Expert: Dr Kondekar Santosh Venketraman Pediatrician MD, Mumbai India, Online Pediatrician - 7/6/2009

Question
Dear Dr. Smith,

My question is about flu vaccination.  My son is currently 6 years old.

I live in Thailand.  Currently, in Thailand, there are about 100-200 cases of confirmed H1N1 patients everyday.  The majority of the infected people are students.

My questions are as follows:

1)  Do you generally recommend to get the seasonal flu vaccination for children?

2)  Can getting the seasonal flu vaccine help to reduce the severity of H1N1 if we are infected with H1N1?  I have been hearing many people saying that it is better to get the seasonal flu vaccine because if we unluckily get infected with H1N1, the immunity that is developed from the flu vaccination can help to reduce the severity of H1N1.

3) When the body is injected with the seasonal flu vaccine, would the body become weaker during that period because the white blood cells of the body has to attack the foreign agents ( weakened virus in flu vaccine)?  Does this mean that the body at that time is more susceptible to getting infected by other types of virus?  The reason I am asking is because my son got the seasonal flu vaccine last year.  Then he got sick one week after, (fever) and then got sick again three weeks after.  It was quite frequent around that time.  Therefore I am still contemplating whether I will bring him to get the seasonal flu vaccine this year.

Thank you for your time.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Aliya


Answer
most important in such situations, is to udnerstand and follow national guidelines laid down for respectice country, during the epidemics.

also read an article on

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/frequently_asked_questions/vaccine_prepa...

copy paste the url in brwser and press enter.


1)  Do you generally recommend to get the seasonal flu vaccination for children?
=== i personally dont recommend unless there is some compromise on immunity or health.

2)  Can getting the seasonal flu vaccine help to reduce the severity of H1N1 if we are infected with H1N1?

=== less likely as it need not contain H1N1 protection.

 I have been hearing many people saying that it is better to get the seasonal flu vaccine because if we unluckily get infected with H1N1, the immunity that is developed from the flu vaccination can help to reduce the severity of H1N1.
=== not true, it can only help protect from the types of flu serotypes covered in the vaccine. flu from any serotypes can be dangerous in low immunity or sick people, so it will surely protect from some types of flu.

3) When the body is injected with the seasonal flu vaccine, would the body become weaker during that period because the white blood cells of the body has to attack the foreign agents ( weakened virus in flu vaccine)?  
==== no

Does this mean that the body at that time is more susceptible to getting infected by other types of virus?
====== body may be susceptible but not due to vaccine.


 The reason I am asking is because my son got the seasonal flu vaccine last year.  Then he got sick one week after, (fever) and then got sick again three weeks after.  It was quite frequent around that time.  Therefore I am still contemplating whether I will bring him to get the seasonal flu vaccine this year.
=== you may get the seasonal vaccine, that wont make him weak. it will protect from soem types of flu, but less likely from H1N1

read the above link in details.

thanks.

dr santosh kondekar
MD pediatrciian mumbai india