less likely to have such a severe case.
