Thread by @drpatesblog

Attention Parents:
Please read this. I am pleading with you to get your children the flu shot before November. Here is why:
1. While children seem to have low risk from COVID, they have dramatically higher risk from influenza most years. Last year it is estimated that 600

children in the US died due to influenza or it’s complications. Even if you are not worried about COVID, please be concerned about influenza, especially since we have a vaccine that can protect them from flu.
2. The flu shot is safe. The shot does not contain live virus, so you

cannot catch the flu from the shot.
3. The flu shot is effective. It appears that there is a fairly good match between the circulating strains of influenza and those in the vaccine this year. Even when the match isn’t that great, it generally is close enough to at least make a

case of the flu milder.
4. With the COVID pandemic and hospitals in some parts of Idaho and the country already stretched, we want to do whatever we can to reduce the burden on healthcare providers for having to manage a flu epidemic at the same time we are dealing with a COVID

pandemic. In a typical year, 7 - 26 thousand children under the age of 5 are admitted to the hospital due to influenza.
5. Children over the age of 6 months can receive the flu vaccine. It is especially important for young children, because it is exactly the opposite of COVID.

While younger kids are less vulnerable in general than older kids to COVID, children under 5 and especially those under 2 are the most vulnerable to flu.
6. While it remains unclear what role children play in the transmission of COVID, school-aged children are the major agents of

spread of influenza to their households. If kids get sick this fall/winter, everyone will rightly be concerned that perhaps they have COVID. Preventing the flu by getting a flu shot will minimize the strain on your family, your child’s school and your child’s doctor office of

having to sort out whether they have COVID or the flu. In addition, we have mounting evidence that people who get both COVID and influenza do more poorly than those that just get one or the other. So, even if you are not worried about your child, your child getting the flu will

cause increased risk for any vulnerable persons living in your home.
Please get everyone in your family vaccinated for the flu now or at least sometime before the end of October. You can go to your local doctor or many of your local grocery stores (e.g., Albertsons, Walmart)

or pharmacies (e.g., Walgreens, RiteAid) . @SaintAlsHealth has drive through flu shot sites. @primaryhealth has “clean clinics” (meaning they screen patients ahead of time and do not see patients that have symptoms of COVID or other respiratory viruses at these clinics) where you

can go to get your flu shots. You can get flu shots at @StLukesHealth clinics and urgent care centers. For most people with insurance, you will not have a charge for your flu shot. If you cannot afford the flu vaccine, contact your local public health department so that they can

make arrangements with you to get free flu shots. Please trust me. Even if you ordinarily don’t get flu shots, this is the year to do it! Trust me, you’ll be glad you did! #MaskUpIdaho and #GetYourFluShot