Although, the American Academy of Pediatrics now encourages children between the ages of 6 months to 2 years to receive flu shots, it is an important immunization for many people, both young and old. Current recommendations specifically target certain people as ideal candidates for the vaccine particularly those with chronic illnesses such as asthma , diabetes, heart problems and frequent ear infections, but anyone who receives it has the potential of deriving significant health benefits. This is the major reason many companies and communities offer free or low-cost flu shots.
The vaccine itself is interesting because its contents change from year to year. In fact, it is somewhat of a gamble whether or not the vaccine will contain the correct components by the time the flu hits the United States. There are many strains of flu that circulate the globe, but to be effective, the vaccine can only hold components against three of those strains. And it takes several months for the manufacturers to produce enough vaccine for the population. Therefore, the decision of what to put in the vaccine is made in the spring prior to the next winter's flu season. In other words, a guess is made nine months in advance about which three strains will most likely infect people of the U.S. If the guess is wrong, people vaccinated for the flu may still get it. Luckily, the folks at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta have gotten pretty good at predicting this.
Based on the CDC predictions, the manufacturers of the flu vaccine, Connaught, Evans Medical and Wyeth-Ayerst, all make the same kind of vaccine, containing the same components. The only difference between vaccines for any given year is that they come in two forms: split and whole. The split form contains parts of the virus, while the whole form contain the whole, inactivated virus. Both work equally well, but the split form is often recommended for children because it tends to cause less fever than the whole form.
Want more iVillage? Sign up for our
Newsletters
