State and local health officials haven’t made flu vaccinations a must, but recommendations have come to the point of using all capital letters.
“The seasonal flu vaccinations that we will offer are NOT mandatory for school-aged children,” wrote Montgomery County health department spokeswoman Mary Anderson. “But we are encouraging EVERYONE (all ages) to get a seasonal flu vaccination this year.”
Anderson and her colleagues in other counties said that residents have expressed confusion between the seasonal vaccination, generally the domain of the elderly and those slightly more prone to worry, and the swine flu vaccination due out as early as October.
Seasonal flu vaccinations will become available this month at the usual locations — doctor’s offices, schools, some workplaces and pharmacies. Officials recommend them at the least to guard against a double dose of illness — first the seasonal flu that threatens every year, then the dreaded H1N1.
And as the flu threat has heightened, worries about the ill effects of vaccinations have been drowned out by the noise. A simple online search, however, turns up dozens of pages of theories warning of a connection between vaccinations and various disorders. The theories are largely unsupported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Susan Carlson, a Montgomery County parent whose son has autism, tends to brush aside speculation about a connection between vaccinations and the brain development disorder. But she isn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of a new vaccination for her children, especially when her son requires other medications.
“Vaccinations for diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, mumps, etc., they’ve been around for a very, very long time, and we’re fairly sure they’re safe,” Carlson said. “But a new one has no track record. … Once they can prove to me it works after a couple of winters of use, then I’ll be more willing to say OK.”
